Simone Johnson’s connection to professional wrestling has always extended far beyond the usual path of a fan discovering the product on television. As the daughter of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and a member of the Anoa’i family, Johnson grew up surrounded by one of the industry’s most recognizable family legacies. Her own time in WWE NXT, where she appeared as Ava and later served as the brand’s on-screen general manager, gave her another perspective on the business.
But the wrestler Johnson considers her personal all-time favorite is not one of her famous relatives. During an appearance on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Want to Talk About? podcast, Johnson identified Edge as the performer at the top of her list. Edge is now part of the AEW roster, but it was his work during a key late-2000s WWE period that helped make a lasting impression on Johnson when she was first becoming invested in wrestling.
Johnson explained that her introduction to WWE viewing came through her paternal grandmother, Ata Maivia Johnson. By the time Johnson’s curiosity about wrestling fully took hold, her grandmother had been ready to share it with her. Johnson began spending weekends watching older WWE tapes with Ata, focusing on material from roughly 2006 through 2009.
That stretch represents a particularly memorable period in Edge’s career. He was one of WWE’s defining main-event personalities of the era, moving between the company’s top programs with a mix of opportunism, intensity, charisma, and in-ring versatility. His rivalries with stars such as John Cena, The Undertaker, Batista, Jeff Hardy, and CM Punk helped shape the WWE landscape across both “Raw” and “SmackDown” during those years.
For more background on this topic, read Jim Johnston Recalls the Chance Meeting That Started His 32-Year WWE Run.
For a young viewer discovering wrestling through taped shows rather than simply following each current weekly broadcast, that period offered no shortage of major stories and distinctive characters. Edge was a central figure in many of them. Johnson’s selection is also notable because she revealed that she had not previously made that choice public.
A family introduction to WWE
Johnson’s memories of watching wrestling with her grandmother offer a different view of how fandom can be passed down inside a family with deep roots in the industry. The Anoa’i family’s influence reaches across generations of wrestling history, while Dwayne Johnson became one of WWE’s biggest stars before building a major career outside the ring. Even with that background, Johnson’s earliest personal attachment to the product was built through a familiar experience: sitting down with a family member and watching old wrestling footage together.
The 2006-2009 material that Johnson watched included the latter portion of Edge’s original full-time WWE run, before a neck injury forced him to retire from in-ring competition in 2011. He returned to wrestling years later and has since continued his career in AEW. For Johnson, however, the version of Edge that first stood out was the one she encountered on those older WWE tapes.
Her answer also underlines the difference between a favorite wrestler and a favorite match. A performer can define someone’s overall relationship with wrestling, while a single bout can leave an entirely separate, lasting mark. Johnson’s choices illustrate both sides of that connection: Edge is her favorite wrestler, while her favorite match came from WrestleMania nearly two decades after the footage she watched with her grandmother.
Flair vs. Ripley remains Johnson’s favorite match
While Edge occupies the top spot among Johnson’s favorite wrestlers, she named Charlotte Flair versus Rhea Ripley from WrestleMania 39 as her favorite match of all time. The contest took place at SoFi Stadium in 2023, where Flair defended the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Ripley.
Ripley emerged victorious and captured the championship in a match that received widespread acclaim for its pace, physicality, urgency, and the way both competitors built on the stakes of the title bout. WWE later included the match among its 50 greatest WrestleMania matches.
Johnson was in attendance for Flair and Ripley’s WrestleMania 39 showdown, and the live experience clearly elevated the match in her mind. She recalled realizing during the contest that she was watching the best wrestling match she had ever seen. That reaction speaks to the scale of a WrestleMania match as a live event, but it also reflects the performance Flair and Ripley delivered on the night.
The matchup carried an additional layer of history. Flair and Ripley had previously met at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, when Flair challenged Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship. Their WrestleMania 39 rematch presented a different setting and a different championship, with Ripley entering as the Royal Rumble winner and Flair established once again as one of WWE’s most decorated champions.
Ripley’s victory at SoFi Stadium was a major milestone in her career. It placed the SmackDown Women’s Championship around the waist of a wrestler whose rise had become one of WWE’s most prominent stories, while also giving Flair another celebrated WrestleMania performance. Their match has continued to be cited as a high point of WrestleMania 39 and as a standout women’s championship contest in the event’s history.
Johnson’s perspective after WWE NXT
Johnson departed WWE NXT at the beginning of the year, ending her on-screen run with the developmental brand. As Ava, she had initially been introduced as an in-ring prospect before moving into a prominent authority role as NXT’s general manager. That position regularly placed her in the center of the brand’s storylines, match announcements, and major event developments.
Although she is no longer with WWE, Johnson’s comments show that wrestling remains a meaningful part of her life. Her conversation with Rhodes moved beyond her own time in NXT and back to the viewing experiences that helped establish her tastes as a fan. The result was a pair of selections that span very different points in modern WWE history.
Edge represents the late-2000s WWE period that Johnson first experienced with her grandmother. Flair versus Ripley represents a contemporary WrestleMania classic that she watched unfold in person. Together, the picks reflect both the nostalgia of discovering wrestling through archived footage and the unique impact of witnessing a major match live.
There is also an interesting generational quality to Johnson’s choices. Edge’s rise as a top WWE star came in an era when Johnson was starting to watch the product. Flair and Ripley, meanwhile, delivered their acclaimed match during a period when Johnson had direct professional experience within WWE’s system. Her fandom has therefore followed a path from family viewing sessions to working on NXT television, yet the emotional response at the center of both selections remains rooted in the same thing: memorable performers and matches.
For Edge, the recognition adds another example of the long reach of a career that has crossed multiple wrestling generations. His work from the mid-to-late 2000s remains especially resonant for viewers who entered WWE fandom in that window, and Johnson’s comments show how strongly that material connected with her. For Flair and Ripley, Johnson’s praise reinforces the enduring reputation of their WrestleMania 39 encounter.
Johnson’s favorite wrestler and favorite match may come from different eras, promotions, and circumstances, but both answers point to the lasting power of standout WWE storytelling. Edge became the wrestler she most associated with the tapes that sparked her interest. Flair and Ripley produced the match that, in Johnson’s view, surpassed every other bout she has watched.
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Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.