The Rock Reveals How He Felt When His Daughter Said She Wanted To Wrestle
The Rock is a proud girl dad that recently opened up about how he felt when his oldest daughter told him she wanted to be in pro wrestling.
If you follow Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on Instagram and other social media accounts, you know that he’s a very proud girl dad.
The Rock and his current wife have two young daughters, but he also has an older daughter named Simone, who is 21 years old and his mother is Dany Garcia, who owns the XFL with The Rock.
Fans of WWE know Simone as Ava of the Schism group in NXT. When she debuted on television in October 2022, it was the start of her journey as a fourth-generation wrestler. She was originally named Ava Raine, but WWE decided to shorten it to just Ava instead.
Over the last year, Ava has proven to be a good talker and she is taller than many of the other women in NXT. However, she hasn’t wrestled that much yet. Since she’s so young, she has plenty of time to improve as long as she keeps working hard.
While speaking to his good friend Kevin Hart on Hart to Heart on Peacock, The Rock said it was a special moment when his daughter told him he wanted to be a wrestler.
“That was a special moment when my daughter Simone said, ‘I want to get in the business.’ Much like I said that years before her. ‘What business?’ ‘The wrestling business.’ I said, ‘I love it.’ Immediately, I loved it.”
“It was a great sense of pride as a father, but then, of course, as a parent you start to think about all the pitfalls, all the hardships, all that she’s going to go through because I’ve lived that business. There is the pomp and circumstance of pro wrestling; the pageantry, WrestleMania, the bright lights, big contracts, global company, but then there is that underbelly in the world of pro wrestling. All that s**t you have to deal with, the backstage politics, all of that. I start thinking about all of that for her.”
“At the same time, as her father, I have enough confidence to know that I have instilled in her, from what I knew, values, philosophy, and work ethic. I am so proud. She made that decision when she was 16. She was ready to go.”
“For someone to say, ‘here’s what I believe my life path is and my journey, it’s in the world of pro wrestling, that my great grandfather was in, my grandfather was in, my dad was in.’ She’s the first fourth-generation wrestler. Not only is that business difficult because you’re on the road 24/7, 365 days a year, but the pressure of who you are. She’s stepping up and working hard.”
The Rock Says Pro Wrestling Has Changed In A Good Way For Wrestling Women
As he continued, The Rock correctly made the point that women’s wrestling has changed for the better since he was actively in WWE 20-25 years ago.
“Twenty years ago we were there when we were on top with the Attitude Era. The role of a female wrestler at that time in that business, at that time, was hard. It was hard. That world today is much more inclusive, much more respectful, much more really creating and delivering efforts to make sure that all the females…they are aware.”