The Rock’s daughter Simone Johnson reveals WWE moment that changed everything, ‘It changed the way I looked at fans overall & changed the way that I looked at the wrestling business’

WWE

Although she has departed her WWE era where she was known as Ava Raine, Simone Johnson (daughter of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) is reflecting on her run in the company.

From her earlier appearances as a member of the group The Schism (along with Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler/Zack Gibson and Jagger Reid/James Drake of the Grizzled Young Veterans) to later appearing as the NXT GM, Ava Raine had an interesting reign.

Sharing behind the scenes details of the fallout on a recent edition of the What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast hosted by Cody Rhodes, Johnson revealed that the fall out was real for her.

Final Boss backlash

Describing how the return of The Rock ended up having a big impact on her time in NXT, Johnson reflected on February 2024 moment that changed everything in the lead-up to WrestleMania 40.

While she was still appearing at the time on NXT as the general manager, there was a clear crossover in the controversy, even if her on-screen character had nothing to do with The Final Boss’ return.

“Dad [The Rock] came back; he shook your hand; he took your spot. That was Friday. That Sunday was a NXT pay-per-view, Vengeance Day. It was the first time there was WWE programming since that Friday. I will never forget this.

I was sitting in makeup. I finished my makeup, and our head writer, Johnny Russo, came up to me and was like, ‘Can I talk to you for a minute?'”

“Don’t be surprised if they boo you”

Going on to share that while she was prepped that when her promo was played, it was a possibility that fans would boo, she didn’t grasp how massive the backlash would get.

“He was like, ‘Just so you know, when we play your promo, please don’t be surprised if they boo you.’ ‘Okay.’ I can understand that. That did happen. All of the hate online happened. That day, it changed the way I looked at fans overall and changed the way that I looked at the wrestling business. For a while, I thought about it in a very negative way. It was quite negative at the time.”

While Johnson went on to describe finding a silver lining in the chaos of The Rock and Cody Rhodes’ storyline leading up to WrestleMania 40, ultimately she would depart the company in January 2026 after opting to not explore renewing her NXT contract.

New chapter in Hollywood

While she may have left WWE, it doesn’t mean that Johnson has stepped away entirely from working with her family.

Simone has joined both her Dad The Rock and her Mom, titan of industry in her own right Dany Garcia at the Seven Bucks Productions as a Junior Executive.

The production company which was founded by Johnson and Garcia in 2012 has produced Hollywood blockbusters like Jumanji, Moana, Jungle Cruise and more.

Transcription via Yahoo Sports

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• wwe
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