The Rock has responded to a report that people in WWE were surprised by how he praised AEW in his tribute to PAC, saying he does not see “our competition” when a wrestler dies.
Dwayne Johnson left the comment on an Instagram post from Clutch Wrestling that discussed Dave Meltzer’s report. His full comment read:
“You’re right, brother, and humanity matters to me. I was born into this business and I’ve seen it all, but when one of our own passes away, I don’t care nor do I see “our competition”, I care about the wrestlers and how it affects them. I’ve been there. To me, humanity matters most.”
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Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that people in WWE were “very surprised” by the wording of Johnson’s video, given his seat on the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, WWE’s parent company.
“Not that he did the video, but the wording in the video, where he praised them and essentially gave the stamp of, ‘Yeah, you guys are good for business and work hard, and you’re helping make wrestling,'” Meltzer said. “That’s not the message I think the company wants out.” Full details of Meltzer’s report are here.
Johnson posted the video on Instagram on September 29, two days after AEW announced the death of PAC, whose real name was Benjamin Satterley, at 40. He extended condolences to Satterley’s family, Tony Khan, QT Marshall, the AEW locker room and the WWE personnel who knew him.
“As global as professional wrestling is, as global as WWE is, as much as AEW is growing into this phenomenal wrestling company, and wherever you’re wrestling at around the world, we’re still a very tight knit unit and a tight knit group because we all share the same DNA,” Johnson said in the video.
WWE’s own statement on Satterley’s death, posted on X, did not mention AEW.
It is not the first time Johnson has spoken positively about AEW. During an Instagram Live question-and-answer session in April 2020, he was asked whether he watched the company. “Do I watch AEW? Yeah, I watch AEW—of course I do. I’m very happy for the success of that company, because it’s always a good thing and it creates a hunger, which is good.
Johnson joined the TKO board in January 2024. He has not appeared on WWE programming since Elimination Chamber in March 2025.
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