Celebrity

'Spent all week trying to process the hard loss of my good bud, Brian Christopher Lawler,' the 'Fast & Furious' actor writes on Instagram.

• Aug 7, 2018

AceShowbiz - The Rock a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson is still coming to terms with the "hard loss" of his old wrestling buddy Brian Christopher, a week after he committed suicide.

The former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar, full name Brian Christopher Lawler, was found hanging in his cell at the Hardeman County jail in Tennessee on 28 July, three weeks after he was locked up on charges of driving under the influence (DUI) and evading arrest.

The 46-year-old son of wrestling legend Jerry 'The King' Lawler was transported to a Memphis hospital, but was subsequently pronounced dead.

A host of his wrestling pals paid tribute via social media in the immediate aftermath of his passing, but Dwayne only shared his heartache at the news on Instagram on Sunday night, August 05, admitting the death of his close friend had been tough to accept.

"RIP brother," he captioned an old snap of the pair during its wrestling heyday.

"Spent all week trying to process the hard loss of my good bud, Brian Christopher Lawler," Dwayne continued, as he fondly recalled getting to know Brian at the start of his professional wrestling career, during which he was known as The Rock.

*swipe left. RIP brother. Spent all week trying to process the hard loss of my good bud, Brian Christopher Lawler. He became a great friend the day I stepped foot in the small wrestling territory in the south known as the USWA to start my pro wrestling career. We rode together daily (1500 miles per week) trained together at any gym we could find, ate together at any Waffle House off the highway, wrestled together in flea markets to state fairs, shared motel rooms together, and would always dream (and talk shit;) about what life would be like once we made it to the big leagues of the WWE. Once we both finally made it to the big leagues of the WWE, nothing changed... we still did everything together. Including having nightly Madden tournaments after our wrestling matches in our motel room and then we’d extend our competitive spirit to a rowdy game of Wiffle Ball. Imagine us acting like crazy Wiffle Ball idiots at 2am in the parking lot of the Motel 6. Our jaws would hurt from laughing so hard. Then we’d finally take our butts to bed, hit the gym in the morning, drive 200 miles to the next town to wrestle and start the night all over again. I’ll miss these times now even more. Hurts my heart to know how Brian decided to check out. I never knew him to be suicidal, but I guess sometimes the pain just gets to be too much for one to take. I’ll miss you man and the times we had. Thanks for being a great friend. Thanks for being my boy. My love, light, support and strength to Brian’s father, Jerry Lawler and Brian’s mother, Kay as well as Brian’s family and friends. ~ DJ

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Aug 5, 2018 at 6:04pm PDT

The Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star remembered doing "everything together" with Brian even after they rose to fame in the WWE, enjoying late night video game battles and playing "rowdy" rounds of baseball-style sport Wiffle Ball in the parking lots of their motels while touring the wrestling circuit.

"I'll miss these times now even more," reflected Dwayne, as he expressed his sadness over Brian's suicide. "Hurts my heart to know how Brian decided to check out. I never knew him to be suicidal, but I guess sometimes the pain just gets to be too much for one to take.

"I'll miss you man and the times we had," he added. "Thanks for being a great friend. Thanks for being my boy".

Dwayne concluded the post by sharing his "love, light, support and strength" to his late pal's loved ones.