More than two years after signing with WWE, Simone Johnson, the 20-year-old daughter of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, took to Twitter on Sunday to officially announce her wrestling name.
Simone, who will go by the name to Ava Raine in the ring, is facing backlash from wrestling fans, who believe she should’ve chosen a moniker that pays respect to her father. One Twitter user in particular joked that Simone should have picked a name that connected back to “The Rock,” for example, “The Pebble.”
On Sunday, Simone took to Twitter to respond to the criticism.
“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,” she wrote. “A name doesn’t discredit any prior accomplishments from any family.”
In another tweet, Simone reminded fans that even if she did “build my entire career around my father,” people would still find a reason to “bash her anyway.”
i could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway 🤷🏽♀️
From there, Simone called out people for making worn out rock-related jokes, writing, “I beg of you guys to find a new joke. Anything,” before posting a screenshot of a google search in which she looked up “types of rocks.”
“Nothing in this category, please,” she added.
Simone’s Twitter rant ended with her reminding her fans that her response was all in good fun.
“I’m not trying to ignore or undermine all the sweet comments & support i get,” she said. “Thank you guys.”
nothing in this category please xx
& im not trying to ignore or undermine all the sweet comments & support i get 🌹 thank you guys
Simone is expected to make her WWE debut later this year. Back in 2020, she became the fourth generation in her family to sign with the company, following her father, “The Rock,” her grandfather, Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson, and her great-grandfather, “High Chief” Peter Maivia.
“It means the world to me,” Simone said in a statement at the time. “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.”
