Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has struggled to come to term with the death of Brian Christopher Lawler.
The former WWE superstar was devastated to hear the news his close friend – known to wrestling fans as Grandmaster Sexay – had taken his own life on July 29 aged 46.
Reflecting on the close bond they shared, Johnson wrote on Instagram: "I’ll miss these times now even more. Hurts my heart to know how Brian decided to check out.
"I never knew him to be suicidal, but I guess sometimes the pain just gets to be too much for one to take. I’ll miss you man and the times we had. Thanks for being a great friend. Thanks for being my boy.
"My love, light, support and strength to Brian’s father, Jerry Lawler and Brian’s mother, Kay as well as Brian’s family and friends."
The ‘Skyscraper’ actor admitted it can been tough "trying to process" his friend’s death, and shared his memories of their early years chasing their dreams.
He said: "Spent all week trying to process the hard loss of my good bud, Brian Christopher Lawler.
"He became a great friend the day I stepped foot in the small wrestling territory in the south known as the USWA to start my pro wrestling career.
"We rode together daily (1500 miles per week) trained together at any gym we could find, ate together at any Waffle House off the highway, wrestled together in flea markets to state fairs, shared motel rooms together, and would always dream (and talk s**t;) about what life would be like once we made it to the big leagues of the WWE."
Both stars would go on to become big stars in WWE’s Attitude Era, and Johnson, 46, revealed how their remained close over the years.
He added: "Once we both finally made it to the big leagues of the WWE, nothing changed… we still did everything together. Including having nightly Madden tournaments after our wrestling matches in our motel room and then we’d extend our competitive spirit to a rowdy game of Wiffle Ball.
"Imagine us acting like crazy Wiffle Ball idiots at 2am in the parking lot of the Motel 6. Our jaws would hurt from laughing so hard.
"Then we’d finally take our butts to bed, hit the gym in the morning, drive 200 miles to the next town to wrestle and start the night all over again."
Dwayne Johnson remembers Brian Christopher Lawler
