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“Once Upon A Time In…”
The Rock gets a call from President Taft who is disappointed and scolds him for not getting a trade deal with Gjelgjuighm.
Prime Minister Honig asks to speak with The Rock to explain why she said no. They go into town for coffee. She takes him to her fathers shop to explain why coffee trade is important to her family. The Rock understand and segues into…
San Francisco 1966...
“These Boots Are Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra plays and we see a battle royale. In the match we see Rocky Johnson, Peter Maivia and “Young Pat” Patterson. Peter invites Pat over for dinner and tells him to bring his girlfriend. Pat says he’ll bring his special friend Louie. It takes Peter a few beats to figure out what Pat means but Peter invites over Pat & Louie. Lia cooks dinner for them all and Dwayne gives a voice over explaining how Pat was one of the first openly gay wrestlers. “It’s not easy now and it wasn’t easy then” but Pat didn’t play by the rules and Peter respected him for being honest. Peter asks how they met.
Boston 1961...
Pierre goes out to a bar and he meets a man named Louie. Pierre gives him his bio and asks if Louie watches wrestling, he says he doesn’t but likes the stage names they come up with. He asks Pierre what his wrestling name is. He goes by his real name and Louie says that’s terrible. They find a phone book and look at names, they decide Pat Patterson sounds good.
Lia tells Pat & Louie how she and Peter met at the fishery after she dropped her ono. Peter picked it up and the rest was history. Rocky asks what every one thought of the match. Louie says it was too hard to figure w out what was going on. Pat says battle royales are boring and he lays out the concept to what becomes the Royal Rumble. Louie says he has a great mind and with his bad shoulder he should transition into working backstage because of his great ideas. Dwayne voice over says he would have never become The Rock without Pat.
Paris 1964...
We are introduced to “Young Giant”. Andre enters a bar and orders a whiskey, a bottle of whiskey. The lady bartender is taken aback by his size. A patron calls him a freak. Andre is upset and challenges him to a drinking contest. He ends up drinking the entire bar under the table and arm wrestling people there. After a night of having fun a man walks up to him and asks if he had ever considered wrestling. Andre says no, he just wants a normal life and doesn’t want attention. The man reveals he’s a wrestler named Jacques The One Armed Man. He points out Andre has been entertaining the bar all night and he does like attention. He tells him he’s spectacular and he should embrace it. Dwayne gives a voice over saying Andre was another inspiration for The Rock.
Prime Minister Honig tells The Rock she loved Andre and The Princess Bride. She asks if Andre was his inspiration for going j to acting. He says no, it was the High Chief after he was in “You Only Live Twice” starring Sean Connery as James Bond.
On set we see Peter try to tell the director the fight scene could be better but he is ignored. Connery hears him and is interested in his input. Peter says the fight feels awkward. Connery says all of his fights are the same and getting boring so they work out a new sequence. They do the scene a new way and the director yells cut. Connery explains he wanted to try it a different way and the director praises him. Connery gives the credit to Peter. The director is so impressed by his ideas Peter is eventually given a “stunt coordinator” credit on the film (featured credit on the poster).
Sean & Peter are rehearsing a fight and he shows Connery how to throw a worked punch and he sells for him. Connery is impressed that his fake fighting looks real. Maivia tells Sean he is a fake fighter too.
Outside on break Connery tells Peter he’s tired of playing Bond. He wants to play different roles (they dialogue is funny as he describes The Rock, Hunt For Red October, etc.). Peter explains at least Sean gets to play a leading role. Samoans are stuck being portrayed as villains and in an unflattering light. Peter says he doesn’t have to play Bond forever because he’s talented. Dwayne explains after the movie is filmed Connery steps away from the Bond role and Peter moves onto bigger things.
Hawaii 1966...
Peter and Pat meet for lunch and Peter explains he wants to start a promotion in Hawaii around Polynesians. Pat agrees. Andre joins them for lunch.
We see footage of the real Peter Maivia wrestling and Dwayne says he’s the reason a half black - half Samoan was able to become a star.
Prime Minister Honig explains to Dwayne why she can’t make the coffee trade deal and he respects her decision. She figures out the mountain naming rights dispute by calling it “Mt. Rock”.
“Young Rock” airs Fridays at 8pm on NBC or On Demand.
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