"There was a ruptured Achilles tendon, a complete shoulder reconstruction and either four or five knee surgeries he can't remember how many. And then there was the match with John Cena which left him spitting up blood. "I landed in a way that really, for the moment, damaged my lungs and blood vessels," Johnson says. That fight was the last of his official WWE career."
"His new movie, The Smashing Machine, tells the story of Mark Kerr, one of the American pioneers of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting. The film, which Johnson produced and stars in, is about the high of having tens of thousands of fans cheering for you and the physical pain after some fights, when muscles are torn or bones are broken. "It takes a very unique person to become an elite MMA fighter," Johnson says."
Dwayne Johnson endured numerous severe injuries during his wrestling and college football career, including a ruptured Achilles tendon, a complete shoulder reconstruction, and multiple knee surgeries. A match with John Cena caused lung and blood vessel damage and marked his final official WWE match. Johnson produced and stars in The Smashing Machine, a film about Mark Kerr that contrasts the euphoria of tens of thousands of fans with the torn muscles and broken bones fighters endure. Johnson notes elite MMA fighters possess unique physical and mental qualities, describes Kerr as a "physical anomaly" who moved like a cheetah, and says Kerr was gentle backstage.
Read at www.npr.org
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