The Rock’s daughter Ava Raine (aka Simone Johnson) took to Twitter this week to respond to negative fan feedback over her WWE NXT name change.
We noted before how Simone is now being called “Ava Raine,” which could be a sign that WWE has plans for her call-up to NXT TV soon. As you can imagine, this new name change leg to fan criticism on social media.
Raine responded to one Twitter user who said it’s “completely nonsensical” to give The Rock’s daughter a new ring name.
They wrote, “Not portraying Arianna Grace as Santino Marella’s daughter is one thing. Giving [Simone]Johnson, the daughter of THE ROCK, a new name is completely nonsensical. Will hold judgement until she debuts, but if WWE doesn’t acknowledge her dad is The Rock that’s ridiculous.”
Raine responded and said she doesn’t understand why it’s such a big deal that she’s being portrayed as a separate individual from her family, adding that a name does not discredit any prior accomplishments from any family.
“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 [woman shrugging emoji],” Raine wrote.
Raine added in a follow-up tweet, “i could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway [woman shrugging emoji]”
She later wrote, “& im not trying to ignore or undermine all the sweet comments & support i get [rose emoji] thank you guys”
Raine also responded to a fans who joke about her not being called names like “The Pebble,” which you can see below as well.
WWE announced back in February 2020 that Raine had began training at the Performance Center. It was then announced in May 2020 that she had signed a WWE contract. Raine still has not made her NXT debut and it was previously reported that she likely won’t debut for some time as she trains and learns the sport. It was then reported back in May 2021 how the daughter of The Rock was making progress at the WWE Performance Center as the most-improved developmental talent in squats for a period of January – May of last year. She underwent a third knee surgery in September 2020.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more on Ava Raine in WWE. You can see the related tweets below:
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