For years, the People’s Elbow (or the Corporate Elbow, depending on his face/heel status) was The Rock’s signature move. It was a move that created some of the most electrifying moments in sports entertainment and led his elbow to legendary status However, while filming his upcoming 2025 movie The Smashing Machine, Dwayne Johnson injured that legendary elbow, and not by laying down the smackdown in the ring.
Ahead of the upcoming A24 movie’s October 3 release, the wrestler-turned-actor, along with director Benny Safdie and co-star Emily Blunt, sat down for an interview with CinemaBlend. We needed to know everything about putting on a ton of muscle and filming the movie on set. That included injuring his famous elbow after breaking through some doors in one intense scene he confirmed was shot completely practically.
Based on what we know about The Smashing Machine, Safdie went to great lengths to make it as authentic as possible, so it’s not all that surprising to hear he’d built a functioning house (real doors and all) for the shoot. Ss Johnson laid out to us, the director’s obsession with authenticity did come at a cost:
By the sound of it, Johnson didn’t have a ton of time to let his famous elbow heal, as he and Safdie also revealed the situation got even more painful after he “blocked” some kicks while filming the movie’s fight sequences. After taking a shot to the arm, the bruising and swelling came back.
Honestly, it’s amazing Johnson never severely injured his elbow during his wrestling career, as I’d guess he had to have used the People’s Elbow signature move thousands of times in the ring. The move, which saw him remove his elbow pad and throw it into the crowd before running the ropes and planting his elbow on a downed opponent, couldn’t have been good for his right arm. Yet, it did lead to some of the most utterly insane wrestling moments.