The Rock ’s daughter Simone Johnson has unveiled her new wrestling name as she gears for her eagerly-anticipated debut. The 20-year-old will make history by becoming WWE’s first fourth-generation superstar, following in the footsteps of her great-grandfather 'High Chief' Peter Maiva, her grandfather Rocky Johnson and her dad.
She has been signed to the mega wrestling corporation since February 2020 and has been training hard at the state-of-the-art WWE performance centre in Florida. She was even seen in the crowd on live episodes of Raw and SmackDown in 2020 while the company had to operate out of the Performance Centre due to Covid.
Simone has now completed the next stage of her development and took to Instagram to reveal the moniker she will use with WWE programming - Ava Raine.
Reacting to the criticism of her abandoning her family name, she tweeted: “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. [I] could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway."
The Rock, a 10-time WWE champion, is delighted his daughter has chosen to follow her dreams of becoming a pro 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." Back when Simone signed for the company, The Rock posted a photo of the pair hugging alongside a heartfelt message.
“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 penned. "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."
The youngster has certainly come from a rich family legacy which will no doubt spur her on to add to their success by carving out a successful career of her own.
