He’s the world’s highest paid actor, he’s got 13.7 million Twitter followers and he’s just got in touch with Ipswich Town’s new fans’ favourite James Norwood. Here’s the story behind Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson messaging the Blues striker.
Dwayne Johnson, who has had Hollywood roles in The Mummy Returns, Jumanji: The Next Level and the hugely successful Fast and Furious franchise, shot to fame in the late '90s and early '00s with his charismatic wrestling persona 'The Rock'.
And that is where the tale of Ipswich Town's viral goal gifs - short videos of players celebrating, deployed on Twitter to mark the moment a goal goes in - begins.
Summer signing James Norwood is 28 years old. He'd have been a teenager when 'The Rock' was at his peak. Wrestling was obviously his thing.
When the club's social media man Grant Pringle asked the players to perform for their goal gifs, most just mustered a fake fist pump or a simple crossing of the arms.
Not Norwood. He is a larger than life character who puts it all out there on social media. He sponsored himself in the club programme, for goodness sake. He proclaimed that he needed to come back with props.
His first was a tribute to former wrestler 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin. It consisted of banging two cans of beer together and pouring them down his throat. More than a million watched that effort online after his goal against Peterborough.
His second was a tribute to The Rock and his finishing move 'The Peoples' Elbow'. That video was unleashed after Norwood smashed home a penalty to set the Blues on their way to a 5-0 win at Bolton yesterday. Then the internet took over again.
The WWE, with its 10.6m followers, tweeted its admiration. And now the man himself, Johnson, has exchanged messages with Norwood himself.
It's another brilliant bit of publicity for the club during a weekend which has seen Suffolk's very own global superstar Ed Sheeran wearing a Blues shirt on stage during his Chantry Park gigs, which bring to a close the highest grossing tour of all time.
Word has it that Norwood has more goal gifs planned. And not just wrestling ones either. Watch this space.
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