Ava Opens Up About Receiving Hate From Fans After The Rock Took Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania XL Spot

Former NXT General Manager Simone Johnson, i.e., Ava, recently opened up about receiving negative reactions from fans after her father, The Rock, took Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania XL spot in February 2024.

Even though Cody won the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble, he stepped aside and gave his WrestleMania world title shot to The Rock on SmackDown, triggering immense backlash from fans on social media.

NXT Vengeance Day was the first WWE event that took place following the controversial SmackDown. Ava was heavily booed by fans at the event. During a recent appearance on What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes, Ava revealed getting a heads-up from head writer Johnny Russo ahead of Vengeance Day and how the negative fan reaction changed her perspective on how she looked at fans and the wrestling business in general.

Here’s what she said:

Ava on getting a heads-up backstage about possibly getting a negative fan reaction to her promo at NXT Vengeance Day

“Dad came back; he shook your hand; he took your spot. That was Friday. That Sunday was an NXT pay-per-view, Vengeance Day. It was the first time there was WWE programming since that Friday. I will never forget this. I was sitting in makeup. I finished my makeup, and our head writer, Johnny Russo, came up to me and was like, ‘Can I talk to you for a minute?’ ‘Sure!’ I don’t think I had filmed the promo that I was doing that day. We were about to film it. He was like, ‘Just so you know, when we play your promo, please don’t be surprised if they boo you.’ ‘Okay, I understand that!’”

On how the negative fan reaction changed her outlook toward fans and pro wrestling in general

“That did happen. All of the hate online happened. That day, it changed the way I looked at fans overall and changed the way that I looked at the wrestling business. For a while, I thought about it in a very negative way. It was quite negative at the time. In a way, I’m incredibly grateful that it happened because it kind of made me double down and made me more confident in what I was doing and why I was doing it.”

“All these external factors are happening, and everyone can have an opinion because of who I am or what my dad has done. It made me a little selfish in my journey and what I was doing, but it was necessary. That Vengeance Day pay-per-view changed so much about how I thought about wrestling, my journey and my place.”

Listen to the podcast below:

The Rock would ultimately step aside for Cody and turn heel, debuting his iconic Final Boss persona on the Road to WrestleMania XL. Meanwhile, Ava departed WWE earlier this year.