Though I thought I wouldn’t be able to wait for our next work out session, it finally arrived. I was walking up the steps at Palama Settlement Gymnasium filled with anticipation.  I opened the door, there were Rocky along with Ritchie, Dwayne and Steve. My eyes lit up with excitement. The first words out of Rocky’s mouth were "Where the f*** have you been?  We've been here for waiting for you." I became terrified, almost evacuating my bowels in the process. (I later learned that Rocky loved to play jokes, and man did he ever play some good ones on me.)

Here, Dwayne was at the age of 14 with his size do back flips. He would later stand straight up with one foot on the floor, then place his other foot at the top of a door frame.

Rocky got on to the mat, and told Ritchie to get on it as well. Rocky then commenced to ‘heel’ on him. After a few minutes Ritchie’s face was turning red, he was coughing, really selling it. ( I didn’t know it at the time.) Finally, Rocky asked Ritchie, if he had enough. Ritchie, screamed "Yes!" Rocky shouted back, "Yes, what!’. Ritche screamed again, "Yes, SIR". Rocky let him go, then replied, "damn, I love being a heel".

After Ritchie was walking off the mat, Rocky looked at me and yelled, "Get your ass over here". I really became scared then. As I was walking to the mat Ritchie whispered to me, "You’d better sell, look at what he did to me". I prayed ever so intently walking up to the mat.

I got on the mat. Rocky and I ‘lock’ up. He whispers to me, "Relax, follow me". I’ll be damned, I’ve been had again. He took me over in a head lock, got up backed me in to the wall and started chopping me in the chest. Then he snapmared me. Got on top and started choking me (working) then ripped off my t-shirt before we then did a few other moves.

Afterwards Rocky asked me, "Can you do a full nelson?" I told him yes. He then turned his back and said "do it". I thought, this is going to be easy. I tried to put my hands behind his neck. Hell, they wouldn’t even reach. I was struggling with all my might. I keep wondering what the heck is going on. Rocky replied, "I thought you knew how to do a full-nelson," then started laughing. I replied, "I do". I tried a few more times, still the same with no success. Finally, he said, "Okay, try it again", this time I struggled and barely got my fingers to lock.  What was happening: Rocky was flexing his lats, whenever I would try to put a full nelson on him. His lats are so massive that when he flexed them there was no way I could apply a full-nelson.

An aside:  while I know I am supposed to write about my time in Hawaii, I've asked the webmaster to grant me some leniency and allow me to comment on recent events going on in Davie, FL regarding Rocky Johnson that I've read on the internet.

My personal take about Rocky Johnson:

Rocky is a fun loving guy, who really likes to joke and pull ribs on people. He was good to me in Hawaii. I ate many meals at his table, if I hadn’t I would have been hungry. He did things with me, my own father never did (not knocking my father). I got to do things I never would have gotten to do.

One occasion that stands out in my mind is when he took Ritchie, myself, Dwayne and Steve ice skating, and outskated everyone on the ice. He and his wife Ata gave me 3 ring jackets, each one beautiful and painstakingly hand made. If I would have purchased them, no telling how many hundreds of dollars that would cost me.  I was using their brand new Thunderbird, when a girl ran a stop sign and hit us.  When I called him, all he was worried about was if I was alright along with everyone else.

In some ways, Rocky Johnson probably saved my life. I met him at a time when I was headed down the road to destruction. I was a real heavy drinker, so much that it was getting me in to trouble. So bad that I went into counseling. I remember being so ashamed telling him that I had to go. Rocky and Ata both were very supportive, telling me to stay in touch, come and see them and most important, they didn’t think any less of me.  Looking back, I can see how I am now and have patterned my life after him.