Rocky Johnson

Rocky Johnson, born Wayde Douglas Bowles in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1944, was a Canadian professional wrestler who died in 2020. A Black Nova Scotian descended from Black Loyalists, he moved to Toronto at 16, trained first as a boxer and began wrestling in southern Ontario in 1964, taking his ring name as a tribute to the boxers Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson. He was a major star in California in the late 1960s and 1970s, a top contender in the National Wrestling Alliance, the first Black NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion and a two-time NWA Television Champion. In 1983 he and Tony Atlas became the first Black tag team champions in WWE history as WWF Tag Team Champions. He was the father of the actor and wrestler Dwayne The Rock Johnson and the grandfather of the wrestler Simone Johnson.