WWE has entered the beginning stages in the process of building the career of a fourth-generation superstar with Simone Johnson, daughter of WWE legend and Hollywood superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and former wife Dany Garcia, reporting for training at the promotion's Performance Center in Orlando. Johnson is also following in the footsteps of her grandfather, the recently deceased Rocky Johnson, as well as great-grandfather "High Chief" Peter Maivia.
At only 18 years old, Johnson is inexperienced as an actual performer but has deep connections to the art as a whole. She had also previously been training part-time at the WWE Performance Center while finishing up high school.
"It means the world to me," Johnson said in a WWE release on her new full-time training status. "To know that my family has such a personal connection to wrestling is really special to me and I feel grateful to have the opportunity, not only to wrestle, but to carry on that legacy."
In the past, Johnson has stated her biggest fears with wrestling include the possibility of failing to live up to her family's legacy.
"Never meeting expectations that I have on myself, I think that would probably be the biggest [fear]," she said on the Swerve City podcast. "And just, like, not living up to the legacy. But then, when I think about that, I also feel like that's, in a way, comparing myself. So I feel like probably just never falling into that trap of comparing myself."
In the WWE.com release, WWE executive and legendary wrestler Paul "Triple H" Levesque spoke highly of Johnson's future as she transitions from part-time to full-time at the Performance Center.
"Simone Johnson's unbridled passion and incredible drive has earned her a coveted spot training with the elite athletes from around the world at the WWE Performance Center," Levesque said. "Not only does Simone now have an opportunity to cultivate and display her passion for WWE within the Performance Center, but she'll carry on the tradition of her incredible family lineage while creating her own impact as WWE's first fourth generation Superstar."
