The Rock Is Inducting His Grandma Into Hall of Fame

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson comes from the wrestling equivalent of royalty and he will be welcoming another family member to the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday—his grandmother. Lia Maivia, who died in 2008, was "one of the first female promoters in professional wrestling," Johnson said in an Instagram post. He said he was honored to announce that he will be inducting her. "She was a trail blazer. She was a protector of our family. She was the real Final Boss." Maivia took over Polynesian Pro Wrestling after her husband, Peter "High Chief" Maivia, died in 1982, NBC News reports. The WWE describes Maivia and her husband as "the two key figures in the rich wrestling history of Hawaii."

"She took over my grandfather's wrestling company here in Hawaii, and she made a promise to my grandfather when he was dying on his deathbed" that she would make his dream come true and make it a success, Johnson said. Her biggest event was "A Hot Summer Night," which attracted more than 20,000 people to a stadium in Honolulu with stars including Canadian wrestler Rocky Johnson—her son-in-law and The Rock's father. Maivia will be joining other members of the Anoi'a family, known as the "Samoan Dynasty," in the Hall of Fame, including her husband, Rocky Johnson, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Rikishi, and Afa and Sika, aka the "Wild Samoans," per Bleacher Report.

NBC notes that Johnson made Maivia a main character in the Young Rock sitcom. He has also been open about what NBC calls the "more complicated aspects" of her legacy. In a 2022 Instagram post, he said his "sweet Samoan grandmother" operated the business with an iron fist and "some violence when she felt it was necessary." She was indicted on extortion charges and was deported to Samoa after she was acquitted. Johnson said she was homeless by 1991 but he managed to get her back into the US the following year and found her an apartment in Tampa. "Once I started making some decent money in WWE, I bought her a condo where she would live happily for the rest of her life," he said. (More wrestling stories.)