Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson can go toe-to-toe with wrestlers, giant monsters, and souped-up cars, but how did he fare against a $3 billion lawsuit full of outlandish accusations? The 51-year-old actor, known for the Fast & Furious franchise, Moana, and more, was a defendant along with 1200 other people (including his ex-wife Dany Garcia) and organizations in a massive $3 billion kidnapping lawsuit initially filed by a former wrestler in 2022. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed last summer for lack of merit, but you can read on to learn what the plaintiff accused the star of doing and which other celebrities were named.
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Why was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson sued?
Bob Levey/Getty ImagesIn October of 2022, Trenesha Biggers, a 42-year-old former TNA and WWE developmental wrestler who went by the name "Rhaka Khan" in the ring, filed a 48-page-long lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. The suit “TRENESHA BIGGERS v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, et al,” named Johnson and 1200 other defendants, alleging that they were all involved in a conspiracy to kidnap her and her two children.
In August of 2019, Biggers appeared on the list of El Paso’s Most Wanted Fugitives for the charge of interference with child custody. Some of the accusations she made in her lawsuit seem to stem from alleged, dubious-sounding events she said followed this arrest.
In her filing, Biggers made a number of unsubstantiated claims about Johnson, including that he had fathered and then kidnapped her child, stalked her for two decades in various disguises, directed another wrestler to attack her, attempted to murder her, spearheaded a conspiracy to blackball her from professional wrestling, and stole her wallet, driver’s license, and passport.
At one point in the complaint, Biggers posits that Johnson was operating on the direct orders of former President Donald Trump.
Her allegations against Johnson are just one small part of the lengthy lawsuit, however. An amended complaint, filed in July 2023, is 400 pages long, and contains even more outrageous and often incomprehensible claims.
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What other celebrities were involved in the lawsuit?
Jackson Lee/GC ImagesJohnson is just one of many surprising people named in the lawsuit. Some of the other individuals named as defendants include Trump, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Benjamin Netanyahu, NBA star Michael Jordan, Michelle Obama, George Foreman, Chris Benoit (who has been dead since 2007), and more.
In addition, several organizations and companies were named in the lawsuit. The state of Texas, the United States Army, Facebook, Instagram, U-Haul, Gold’s Gym, Victoria’s Secret, and the Walt Disney Company were also among the listed defendants.
In the complaint, Biggers lays out an extremely complex conspiracy—really multiple, seemingly unrelated conspiracies—writing that the defendants “are collectively operating as a single-bodied terrorist organization that has multiple heads.”
None of the defendants were ever served, and there was no movement on the bizarre suit for several months.
How does Dwayne Johnson know Trenesha Biggers?
Luche Libra USAIt’s unclear how well—if at all, really—Johnson knew Biggers. The two weren’t even active in the WWE during the same time, as The Rock retired from wrestling to pursue acting full-time in 2004 and Biggers didn’t get her start until 2005 when she was eliminated in the top 25 of that year’s WWE Diva Search before being signed to a developmental contract that ended in 2006. Biggers went on to wrestle on the independent circuit until she joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2008 to 2009. Her last official stint in the ring was with Lucha Libre USA from 2010 to 2011.
Given that Johnson is just one of 1,200 individuals or organizations named in the lawsuit—some of which Biggers clearly has no relationship with—their connection seems somewhat immaterial.
Why was the kidnapping case against The Rock dismissed?
Pablo Cuadra/WireImageOn June 12, 2023, Laura Taylor Swain, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, dismissed Biggers’ initial lawsuit because it did not follow Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which basically requires that the complaint contains “sufficient factual allegations to render the claim plausible."
Biggers filed some amended complaints, but all were dismissed. She appealed, and it went to the second circuit, but so far nothing has come of it.
The lawsuit, due to its nature as an implausible complaint from a person making claims that seemed obviously baseless, was not widely reported on in any major news sources at the time. And realistically, Johnson was never in any danger of being actually impacted by it in any way.
