Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is proud to announce the admission of his late grandmother, Lia Maivia, into the WWE Hall of Fame for the class of 2024.
Maivia, a pioneer in sports entertainment promotion and one of the first women to reach such prominence, will be recognized posthumously.
Johnson honored Maivia’s legacy with a moving Instagram video tribute. She died in 2008 at the age of 77, according to ABC News.
Johnson posted an Instagram video of himself visiting his grandparents’ cemetery at Diamond Head Memorial Park in Honolulu, Hawaii. In a voiceover, the pro wrestler recounted his grandmother’s pioneering involvement in the professional wrestling industry.
“She took over my grandfather’s wrestling company here in Hawaii, and she made a promise to my grandfather when he was dying on his deathbed,” he went on to say.
Following the death of her husband, WWE Hall of Famer “High Chief” Peter Maivia, in 1982, Maivia took over leadership of Polynesian Pro Wrestling, a National Wrestling Alliance territory in Hawaii.
She broke barriers as one of wrestling’s first female promoters, according to a press release. Johnson praised Maivia in the post, calling her a trailblazer, family defender, and “the real Final Boss.”
Maivia’s significant achievements as a wrestling promoter included staging the event “A Hot Summer Night” in 1985, which featured WWE Hall of Famers Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Rocky Johnson, Dusty Rhodes, and Antonio Inoki and drew an audience of over 20,000, according to WWE.
While announcing her induction this week, the network said of Maivia, “her strong-willed business sense coupled with her love of sports-entertainment left a lasting and profound impact on the industry and the many people she influenced and impacted in her amazing life.”
Her induction into the WWE Hall of Fame is set on Friday, April 5, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.