It’s not uncommon in pro wrestling for wrestlers to spend time away from home. Sometimes, following the dream of being a megastar in the wrestling business drives a wedge between wrestlers and their families. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is undeniably a revered WWE megastar-turned-Hollywood icon. But in a bid to become the greatest of all time, The Rock had to make sacrifices. This led to an estrangement between Dwayne Johnson and his oldest daughter, Simone. However, WWE, in a way, improved their relationship.
While Johnson is recognized as the most successful actor in the world by Gen Z, the millennials know him as a wrestling legend. The Rock was at the forefront of the Attitude Era alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin. Simone was born in 2001.
Naturally, The Rock wasn’t around very much at home during the peak of his wrestling career. But, The Great One recently expressed his gratefulness toward WWE to help improve his relationship with his daughter.
Dwayne Johnson says his daughter’s wrestling career saved their relationship
While speaking on The Pivot podcast, Dwayne Johnson reflected on his relationship with his oldest daughter, Simone. According to The Rock, he and his ex-wife Dany Garcia had Simone when The Rock was pushing 30.
At the time, the 10-time WWE Champion was enjoying the fruits of his stories wrestling career and transitioning into Hollywood. 2001 was also the year when Johnson was cast in The Mummy Returns.
“I had her (Simone) when I was young, in my 20s, and as dudes, we’re still trying to find ourselves in our 20s, in our 30s. If we’re lucky, we reach out fourth level, and we find ourselves a little bit. We get a little bit more wiser. So, when I had Simone, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I was wrestling full-time, I started transitioning into acting full-time.”
Although The Rock maintained a close relationship with his daughter, he wasn’t always around. During the interview, The Rock expressed his indebtedness to wrestling for allowing The Rock to watch his daughter follow in his footsteps. In his own words, WWE helped “save” their “relationship”.
“Now, years later, as she becomes a pro wrestler, it’s actually brought us closer together. So, in a way, it’s helped save that relationship too.
“In many ways, pro wrestling has been my family’s savior.”
Simone Johnson, now known as Ava Raine, made her debut in NXT in October 2022. Ava Raine was introduced as the fourth member of the Schism faction. The 21-year-old, unquestionably, has the superior genes of her father.
Even though she has huge shoes to fill, Raine is proving to be an invaluable addition to The Schism. It remains to be seen how soon Ava Raine will make her debut on the main roster.
Ava Raine once seemingly took a shot at Dwayne Johnson on Twitter
After aligning herself with Joe Gacy’s cult, Schism, Ava grabbed the headlines. In addition, Ava made it clear that she wasn’t brainwashed into joining the faction. In a promo interview on NXT, Raine praised Joe Gacy for being there for her while she was dealing with an injury during her time at WWE’s performance center.
Ava then hit out at people she never heard from that claimed to be close to her. WWE on BT Sport took to Twitter to ask The Rock how he feels about watching his daughter join a cult.
While The Rock did not comment, Ava took a shot at her father by tweeting “irrelevant”. As wrestling fans, we know that Ava was only staying true to her heel character.
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