Wally Buono praised by The Rock, the man he cut who's now the top-paid actor
While Thursday at the office was a rough one for Ottawa Redblacks' GM Marcel Desjardins (who left their game against B.C. after Lions' returner Chris Rainey was knocked into him), it was a pretty good one for B.C. counterpart Wally Buono. Earlier on Thursday, CTV Calgary's Ian White commented on the Forbes report that brief Stampeder Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was now the world's highest-paid actor; Johnson then commented on the tweet and praised Buono (the Calgary head coach and GM who cut him from the Stampeders' practice roster after a few months in 1995):
Johnson - @TheRock - cut from @calstampeders practice roster in 1995, had $7 in his wallet back then. @CFL #yyc https://t.co/NuSJ6Emkoz
— CTV - Ian White (@CTVIanWhite) August 25, 2016
Yes sir. Real low point in my life. Coach Wally Buono was a real class act/mentor. I'll always be grateful. #CFL https://t.co/t1iU8djF3f
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 25, 2016
Johnson then tweeted further congrats to Buono, who responded with praise of his own:
Go give that man @GM_Brillo a big ass bear hug from me. He has no idea what cutting me did for my psyche and drive🙏🏾 https://t.co/2HcqQ6z6FW
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 25, 2016
Dwayne @TheRock is and always will be a good man . Big ❤️ from your uncle Wally!!!! https://t.co/V7xFb0QljY
— Wally Buono (@GM_Brillo) August 25, 2016
As Patrick Johnston of The Province notes, the two have had friendly Twitter chats before, too:
Here's Buono's response from back then:
Being cut obviously worked out pretty well for Johnson, as he went on to become a huge wrestling star and then a huge movie and TV star. Funnily enough, though, if this had happened today, Johnson might have had a longer CFL career. While he was born in the U.S., his father is Canadian (Rocky Johnson, a famed wrestler in his own right). That gave him Canadian citizenship thanks to the tweaking of citizenship rules in 2009. Meanwhile, the CFL changed its own non-import ("national") rules in 2014 to now count those who were Canadian citizens as of the signing of their first contract.
Thus, if Johnson had entered the league today rather than back in 1995, he would have been termed a non-import and likely kept around. He was a talented football player who played at college powerhouse Miami (and although he was eventually replaced after an injury, his replacement was NFL Hall of Famer Warren Sapp), and the Stampeders clearly saw potential in him. With non-import status, he might have had a long CFL career, but hey, then the world may have missed out on his wrestling and acting performances. So maybe it's best things worked out as they did. Hopefully this eventually leads to a guest role for Buono in one of the Fast and the Furious movies, or perhaps on HBO football series Ballers.