After Dwayne Johnson told pro wrestler Jinder Mahal “nobody likes you and you’re not funny,” he compared Mahal to his 2017 ‘Baywatch’ adaptation
Dwayne Johnson is letting his Baywatch movie sink.
Johnson made a surprise appearance at WWE Raw Monday night and took a moment during his time in the ring to poke fun at his 2017 action comedy, which served as a reboot for the long-running television series of the same name.
“If The Rock had to guess why you’re so angry it’s probably because nobody likes you and you’re not funny,” Johnson told fellow wrestler Jinder Mahal during a segment featuring a confrontation between the pair. “As a matter of fact, if you were won of The Rock’s movies, you would probably be Baywatch.”
Mahal set up Johnson for a second joke when he replied that he did not see the Baywatch movie. “Well nobody else did either,” Johnson deadpanned in the ring. “Shut your mouth when The Rock is talking to you,”
Johnson costarred in 2017’s Baywatch with Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, Alexandria Daddario and Yaya Abdul-Mateen II and played Mitch Buchannon, whom David Hasselhoff originally portrayed on the small screen.
While the original show ran for 11 seasons through the late 1980s into the 2000s, Johnson’s movie struggled to connect with audiences and critics. The film held approval from just 17% of 245 Rotten Tomatoes critics and only 58% of audience members who reviewed it indicated they enjoyed the movie. It did earn $177.8 million at the global box office after its release in May 2017 on a $69 million budget, per Box Office Mojo.
Johnson defended the movie as well-loved by fans at the time of its release, writing on X, then known as Twitter, at the time that “critics had their venom & knives ready” for the film. “Fans LOVE the movie. Huge positive scores. Big disconnect w/ critics & people,” he added.
Johnson is a WWE legend who won 17 championships after joining the wrestling company in 1996. He stopped competing in 2004 to embark on his acting career and returned in 2011 as a part-time performer. In recent years, Johnson retired from wrestling in 2019, but he made an appearance at WWE Smackdown in September.