She stepped away from the business after her WWE run ended at the start of this year, but Simone Johnson has occasionally talked about her experience in developmental and NXT. Not on something as “pro wrestling” as Cody Rhodes What Do You Want To Talk About? podcast, however.
A couple years into her five-year stint in developmental, Johnson debuted on NXT television as Ava Raine, and aligned with Joe Gacy’s Schism faction. Her name was shortened to Ava, and she wrestled three televised matches during
that time, only one of which was a singles match (a two minute loss to Ivy Nile).
After Schism’s story ended, Ava became NXT’s General Manager. I thought Johnson grew into that role pretty well, but opinions varied. Almost everyone agreed it was a better fit for her than being a member of the active in-ring roster did.
But Ava isn’t ready to give up on those dreams. She told Rhodes on the latest WDYWTA that she misses wrestling and hopes she’s not done doing it.
“I hope not. I have a couple of injuries that I need to sort out. When that is done….I think (I’ll return). I do genuinely miss actually wrestling. For my last two months there…even when I was general manager, I was still training and wrestling, but for my last two months, I was in so much pain that I wasn’t actually wrestling. I do miss that.”
While there was some speculation Simone left WWE over it’s and parent company TKO’s politics, she told Rhodes it was that she didn’t see opportunities for growth at WWE. She revealed that when Rhodes asked leaving was a difficult decision:
“Incredibly. It had been something that I had been thinking about for about a year. I knew my contract was up in February. A couple things had been happening. There are a lot of different reasons why I chose to leave. It was incredibly hard, but I felt like it was time.
”I really wanted to grow, and I didn’t feel like I was in a position at WWE to where I could grow. I’m incredibly grateful for my time there, would not change it for the world, but I knew I needed to do something else. I needed to learn and grow and see what’s on the other side.”
Johnson is currently working as a junior executive at her parents’ Seven Bucks Production company, and making internet content with partner Tatyanna Dumas.
Think we’ll see Ava back in a WWE (or other pro wrestling) ring someday? Back in the business at all? Share your thoughts on it below, and don’t be a **** about it please.
