After being cut from the Calgary Stampeders of CFL two months into the 1995 season, Johnson began training for a career in professional wrestling, following in the footsteps of various family members, including his grandfather and his father, Rocky Johnson, from whom he inherited Canadian citizenship in 2009.
His maternal grandfather, "High Chief" Peter Maivia, was also a wrestler, and his maternal grandmother, Lia Maivia, was one of wrestling's few female promoters, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982 until 1988.
He spent 10th grade at President William Mc Kinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Johnson graduated from Miami in 1995 with a Bachelor of General Studies degree in criminology and physiology.
On November 10, 2007, Johnson returned to the Miami Orange Bowl to participate in the festivities surrounding the University of Miami's last home football game at the stadium.