Simone Johnson, The Rock’s daughter, has announced her new wrestling moniker. She has been preparing for her much-awaited debut.
Following in the footsteps of her great-grandfather ‘High Chief’ Peter Maivia, her grandfather Rocky Johnson, and her father, Simone will become WWE’s first fourth-generation superstar.
In February 2020, Simone has become a member of a major wrestling company. She has been training at the WWE performance center in Florida. Simone also appeared in the audience on live Raw and SmackDown shows in 2020.
Simone has now finished the next round of her training. She revealed her WWE pseudonym, Ava Raine, on Instagram.
“To know that my family has such a personal connection to wrestling is really special to me and I feel grateful to have the opportunity, not only to wrestle, but to carry on that legacy,” Simone Johnson said in a statement announcing her WWE deal.
The 20-year-old changed her Twitter handle to @AvaRaineWWE on Sunday to unveil her wrestling moniker.
She was quickly bombarded with queries on social media about why her name didn’t honour her famed wrestling ancestors.
“i probably sound like a broken record & hopefully this is the last i’ll mention this but i don’t understand why people being portrayed as separate individuals from their family name is such a heated topic. a name doesn’t discredit any prior accomplishments from any family.” she said on Twitter on Sunday under her new identity.
i probably sound like a broken record & hopefully this is the last i’ll mention this but i don’t understand why people being portrayed as separate individuals from their family name is such a heated topic.
a name doesn’t discredit any prior accomplishments from any family 🤷🏽♀️ https://t.co/vsr44PeUqc
— A V A (@avawwe_) May 29, 2022
The Rock, a 10-time WWE champion, is overjoyed that his daughter has decided to pursue her ambition of becoming a professional wrestler.
“First of all, what an honour that my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps,” he said.
“But more importantly, follow in my footsteps sounds cliché, she actually wants to create and blaze her own path, which is so important.”
When Simone first signed with the firm, The Rock shared a picture of the two hugging along with a touching statement.
“Dreams ain’t just for dreamers. Congrats to my #1 born, Simone Johnson on officially signing her wrestling contract with @wwe @wwenxt and on her way to becoming the first ever 4th generation WWE athlete,” the WWE icon wrote.
“Carry our family name proudly, but your road will always be yours to create, earn & own. So proud. Live your dream. Let’s work. #humblehungry #hardestworkersintheroom #4thgeneration.”