Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson became emotional while speaking about his daughter, WWE NXT’s on-screen General Manager Ava, during a recent media event for his new film, “The Smashing Machine.” The Rock expressed pride in his daughter for her determination to carve her own path in the wrestling industry without relying on his influence.
During the interview, which was posted by MTV UK, Johnson was asked how proud he is of Ava’s success. He had to take a moment to compose himself before answering.
“Oh man, I’m so proud of her. I got it. Let me lock in. I am so proud of her because it’s what I did and I love what I did and I love wrestling, I grew up in wrestling. She was born into it too just like I was and when she said, ‘Hey, I wanna do what you do.’ But the difference is — it’s where I get emotional because she’s like, ‘I wanna do what you do… I wanna carve my own path,’ and that’s the difference and that was a big deal when I heard that. You know, because it’s easy, I think, for any kid who wants to come up and do what their parents are doing to — maybe it’s not overt, but to utilize the influence. I’m telling you, it never happened. I never got that call. Like, hey, can you call someone? I never got that call and that’s the truth, and that’s the thing that makes me proud… When you don’t get that call — look, I would have been there anyway. I would have made that call. But when you don’t get it, it gave me a profound sense of pride because I was like, alright, I helped, with her mom, raise an amazing human being.”
Ava joined WWE as a trainee at the Performance Center and first appeared on television as a member of The Schism faction before transitioning into her current role as the General Manager of the NXT brand.