Simone Johnson Says She Was Told Fans May Boo Her After The Rock Took Cody’s Spot At WrestleMania 40
Simone Johnson, known as WWE’s Ava, reflects the backlash her family received around WrestleMania 40.
On February 2, 2024, fans were stunned when Cody Rhodes stepped aside to allow The Rock to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania despite winning that year’s Royal Rumble. This prompted major pushback from the vast majority of WWE fans online, with sentiment turning against “The Final Boss” as a result of the segment. Unfortunately, this extended to his family, including former NXT General Manager Ava. Now, former WWE name discussed what the backlash was like for her.
Speaking to Cody Rhodes on What Do You Wanna Talk About, Simone Johnson, formerly known as Ava, spoke about being warned that the crowd would boo her on NXT Vengeance Day just days after The Rock had taken Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania 40 match. Interestingly, she noted how the experience changed her view of wrestling.
“Dad came back. You guys shook hands. He took your spot. That was Friday. That Sunday was an NXT pay-per-view. I think it was Vengeance Day. It was gonna be the first time there was WWE programming since that Friday Night SmackDown. 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 he was like, ‘Hey, can I just talk to you for a minute?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ I don’t think I had filmed the promo that I was doing yet that day. We were about to film it. He was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, when we play your promo, please don’t be surprised if they boo you.’ And I was like, ‘Okay. I can understand that.’ That did happen. All of the hate online happened. And that day, it changed the way that I looked at fans overall and 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 it happened because it kind of just made me double down. It made me more confident in what I was doing and why I was doing it. All these external factors can happen, and everyone can have an opinion because of who I am or what my dad has done. It made me be a little selfish in my journey and what I was doing, but I think it was necessary. That Vengeance Day pay-per-view, it changed so much about how I thought about wrestling and my journey, and my place in wrestling. And you [Cody] reached out to me that day, and I’ll never forget that.”
-Simone Johnson
Famously, the overwhelming fan backlash prompted the company to go ahead with Rhodes as the challenger to Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at “The Show Of Shows”. This ended up being the launching pad for “The American Nightmare” to go on to become a the three-time former WWE Champion he is today, although things certainly could’ve been much different if those in charge had stuck to their original plan in February 2024.
On the other hand, Simone Johnson officially announced her WWE departure on January 30, 2026. Making her on-screen appearance in October 2022, she remained with NXT for over three years, initially as a wrestler and then an on-screen authority figure.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Rhodes addressed The Rock wanting his soul in the build to WrestleMania 41, revealing an idea he had to sell his soul to NXT’s Ava instead of her father in February 2025. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Simone Johnson as soon as we hear more.
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