Dwayne’ The Rock’ Johnson’s daughter, Simone Johnson, has officially announced her pro-wrestling name two years after signing with WWE. The 20-year-old has been training excessively ahead of her upcoming debut – which has yet to be announced – but she could be entering the ring sooner than you think, having changed her Twitter handle to her wrestling stage name Ava Raine. WWE filed a trademark for the moniker on May 13.
The company announced the signing of Simone back in February 2020, just weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the world. While she was expected to have made her debut much sooner, Simone was also left to deal with knee complications which later led her to undergo surgery. But now that she’s recovered and has continued training for her in-ring debut, on top of having shared her stage name on social media, all signs hint that The Rock’s daughter is ready for action.
RELATED: Dwayne Johnson Says He ‘Would Consider a Presidential Run: “That Would Be Up To The People”
After signing her deal with WWE, the Florida native gushed, “First of all, what an honor that my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps but more importantly, follow in my footsteps sounds cliché, but she actually wants to create and blaze her own path, which is so important. It means the world to me. 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.”
Once Simone enters the WWE ring, she will have become the first fourth-generation wrestler in history, following in the footsteps of her great-grandfather Peter Maivia, her grandfather Rocky Johnson, and, of course, her dad Dwayne Johnson, who all enjoyed lengthy stints as professional wrestlers.
After eight years with WWE, Dwayne announced his departure in 2004 before returning in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013. The 50-year-old then went back to his skyrocketing career as one of the leading Hollywood actors, yet he still decided to make sporadic appearances as a wrestler until 2019, when he retired for good.
Speaking about his decision to step away from wrestling for good, Simone’s father told Live With Kelly & Ryan, “I quietly retired from wrestling because I was lucky enough to have just a really wonderful career and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. For a lot of you guys that don’t know, my grandfather wrestled, my dad as well, my whole family.”
And while Dwayne was somewhat sad to have let go of his ties with WWE, working at the firm was ultimately what helped him become the man he is today, the Rampage actor insisted. He further claimed that his success as a wrestler and the opportunities that came his way allowed him to build on his acting career.
“I actually had my very first match ever in the WWE in Madison Square Garden and it was a big pay-per-view, and it was funny because I credit my time and my journey in pro wrestling to getting me to where I am at today,” he added.