The apple does not fall far from the tree as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s daughter Simone Johnson decided she will join the family trade and become a professional wrestler! Over the Memorial Day weekend Simone announced her wrestling name ‘Ava Raine’ and fans wanted to know why she didn’t choose something different.
Simone Johnson is a fourth-generation wrestler and she’s set to make a mark for herself apart from her famous father’s name. She’s training at WWE’s Performance Center ahead of her in-ring debut on NXT 2.0. For those not in the know, Simone is the first child of professional wrestler turned big screen actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
It was previously reported that Simone got a new name ahead of her NXT debut. The Rock’s daughter will now be known as “Ava Raine” in WWE. When Simone Johnson announced her wrestling name, the internet wrestling community had things to say about it via Twitter.
It was not A. Hard Place, which is fine, but a huge missed tag team opportunity. https://t.co/bNG3FzenaH
— Parker (@pt) May 31, 2022
Should’ve been The Boulder. lol https://t.co/g1kSC1PpHD pic.twitter.com/z1gcy2q1LU
— Chaos (@Chaos_X_Gaming) May 31, 2022
I guess, “Pebble” was taken ? https://t.co/5WMLvgnSDK
— Bekah Berger (@BekahBerger) May 31, 2022
I mean…she completely skipped over Simone Rock, or Rock Simone but that’s cool. https://t.co/blYWBCUGBl
— BigNoseBreeze (@BreezeTheGod) May 31, 2022
“Stage name” feels so wrong. If she’s gonna use a new name, which we find bizarre, it should be “ring name” https://t.co/eqTO57mDtI
— TNA Creative (@TNACreative) May 31, 2022
I think Roxxie Rayne would if been better but looking forward to her debut https://t.co/09rZUAOjcj
— K-1 Haze?? (@Mr_Sir_Raider) May 30, 2022
Ok but it should have been Peb Bull. https://t.co/7O4vRcZSZ8
— Sarah Hartshorne (@sarahhartshorne) May 31, 2022
Simone took to Twitter on Sunday to respond to fan criticism regarding the annoucement of her new wrestling name. She doesn’t understand why fans have such an issue with generational talent trying to stand out on their own instead of using their family name.
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
— ava ? (@AvaRaineWWE) May 29, 2022
How do you guys feel about the WWE changing Simone Johnson’s name and not adding something to represent the four-generational legacy of the Johnson Wrestlers? Let us know in the comments!