Dwayne Johnson’s Daughter, Simone Johnson, Hits Back At Her Wrestling Name Backlash

Dwayne Johnson‘s oldest daughter, Simone Johnson, faced criticism about her upcoming World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) debut after revealing her professional wrestling name as “Ava Raine” on Twitter Sunday.

Some people shared their opinions about the young wrestler’s name, as they believe that it should connect to her father, known by the WWE as “The Rock.”

“Giving Simone Johnson, the daughter of THE ROCK, a new name is completely nonsensical,” one critic tweeted. “Will hold judgment until she debuts, but if WWE doesn’t acknowledge her dad is The Rock, that’s ridiculous.”

Simone responded to the backlash in a shared tweet.

“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,” she began her response. “A name doesn’t discredit any prior accomplishments from any family. I could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway.”

The young wrestler signed her deal with WWE in early 2020, but her debut was eventually postponed after suffering knee injuries that required surgery. Following her father’s career, she is a fourth-generation wrestler; her grandfather and great-grandfather were also pro wrestlers.

The Rock spoke about what he thinks about his daughter’s career path while The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in May 2020.

“It blows my mind. First of all, what an honor that my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps but more importantly,” he said. “But she actually wants to create and blaze her own path, which is just so important.”

“I’m very, very proud of her,” Johnson added.

After the announcement of his daughter’s commitment to WWE, Johnson said, “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,”