Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson Repays His Uncle With Brand-New Car: "I'll Never Forget What He Did for Me"

Actor shares inspiring story about how his close friend helped him years ago

By Mike Vulpo Dec 28, 2015 3:55 AMTags
The Rock, InstagramInstagram

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is ready to pay it forward!

Just when we thought Christmas was over, the actor decided to surprise a man he's known since he was just five years old. Brace yourselves Uncle Tonga because you're in for one big present.

"My Uncle Tonga is a family man, humble man and champion. Most importantly one of the greatest human beings I know," the new dad wrote on Instagram. "So we walk outside and I said ‘Uncle how do you like my truck?' He said, ‘Whoooaaa nephew it's beautiful... I love it!' I said ‘Good 'cause it's yours.'"

The Rock continued, "He was speechless. Thru tears (manly of course;) we monster hugged 'cause I'll never forget what he did for me when I had nothing. Merry Christmas Uncle and ofa atu. #LuckyPurpleTrunks."

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So what makes this man so special? Besides serving as an honorary family member for decades, Tonga helped The Rock get his start in the WWE.

When Vince McMahon first called the actor for a tryout match, the 43-year-old didn't know where to begin.

"I thought holy s--t that's awesome, buuuut there's a few problems: For me, I wasn't just having ‘a tryout match', because I had never actually HAD a real match in my life. Ever. WWE thought that I already had multiple matches under my belt, but little did they know," he confessed. "What they also didn't know was that I was broke as hell and didn't actually own wrestling gear—no boots, knee pads or most importantly...wrestling trunks."

The Rock made a quick call to his "uncle" and asked for any available pairs of trunks. As it turns out, he got that and so much more.

"When I picked the trunks up from him I'll never forget the monster hug he gave me, look me in the eyes and said, ‘I'm so proud of you. Go get 'em nephew!'" he explained on Instagram with a photo collage. "Here's the picture of me wrestling my FIRST MATCH EVER in Corpus Christi, TX in front of 15,000 people—proudly in my lucky purple trunks. And the rest... was history."

And this is what the holidays are all about!