Dwayne Johnson opens up about his return to wrestling: 'It's incredibly hard'

Dwayne Johnson has spoken about what it was like returning to the wrestling ring.

The actor and former wrestler appeared in a WWE wrestling ring in April this year; it was the first time in 11 years that he'd performed.

Now he's admitted he found it much physically tougher than he'd originally imagined.

"It's incredibly hard," he told People magazine. "The training becomes really extensive, and the training camp becomes extensive."

He continued, "So, I went (to) training camp for WrestleMania, which was about an eight- to nine-week training camp. It's really fast, and fortunately, I was able to get through it all."

The star then went through another seven-week training camp in preparation for filming The Smashing Machine, a sports drama film where he plays former wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. Emily Blunt stars as his then-wife. The movie is due for release next year.

Dwayne is currently starring in Moana 2 and has also just filmed the live-action version of Moana.

The 52-year-old, who was born to a Samoan mother, revealed how special it's been to see the island culture from Moana become well-known throughout the world.

"It's really been this incredible global embrace of our Polynesian culture and how really amazing that is," he said. "So it's a good time."