Dwayne Johnson Reveals Why He Doesn’t Have A Six Pack

Dwyane Johnson recently answered questions about why his abs look like that.

By Dylan Balde | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Ever looked at Dwayne Johnson with his shirt off only to do a double-take, wondering about the unique placement of his abs? Neither have we, but now we can’t unsee it. The former pro wrestler’s abs are on a league of their own, a Wired interview reveals. Apparently, there’s a reason why The Rock’s six-pack resembles a scallop formation more than a six pack, and it’s got everything to do with a triple hernia surgery he had to endure in 2013.

Dwayne Johnson and Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt appeared on Wired’s The Web’s Most Searched Questions on Tuesday; one of The Rock’s most searched inquiries pertained to his six pack, which the Jumanji star only just confirmed isn’t a six pack, but a “five and a half pack” or sometimes a “four and a half.” Johnson explained he injured the quad of his pelvis during a 45-minute wrestling match, which escalated overnight by tearing through his abdomen wall. He needed emergency surgery to fix the herniated section, and every succeeding tear, and the pain was reportedly one for the books. “Well, it’s called a wrestling match for 45 minutes and the top of my quad popped off my pelvis,” he says with a laugh. “And the pain I went through… I’m gonna Google: what did The Rock overcome?”

Check out the full Wired interview with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt right here:

The standard human quadriceps are a twisting clump of interconnected muscles located in the upper leg. There are four in all, working in tight sync to keep movement above the knee as seamless as possible. The quads are directly connected to muscles in the pelvis and abdomen, so any rips from the waist down can result in catastrophic lacerations elsewhere. And when a surgeon has to fix a herniated muscle, particularly a “chain reaction” as physically onerous as this, the ancillary damage can sometimes manifest visually. In Dwayne Johnson’s case, it lost him at least half an ab, depriving him of the opportunity to develop a six pack naturally. He described the experience as “a tear of a tear of a tear,” hardly your run-of-the-mill wrestling injury. It is a wonder he even recovered at all.

Dwayne Johnson is quite the trooper, all things considered. He returned to the ring a few more times before his retirement in 2019 — and fans will note he stopped making regular appearances on WWE in 2013, the same year he sustained the injury — but found he could no longer continue. Whether physically or emotionally, it’s not clear, but judging by the way his face crunched in the interview, remembering the pain, we’re going to bet it’s both.

The Rock responded to the question with lighthearted fun, but Emily Blunt was a little more candid. “That is f*cked up. Who wrote that?” she says. “You know what, it’s not his fault, guys. What’s wrong with your abs? Where are your abs? You freaked him out.” She’s not wrong. Besides, Dwayne Johnson is already a million miles more jacked than your average working wrestler; we couldn’t care less if he’s missing an ab or two, or if his midriff resembles a giant (and very buff) scallop more than a Coke pack. He still has most of his contemporaries beat, including the very same Instagram fitness models fans are comparing him to.

Jungle Cruise, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, is already out in theaters and streaming on Disney+ Premier Access.