Simone Johnson is clapping back against the haters—so WWE fans beware.
Simone Johnson, daughter of famous WWE star and actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, has been following in her family's athletic footsteps. Her mother is entrepreneur and professional bodybuilder Dany Garcia.
Simone Johnson, 20, has begun pro-wrestling and was signed to WWE in 2020.
While Johnson has had to postpone her wrestling debut due to a knee injury, she hasn't changed her plans to wrestle and has recently announced her wrestling persona—an alter-ego many pro-wrestlers establish to promote their career.
Johnson thus took to Twitter and posted a tweet from her account with the name "Ava Raine" along with a gif of Fairuza Balk's iconic character portrayal of Nancy Downs from the 1996 witchy cult film The Craft.
\u201chttps://t.co/ciMhseI81Y\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653845464
Fans, however, responded to Johnson's wrestling name announcement with stark criticism, leading Johnson to quickly clap back at the haters in defense of herself.
Many fans were let down by Johnson's choice of wrestling name because they felt her chosen name should pay homage to her father's title of "The Rock."
After a barrage of call-outs on Twitter, Johnson responded to the controversy by making it clear to her fans she was tired of hearing the jokes about rock-related wrestling names.
\u201ci beg of you guys to find a new joke. anything.\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653860108
She retweeted a post that made the stale joke she should have called herself "The Pebble" and responded:
"I beg of you guys to find a new joke. Anything."
\u201cnothing in this category please xx\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653860387
She then followed that up with a post sharing a photo of a Google image search of rocks and captioned the photo:
"Nothing in this category please xx.”
Even with Johnson asking wrestling fans to stop with the jokes, however, fans continued to push the subject, prompting Johnson to, yet again, slam fans back in response.
\u201ci probably sound like a broken record & hopefully this is the last i\u2019ll mention this but i don\u2019t understand why people being portrayed as separate individuals from their family name is such a heated topic. \n\na name doesn\u2019t discredit any prior accomplishments from any family \ud83e\udd37\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861154
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.”
\u201ci could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway \ud83e\udd37\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861226
She then followed up her tweet with:
"I could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway.”
In truth, Johnson actually comes from a long line of wrestlers, not just her ten-time WWE world champion father.
Johnson's lineage also includes her grandfather, Rocky Johnson, and through her paternal grandmother her great-grandfather, Peter “High Chief” Maivia—part of the Samoan wrestling Anoa'i family dynasty. Both men are WWE Hall of Famers.
Twitter users are showing support for Johnson, aka "Ava Raine," during the criticism.
\u201cWhat is the issue with her wanting to create her own legacy? Her father literally did the same thing to separate himself from his father\u2019s legacy. He went from Rocky Maivia to The Rock.\n\nSimone Johnson to Ava Raine. What\u2019s the issue?\u201d— Andrew (@Andrew) 1653888401
\u201cI don't get what the fuss is about with respect to Simone Johnson taking on the ring name Ava Raine. She likely wants to find her own way and not ride her dad's coattails so good for her. That being said, WWE has to at least acknowledge her lineage since everybody knows.\u201d— Jimmy Van (@Jimmy Van) 1653922544
\u201cOr his Grandfather, High Chief.\n\nFour generations of wrestlers in the family, and Simone's the one that gets the fans being shitty. Holding her to a rule that none of the ones before her was subject to.\n\nWrestling is acrobatic soap opera, y'all. She can be who she wants to be.\u201d— Nome (@Nome) 1653931089
\u201c@AvaRaineWWE People are totally forgetting that The Rock didn't even start as THE ROCK He didn't even start as Rocky Miavia... he started as FLEX KAVANA for the same reason he wanted to pave his own way and make a name for himself. There is nothing wrong with individuality people.\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861154
\u201c@AvaRaineWWE I personally think it's better if you build your career on your own without having to use your past generations of family members as credibility. Like @TheRock says "don't try to be the next Rock, try to be the first you".\n@AvaRaineWWE\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861154
\u201c@AvaRaineWWE You just keep being you girl. You've got your whole career ahead of you and people who aren't lazy can do some research and find out all about your background. Be proud of something that is soley "yours". Good luck and all the best to you!\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861154
\u201c@AvaRaineWWE plus your father literally went by a different wrestling name to separate himself from his family. why is it such a difficult concept?\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861154
\u201c@AvaRaineWWE I bet the people complaining about this are the same ones saying that Charlotte Flair is using the Flair name to get ahead. \n\nDamned if you do, damned if you don\u2019t.\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861154
\u201cIf she was to use a name similar to her dad yall would be dragging her for using connections. She wants to build her career up on her own and that is commendable. Best of luck to you\u201d— PROOF THAT WE ARE NOT \u2077 WITH YOU (@PROOF THAT WE ARE NOT \u2077 WITH YOU) 1653941484
\u201c@AvaRaineWWE According to fans, If you use the name, then you\u2019re just riding the family\u2019s coattails\nIf you don\u2019t, it\u2019ll hold you back\n\nLet them hate cuz it\u2019s all they know lol\u201d— ava \ud83c\udccf (@ava \ud83c\udccf) 1653861226
Best of luck with your wrestling career Ava Raine.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram