“I had about $800,000 worth of Investments”: Kenny Wallace’s guest Sadler unveils his ‘biggest setback’ linked to WWE legend Dwayne Johnson

Kenny Wallace's podcast guest Hermie Sadler recently opened up about his almost deal with wrestling legend Dwayne Johnson nixed by the WWE. The former NASCAR driver turned businessman revisited when he had poured around a staggering $800,000 to build the foundation for a new NASCAR team with the then-rising wrestling star.

Sadler, the brother of former NASCAR driver Elliott Sadler, competed in the national stock car racing series from 1992 to 2019. He invested the majority of his career in the Xfinity Series, raking in two wins and posting a career-best rank of 5th place. His Cup Series career also spanned over two decades, however, the frequency was far less than the National Series.

Beyond the track, Sadler actively pursued his entrepreneurial knack, owning car dealerships, hosting web shows, and promoting events. These business moves eventually led him to the world of wrestling, and soon, he struck a friendship with the now-$800M-worth Dwayne Johnson (according to Celebrity Net Worth).

In 1999, Johnson visited the Homestead Miami Speedway to witness the race, already deep in talks with Sadler to form a NASCAR team in collaboration with the WWE.

After settling on the decision and inking contracts, Sadler invested around $800,000 in buildings, cars, a crew chief, and more, laying the groundwork for a race team. However, just as the wheels were set to roll, WWE slammed the brakes, flatly refusing the deal.

"We cook up this idea to start a race team together, and so we work with WWE...we go through, sign all these papers, and I bought a building and some cars from Joe Bessey," Sadler told Kenny Wallace on Kenny Conversation(56:07 onwards).

"All of a sudden one day I get a call from an attorney representing WWE and they tell me, 'Dwayne Johnson is not gonna participate in this team, do not talk to him anymore, and you're holding the bag.' I said, 'What about these (signed) documents?' They said, 'Come after us if you want to,' but that was Vince McMahon and WWE. I didn't have millions of dollars to pay his lawyers to shuffle paper, and so I had about $800,000 worth of investments made," he added.

While Sadler inked a contract with Dwayne Johnson, he admitted being unaware of what deal the latter had with WWE that would've contributed to the contract termination.

---

Hermie Sadler talked to Vince McMahon after WWE canceled the collaboration with Dwayne Johnson

Hermie Sadler talks with Kevin Harvick (left) before the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

Vince McMahon, a successful businessman and the co-founder of modern WWE, talked with Hermie Sadler after the termination of the Dwayne Johson deal. It was after their conversation that Sadler realized McMahon wasn't involved in it and never took charge of the same.

Because Johnson was under contract, he was barred from signing a document that involved promoting WWE, as he didn't own the intellectual property rights; Vince did.

Notably, the former NASCAR driver admitted being aware of McMahon's ownership but assumed that Dwayne Johnson regularly communicated about their deal with the co-founder.

With no way forward, Hermie Sadler liquidated the assets over the following 18 months to recover his losses, as no one from WWE never brought up the deal again.