Dwayne Johnson admits Deion Sanders helped inspire 'The Rock' mantra

Deion Sanders’ impact stretches further than football. In a recent piece by TIME, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson explained how the NFL legend helped him create his wrestling persona.

“Years before Colorado, Sanders was creating culture. Dwayne Johnson was watching closely during these years,” Sean Gregory wrote. “Over Zoom, I ask him about Sanders’ influence on his own career, and he shows me goose bumps on his forearm.

“‘No one has ever asked me that,’ he says. ‘So much of the character and the entity of the Rock came from Prime. One of the characteristics of the character of the Rock was talking in the third person. Deion would say certain things in the third person. I always found that so f-cking cool. Because he walked the walk.'”

While Sanders’ sport wasn’t rehearsed, his personality seemed larger than life. From his flashy jewelry to seemingly off-the-dome sayings, Sanders was an inspiration to athletes everywhere. Now Colorado’s head coach, Sanders still attracts mass adoration.

Celebrities aren’t an exception in Sanders’ fan club. Household names such as Lil Wayne, Kawhi Leonard and Offset flew in to witness Colorado’s double-overtime triumph over Colorado State in Week 3. The nail-biting battle drew in a season-high 9.3 million viewers, despite starting at 10 p.m. ET and ending after 2 a.m.

Johnson was also in attendance. The Rock’s admiration for Sanders isn’t a one-way street. When Johnson surprised Sanders on “College Gameday,” the Buffaloes head coach fell down to his knees, bowing before the “Black Adam” star.

“That’s my guy,” Sanders said as Johnson walked onto the set. “That’s my guy. That’s my guy.”

Deion Sanders attracts attention from all

In September, Sanders was honest about the attention.

“It’s a lot. It’s a lot. I mean the DMs after a game are just, it’s like juhduhduhduhduh,” Sanders said, mimicking the sound of an endless scroll. “It’s tremendous, and it’s very respectful, and I love it because there’s some people that you wouldn’t even think of that’s checking in and checking on you.”

Colorado fans haven’t had as much to cheer about lately. After defeating Colorado State in Week 3, the Buffaloes have lost back-to-back games. Nonetheless, the team took strides last week, narrowly losing 48-41 to No. 8 USC.

Colorado will look to get back in the win column this weekend. On Saturday, the Buffaloes will square off against Arizona State at 6:30 p.m. ET. Sanders expects nothing short of success.

“You want to win every game but I mean, you really expect to win some games a lot more than others,” Sanders said. “This game we expect to run the football, we’ve shown that we could last week. We expect to throw the ball successfully. We’ve shown that we can in its totality during the whole season.”