15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Tony Atlas
10. That Caused Problems With Rocky Johnson
Publicly, Tony and Rocky Johnson were a match made in heaven. They became the first ever black WWF Tag-Team Champions and were presented as great friends on-screen. Truthfully, things were different away from the cameras. Tony told VICE that he and Rocky didn’t get along. Why? “I’m the only one who can take his spot”. It was that old enemy perspective again.
Johnson was older and receiving his first big break in the WWF. Then, along came Atlas to split the spotlight, and Rocky viewed that as a threat. Tony understands this now: “I made in one week what took Rocky Johnson 10 years to make”. That grind made Rocky bitter, and Johnson apparently tried to get Atlas fired “thousands of times” during their time together as a unit.
Wow.
It'd be interesting to find out just how much The Rock knew about any of this. He was growing up as a wide-eyed kid when his father and Tony made history as WWF Tag Champs, so everything would've been new and exciting to him. Also, and this is the important bit, it's hardly like his dad would've disclosed anything business related to his son at the time. Wrestling was protective, remember?
Atlas did express disappointment during the doc that Vince McMahon failed to make more of their title reign. Rocky and Tony dropped the belts mere months after winning them, and that was that for the 'Soul Patrol'. This would end up being the only title Atlas ever won in the WWF/WWE throughout his career.