Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson turning to social media to honor the late Benjamin Satterley (Pac / Neville) earned widespread respect, but the exact phrasing he used left several people in WWE “very surprised.”
Dave Meltzer explained on Wrestling Observer Radio that while everyone fully supported The Rock paying his respects to a wrestler who died far too young at age 40, his open praise for All Elite Wrestling and his shoutout to Tony Khan as a good friend caught people in WWE off guard.
With The Rock serving as an influential member of the TKO Board of Directors, openly validating WWE’s biggest American rival as a positive force for the industry goes against the typical corporate playbook.
Meltzer made sure to point out that Johnson remains on great terms with WWE President Nick Khan, adding that even if Nick knew about the video ahead of time, no executive is in a position to tell a powerhouse figure like The Rock what he can or cannot say when honoring a peer.
This led to a wrestling content creator posting that he doesn’t believe Meltzer’s report, and that Meltzer is the one creating tribalism in wrestling, and that no one cares what The Rock said about AEW, as this was about Pac.
The Rock saw this creator’s video and replied the following on Instagram:
“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.”
The Rock reacts to report of people in WWE being "very surprised" by him putting over AEW during PAC tribute video pic.twitter.com/ZXGsqfqEhb
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) October 4, 2026
