On Tuesday, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson was laid to rest in a private funeral that took place almost a week after he died from a deep vein thrombosis at the age of 75. The services were attended by company owner Vince McMahon and a number of other wrestling legends, but as one of them recently suggested, the WWE boss and one of his longtime employees allegedly made a number of disrespectful comments toward the late father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, “Superstar” Billy Graham related two notable moments that purportedly took place during the funeral, starting with the remarks McMahon supposedly made about Johnson and his second wife, Ata Maivia. As quoted by WrestlingNews.co , Graham claimed that the 74-year-old billionaire took to the platform and said that the former tag team champion did “one good thing in his life,” which was to marry Maivia and have “some kids.” As further alleged, McMahon walked back to his seat, doing the “working strut” he does on television while in character as an oftentimes evil authority figure.
While Graham noted that Patterson said some “nice things” about Johnson, he accused the veteran creative team member of going into a wild rant where he repeatedly insulted his fellow Hall of Famer.
“[O]ut of nowhere Patterson goes into this rant and called Rocky Johnson, laying dead in the casket right below him, a mother F-er and started this vulgar rant about how worthless Rocky was and a bunch of guys had to drag Patterson off the church platform and sit him down.”
After misstating the 79-year-old Patterson’s age by a couple of years, Graham suggested that WWE’s inaugural Intercontinental Champion “must be losing his mind literally” in his old age.
Apart from Graham, his friend, independent wrestler Devon Nicholson, was cited as saying on his Hannibal TV YouTube channel that he spoke to various people who attended Johnson’s funeral, including one who said that they cannot defend what McMahon allegedly did during the service. Nicholson added that per his source, Patterson uttered multiple profanities during his speech, further noting that there was frustration among those present at the funeral due to how the preacher was supposedly disdainful toward the pro wrestling business.
As reported separately by Ringside News , a third wrestler was able to “confirm” Graham and Nicholson’s claims about the drama that purportedly took place while Johnson was being laid to rest. Speaking to Hannibal TV in a subsequent update, former WWE superstar Harry Smith — the son of the legendary British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith — speculated that McMahon and Patterson might have been under the influence of alcohol during the event.
‘Vince and Pat are completely out to lunch,” Smith said, as quoted by Ringside News . “I thought they were drunk, but I spoke to Pat and maybe he’s just going senile.’”