Simone Johnson wrestles with haters who are dissatisfied with her professional name.
Johnson announced Sunday that she would be known as Ava Raine, and people on Twitter were disappointed that the name was not a nod to her father, wrestling legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“I’m a little disappointed that she will not be known as The Pebble,” one person said Quipped,
“Kieltsjes !! Her father is the Rock, why not !?” other added,
The 20-year-old slammed back on the overused joke by posting an image on a Google search of various types of rocks, writing “Nothing in this category please xx.”
“I beg your boys to find a new joke. Nothing,” she said another tweet,
“Simone Johnson, the daughter of THE ROCK, renaming it is complete nonsense,” another user commented“Will hold judgment until she debuts, but if WWE does not recognize her father is The Rock, that’s ridiculous.”
In response to the criticism, Johnson wrote on Twitter, “I probably sound like a broken record and hopefully this is the last one I will mention this, but I do not understand why people are portrayed as separate individuals from their family name is such a hot topic.”
“A name does not discredit any past family performance.”
In a sequel tweetshe said, “I could build my whole career around my dad and people would still bash me.”
Johnson revealed her WWE persona by changing her Twitter handle to @AvaRaineWWE en parts a GIF of Nancy Downs, the character of Fairuza Balk in “The Craft.”
She signed a deal with WWE in 2020, but had delayed her debut due to a knee injury.
Johnson is a fourth-generation wrestler, and his father was a 10-time WWE World Champion. Her grandfather Rocky Johnson and great-grandfather Peter “High Chief” Maivia are WWE Hall of Famers.
“It means the world to me,” she said in a statement at the start of her training. “Knowing 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 continue that legacy.”
She is expected to make her WWE debut later this year.