Joe Coffey Details Training Sessions With The Rock Ahead Of WWE WrestleMania 40; Gallus Received Extra Pay, Project Rock Merch & Teremana

An in-depth look into Gallus helping The Rock prepare for WrestleMania 40.

The story of Gallus helping The Rock prepare for WrestleMania XL.

Night one of WWE’s WrestleMania 40 event was headlined by Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins versus Roman Reigns and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

It was the first time The Rock competed in a lengthy match since WrestleMania 29 in 2013. As his in-ring return was inching closer, Johnson trained with now-former WWE talents Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang). 

On the newest episode of the Refin’ It Up podcast, Joe Coffey spoke in detail about the training sessions and how the opportunity came to be. Joe and Mark’s parents were flying into the USA, and Joe bought tickets for them to go to Universal Studios in Florida. On the day he bought the tickets, Gallus were put in a group text by Matt Bloom.

He informed them that they were going to be flown out to Los Angeles, California, to train with The Rock. Coffey shared that he thinks Rhodes, Rollins, Reigns, and Paul Heyman were supposed to be there, but their schedules were tied up. Coffey said Gallus received additional pay for the training sessions, Project Rock/Under Armour merchandise, and a case of The Rock’s tequila brand, Teremana.

“I mean, it was a ridiculous experience (helping The Rock train for WrestleMania 40) … So, myself and Mark (Coffey) were getting a gym session in before we went into the PC… But my parents had come out to visit for 10 days and they get in the night before. So I’m sitting there going like, ‘We’re gonna go to Universal on the Wednesday after TV or something.’ So I’m just sat and I’ve paid 600 dollars for Universal tickets for all of us, and then I got a text group, and I thought, oh, that’ll just be the confirmation, and it was a text from Matt Bloom, saying, ‘Hey guys, pack your bags. You’re off to L.A. to train with The Rock.’ So my initial reaction was, ‘I’ve just spent 600 dollars on tickets…’ We have a really good relationship with Matt Bloom and he’d done a hell of a lot for us career-wise. Just (a) great guy… I’m waiting for the punchline. I’m waiting for the rib, and then Wolfy texts back going, ‘Is this a rib?’ And then me and Mark are like, ‘He’s trolling. This is for someone else,’ and he texts back like, ‘No, I’m serious. You guys are flying out’ and then me and my boys were sat there for a couple minutes going, ‘This is crazy.’ As I said, coming from Glasgow and Scotland where I felt there was zero professional wrestling, to be — asked to be, hopefully, help The Rock for the biggest WrestleMania match at that point. So it was great. We got our bags packed and then we’re sitting, waiting and we’re like, ‘I don’t know where we’re going for that’ and then he texts with travel, and it was like 4 o’clock at this point… ‘Hey guys, your flight was supposed to be 4 o’clock but just go to the airport. You’ll get the next one.’ ‘Okay, no problem’ so, we got to L.A., checked into a hotel downtown… And the next day, we get a text because it was supposed to start first day’s training I think. There was travel issues from Raw or something…

We pull up. I’m certain it (training location) was in Compton. It was just this little warehouse in Compton. You wouldn’t have thought anything was happening, and I think obviously, we kept it that way because he didn’t want press or, you know, kept it off the beaten track to avoid anything. So he pulls in and I’m like, ‘This can’t be the place.’ I’m just, ‘Nah,’ and it honestly felt like you were going to meet The Avengers or something. Because it’s The Rock so, we gotten in. Rock’s security guy is there, great guy. Just chatting to him and we got changed, got the boots on and we’re just ready and then, Michael Hayes came in, Bobby Roode, because I think they were producing the match. Chad Patton, referee. Larry (Heck), the trainer and we’re just waiting on The Rock and then you hear the pickup truck pull up and it’s The Rock and as he walks in, it’s The Rock. He’s got a presence, he’s got an aura. I just kind of try to treat it like it’s another pro wrestler. You try your best but you still will be like, it’s The Rock.

I just went up to him and I went, ‘So what do you wanna do?’ And he went, ‘I don’t really know’ and I was like, ‘Well, why don’t we just get in? …’ Because being from Glasgow, the word ‘Gallus’ means bold, confident, cocky. So I’m just like, let’s go. I’m excited. I’m excited to get in and work with The Rock in the ring, because I might not ever get that chance — probably not. So we go in and we start putting the match together. It was the tag team match which it was Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes against Rock and Roman (Reigns). So we’re all playing the different parts. I’m Seth, Mark’s Cody, Wolfy is Roman Reigns and The Rock is The Rock. It was a lot of fun. It was just a lot of fun and we’re just helping and then, after the first couple days — we know our place and are very professional. We’re not gonna touch into someone else’s match but to be fair, Bobby Roode and The Rock said, ‘If you guys have any suggestions, please feel free’ so, it was really nice professionally to be treated like that and you know, we did see a couple things which, little bits did get in the match which was really cool, and it was a great tag match and that whole storyline was just great. We weren’t a part of it but it was just nice to be a part of helping The Rock prepare for that… I think Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, I think Paul Heyman and Seth were supposed to be there at some point but again, their schedules were so crazy. 

He’s as humble as he comes across in interviews. We got paid on top of our salary for it. We arrived home and there was three and a half thousand pounds worth of the new — I’m sorry — dollars of the new Under Armour Project Rock line, some case of Teremana, a nice note from him. You couldn’t ask for anything more. Just a top experience.”

The Rock went on to pin Cody Rhodes in that match at WrestleMania XL and was involved in the night two main event with Rhodes and Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

The Rock was last seen on WWE programming in February when John Cena low-blowed Rhodes and aligned with Johnson at Elimination Chamber. Johnson explained his absence from the storyline, and to read his comments, click here.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Refin’ It Up with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.