Simone Johnson, daughter of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, spent six years in WWE, first as an in-ring competitor, then as the youngest general manager in history, leading “WWE NXT.” Johnson, who was known first as Ava Raine, then just Ava, in WWE, announced her departure in January. She has remained quiet, including on social media, after leaving the company, but recently sat down on “The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi” to talk about her career and what caused her to leave.
“There wasn’t one particular thing, unfortunately,” Johnson explained. “It was a lot of things and something that was on my mind for a while. I am so grateful for my time at WWE. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I got to live out a dream that little me always wanted to. But, I think it was just time for something new. It was time for something different.”
Johnson said she doesn’t regret leaving WWE, and she’s happy now where she is. She explained that her most recent Instagram post came when she announced her departure, and she hasn’t posted anything on her own account since. As for remaining in the public eye, Johnson said that she doesn’t think she’ll go back to an industry the level of WWE.
“I feel like so much of my life was public for so long,” she said. “My partner and I, we still have our separate Instagram account, BigUpsOfficial, where we do like little travel content and stuff, and I love doing that. But, I’m not sure if I would want to participate in entertainment in the scale that I did when I was at WWE.”
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