Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@therock
Topics: Celebrity, Dwayne Johnson, Sport
Rhiannon Ingle
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has offered fans and players alike some good old fashioned pregame motivation to kick off the opening weekend of the new XFL season.
Putting those acting skills to use, Johnson's heartfelt speech left many emotional after he drew on his past experiences to pump up the players.
The star told the team - who are mostly former college players who didn't quite make it to the NFL - that their dream was 'just beginning'.
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While The Rock has long-since been a star of the ring and big screen, he started off as a hopeful college football player.
With dreams of entering the NFL, Johnson ended up mostly playing backup and the closest he came to the dream was spending two months on a practice roster for the Calgary Stampeders - a Canadian Football League team.
The XFL, co-owned by Johnson, promotes the values of being a 'fan-first, fast-paced' professional football league that is here to realise the 'full potential of football, on and off the field'.
Launching last week (18 February), the new season advocates for both providing 'world class football' alongside the goal of expanding player opportunities.
The WWE star took to the pitch dressed in a No. 54 jersey, which represents how most of the players in the league were the '54th man' in NFL training camp when rosters are comprised of 53 players.
Showing his support, Johnson gave players a very uplifting speech to kick off the first game of the season.
He began: "They told you that the dream was over - but here's the truth: Your dream is just beginning."
Offering some advice to the anticipating players, he continued: "Because what you're gonna do, you're gonna come out on this field, and you're gonna line up, and you're gonna show the world what it's like to be truly hungry with that chip on your shoulder."
"I know," the Fast and Furious star went on, "because I got that same chip. And we're here, because the X of the XFL represents the intersection of dreams and opportunity."
Johnson concluded the speech telling players that they do so much more than just play great football and provide equally great entertainment.
"You bring the dreams, we brought the opportunity," he finished with.
Johnson later tweeted a whole avalanche of praise and support for the players and the XFL explaining a little more about the 'chip' on his shoulder he referred to in the speech.
While he revealed that the 'Player 54 chip' on his shoulder never goes away, he added that he was 'grateful to the bone' to have been a part of this year's XFL season.