Simone Johnson (Ava) Hopes Her In-Ring Career Is Not Over

Simone Johnson (Ava in WWE) began training at the WWE Performance Center in 2020, hoping to follow in the footsteps of her family.

As the daughter of The Rock, the pressure was immediately on, and injuries slowed her down early in her career. After a handful of matches, she moved into the NXT general manager role beginning in 2024. Her last match took place in August 2023.

Speaking to Cody Rhodes on What Do You Want To Talk About? Simone was asked if she’s done competing in the ring.

“I hope not. I have a couple of injuries that I need to sort out. When that is done….I think (I’ll return). I do genuinely miss actually wrestling. For my last two months there…even when I was general manager, I was still training and wrestling, but for my last two months, I was in so much pain that I wasn’t actually wrestling. I do miss that,” she said.

Simone left WWE at the end of January, opting not to renew her contract.

Elsewhere during the interview, she commented on her decision to leave the promotion. You can find her full comments here.

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