Simone Johnson is wrestling off haters who want to count out her professional name.
Johnson announced Sunday that she would be known as Ava Raine, and people on Twitter were disappointed the name wasn’t a nod to her father, wrestling legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“I’m slightly disappointed she won’t be known as The Pebble,” one person quipped.
Wrestling fans were disappointed Simone Johnson’s professional wrestling name wasn’t a nod to her father, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for People's Choice Awards“Pebbles!! Her dad’s the Rock why not!?” another added.
The 20-year-old clapped back on the overused joke by posting an image of a Google search of different types of rocks, writing “nothing in this category please xx.”
“i beg of you guys to find a new joke. anything,” she said in another tweet.
“Giving Simone Johnson, the daughter of THE ROCK, a new name is completely nonsensical,” another user commented. “Will hold judgment until she debuts, but if WWE doesn’t acknowledge her dad is The Rock that’s ridiculous.”
Simone Johnson announced Sunday that she would be known as Ava Raine. Michael Tran/FilmMagicIn response to the criticism, Johnson wrote on Twitter, “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.”
In a follow-up tweet, she said, “I could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway.”
Simone Johnson is a fourth-generation wrestler. KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty ImagesJohnson revealed her WWE persona by changing her Twitter handle to @AvaRaineWWE and sharing a GIF of grinning Nancy Downs, Fairuza Balk’s character in 1996 movie “The Craft.”
She signed a deal with WWE in 2020, but had her debut delayed due to a knee injury.
Johnson is a fourth-generation wrestler, and her 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. “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.”
She is expected to make her WWE debut later this year.
