In Los Angeles he took on Freddie Blassie, The Destroyer and John Tolos. In the late 1960s to mid 1970s, he was a major star in California. He chose the name Rocky Johnson as a tribute to two of his favorite boxing greats: Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson, the latter being the first black heavyweight boxing champion. Johnson began his career as a professional wrestler in 1964 in Southern Ontario soon after his debut, he legally changed his name to his moniker. Professional wrestling career National Wrestling Alliance (1964–1982) Initially, he trained to be a boxer and eventually sparred with greats such as Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, but was always fascinated by wrestling.
At the age of 16, Johnson moved to Toronto, where he began wrestling and worked as a truck driver. A Black Nova Scotian, he was descended from Black Loyalists who immigrated to Nova Scotia after escaping from a plantation in the United States after the American Revolutionary War, and also had part- Irish ancestry. Johnson was born Wayde Douglas Bowles in Amherst, Nova Scotia, where he was raised, the fourth of five sons of Lillian ( née Gay 1919–1996) and James Henry Bowles (1888–1957).