As the debate over who deserves to be on wrestling's Mount Rushmore heats up once again, Dwayne Johnson explored the thought process behind his 2019 choices on Instagram Live. While Johnson remains committed to carving out the faces of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Stone Cold Steve Austin into his own Rushmore, that definitive fourth wrestler continues to elude him.
Last year, Johnson responded to this same question on Twitter, and had Gorgeous George and Bruno Sammartino competing for that fourth spot.
This time, Gorgeous George was no longer in the running, and was replaced by three new contenders in Buddy Rodgers, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Dusty Rhodes.
"You always want to pick people who have had the most impact on the wrestling business, who have moved the bottom line, but also, most importantly, they just have this intangible, this X-Factor where they can connect with the crowd and connect with an audience" Johnson explained. "And the bottom line is with those three individuals that I mentioned—Hogan, Austin, and Flair—they really moved the company’s bottom line. They moved the NWA’s bottom line, the WWF, and the WWE’s bottom line."
"In terms of drawing power, these were the biggest draws in the history of professional wrestling and that's all that matters," Johnson continued. "You can have 15 world titles and 27 other kinds of titles that you have these days, but the bottom line is how strong can you draw? Are you selling arenas out and are you breaking records? Really, that’s the bottom line, and those three guys have."
As for his own placement on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling, Johnson believes he should be "on the back," and "in the part you don’t see."
