18/09/2026
Former WWE NXT General Manager Ava (Simone Johnson) opens up about fans booing her following her father, The Rock, returning to take Cody Rhodes' spot ahead of WrestleMania 40:
"I don't think I've ever publicly talked about this. So, dad came back, you guys (The Rock and Cody Rhodes) shook hands, he took your spot, that was Friday. That Sunday, there was an NXT pay-per-view, Vengeance Day.
"It was going to be the first time that there was WWE programming since that Friday Night SmackDown. Our head writer, Johnny Russo, came up to me and was like 'Hey, just so you know, when we play your promo, please don't be surprised if they boo you.' I was like, 'Okay. I can understand that.' Then that did happen. All of the hate online happened.
"That day changed the way that I looked at... I think fans overall. It just changed the way that I looked at the wrestling business. For a while, I thought about it in a very negative way, because it was quite negative at the time. But then I think, in a way, I'm incredibly grateful that that happened.
"It made me much more confident in what I was doing and why I was doing it. It made me be like, all these external factors can happen and everyone can have an opinion because of who I am, or something that my dad has done... It made me be a little bit selfish in my journey and what I was doing, but I think it was necessary."
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