It's no secret that NXT General Manager Ava is the daughter of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, but as is clear from her name change, she's making her own way in the world of pro wrestling.
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00:00It's no secret that NXT General Manager Ava is the daughter of Dwayne The Rock Johnson,
00:06but as is clear from her name change, she's making her own way in the world of pro wrestling.
00:11Born Simone Johnson in August 2001, Ava comes from a long lineage of wrestlers, dating back
00:16to her great-grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia. She's WWE's first fourth-generation
00:22star. In fact, Ava doesn't even credit her father for being the one to get her interested
00:27in wrestling, but rather her grandmother, Auta Maivia Johnson, who was married to The
00:31Rock's father, Rocky Johnson.
00:33I knew that I'd always wanted to wrestle since I was a kid, since I was like 9 or 10.
00:37Ava knew wrestling was for her when her grandmother showed her a collection of WWE DVDs dating
00:43back to the 1980s. That's when she knew she wanted to try for a career in pro wrestling.
00:48Ava graduated from a private high school in Florida in 2019, initially planning to go
00:52to New York University for college. A knee injury prevented that, though, and she decided
00:57to stay in Florida and pursue a professional wrestling career at the WWE Performance Center.
01:03Ava had publicly expressed interest in wrestling as far back as 2017, but she finally went
01:08through with the dream in 2020, despite her nagging knee injury.
01:12The then-18-year-old began her training with head coach Matt Bloom and assistant head coach
01:16Sarah Amato. Bloom has said that Ava knew she had a lot to learn, but was hungry and
01:21picked the brains of her coaches, as well as veteran superstars.
01:24In May 2021, Ava was named as the Most Improved Developmental Talent in Squats for the year
01:29so far. Paul Triple H Levesque, who was running NXT at the time, compared her to Charlotte
01:34Flair, saying she had the same strong resolve. He also noted that Ava was doing everything
01:39from helping to put up the ring to picking up towels, making her one of the hardest workers
01:43in the Performance Center.
01:44Ava was given her ring name, Ava Rain, in 2022, just before her TV debut. The higher-ups
01:50at NXT clearly wanted to change her name, and Ava explained on ex-formerly Twitter that
01:54it wasn't an act of disrespect to her family, writing,
01:57"...a name doesn't discredit any prior accomplishments from any family."
02:01She is fiercely independent. It's very important for her to make her own way, blaze her own
02:07trail, blaze her own path."
02:10After recovering from a third knee surgery, Ava appeared at an NXT live event in Orlando
02:15and cut her first in-ring promo that July. She called herself The Final Girl, portraying
02:20herself as a heel and running down Cora Jade.
02:23Ava officially debuted on television on October 25th, where she was revealed to be the fourth
02:27member of Joe Gacy's cult-like Schism staple. After removing her mask, Ava said that she
02:32had found love and acceptance with the group, and the three men completed her.
02:37Her first match came at the Stand & Deliver live event in April 2023. She teamed with
02:41Schism for an eight-person tag match against Chase Yu's Andre Chase, Thea Hale, and Duke
02:47Hudson alongside Tyler Bate. Schism lost that one, but Ava scored her first victory on the
02:52June 6th, 2023 episode of NXT, when she scored the pin in a match between Schism and Diamond
02:58Mine.
02:59Ava wrestled six matches between April and August 2023, with only three being televised.
03:04Her final match was a loss to Ivy Nile on the NXT Heat Wave special. By that time, she
03:09had dropped the reign and just started going by Ava. Schism disbanded in September 2023,
03:14and Ava moved on to become the on-screen assistant to Shawn Michaels, who had taken over running
03:19NXT.
03:20At the age of just 23, she became the youngest-ever general manager in WWE history in early 2024.
03:26Notably, her on-screen rise to power also coincided with her father being added to the
03:31board of directors of TKO, WWE's parent company.
03:35As general manager, she's been involved in multiple angles and made some big announcements,
03:39including the unveiling of the NXT Women's North American Championship. Ava's transition
03:44from wrestler to on-screen authority figure has raised some questions about whether she's
03:48still training in the ring.
03:50Michaels said in late 2023 that she was still on the active roster, but got more vague about
03:55it in April 2024, telling reporters,
03:57"...from a ring standpoint, we'll wait and see on that, to be perfectly honest, because
04:01she is doing a fantastic job as GM."
04:05It remains to be seen if Ava will return to a WWE ring, but fans can still see her every
04:09Tuesday on NXT.