The Rock explains how pro wrestling saved his relationship with his daughter, Simone

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s family ties to the wrestling business are well-documented. He himself has shared a great deal about his relationship with his father, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson. He’s also offered the world a made-for-TV version of his upbringing on the NBC sitcom Young Rock.

In a new interview with The Pivot, Johnson opened up about the role wrestling now plays in another family relationship — the one with his oldest daughter Simone, aka WWE NXT’s Ava:

“I have the privilege and honor of watching my daughter Simone and… I had her when I was young in my 20s and you know, as dudes, we’re still trying to find ourselves in our 20s, in our 30s. If we’re lucky, we reach our fourth level and we find ourselves a little bit [laughs]. We get a little bit more wiser.

“So when I had Simone, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I was wrestling full-time, I started transitioning into movies full-time. I had so much shit going on so I like to say me and Simone grew up together. So we had a relationship where I was always gone but we tried to keep it together.

“Now, years later, as she becomes a pro wrestler, it’s actually brought us closer together. So in a way, it’s helped save that relationship too so, in many ways, pro wrestling has been my family’s savior.”

21 year old Simone officially started with WWE in 2020. She’s been on television with The Schism since last October, but has only wrestled in one televised match.

The Rock’s publicly taken a pretty hands off approach to Ava’s career, as she’s expressed a desire to forge her own identity in pro wrestling. It sounds like third and fourth generation wrestlers spend some time talking shop behind the scenes, though. And it seems those chats have done wonders for their father/daughter relationship.

Check out Dwayne Johnson’s entire chat with former NFL-ers Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder & Fred Taylor on The Pivot here. Thanks to Post Wrestling for the quote.