'In a way, it truly was the Wild West'

Stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt discuss portraying characters who are still alive in new film The Smashing Machine

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n the 1990s, when Dwayne Johnson was still best known as wrestler The Rock, there was an overlap between extreme fighting and professional wrestling.

Extreme fighting was trying to get off the ground, and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was growing in popularity.

"There was convergence between professional wrestling and MMA through Japan and the United States, and a lot of wrestlers would try their hands at MMA while a lot of MMA fighters would try their hands at professional wrestling," says 53-year-old Johnson, who made his acting debut in 2001 with The Mummy Returns.

"As wrestlers, there were different cities we would go into and find the MMA guys performing in the same venues on different nights. We found ourselves all working out in the same gyms.

"In a way, it truly was the Wild West-some of these guys were fighting multiple times in one night, no holds barred, no rules, for little money. You had to just try to survive in the ring to win a couple of hundred bucks."

The world-famous WWE wrestler was also at a crossroads in his career at this time. He had suffered injuries in the ring and was beginning to wonder if he belonged in professional wrestling.

It was perhaps serendipitous that in 1997 Johnson first met the pioneering UFC Hall of Fame fighter Mark Kerr, who he is now portraying in his new film, The Smashing Machine, which tells the story of Kerr's life and legendary career.