Former WWE star Ava (Simone Johnson) has opened up about her decision to leave the company. The Rock’s daughter revealed that the choice had been on her mind for about a year.

The former NXT GM explained that she wanted to grow, learn, and explore new opportunities outside WWE. Ava also claimed that several factors influenced her decision. Speaking on Cody Rhodes’ “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, Simone Johnson said,

“It was something that I had been thinking about for, I think, about a year prior. And I knew that my contract was up in February, and a couple things had been happening. There’s a lot of different reasons why I chose to leave, and it was incredibly hard. But I felt like it was time.”

“I really, really wanted to grow, and I didn’t feel like I was in a position at WWE to where I could grow. And I’m incredibly grateful for my time there. I would not change it for the world. But I think I just knew, I was like, okay, I need to do something else. I need to learn and grow and see what’s on the other side.”

“There wasn’t one particular thing, unfortunately. It was like a lot of things and had been something that was on my mind for a while.”

Rhodes On Alternate Plan For Selling His Soul To The Rock WWE Angle

During the same podcast, Rhodes disclosed that he had an idea to sell his soul, but not to The Rock. The American Nightmare planned to give himself up to Ava instead of her father. The WWE SmackDown star said,

“You and I are the only people to discuss it. I did bring it up to one other person, two of my friends who work in WWE creative. But when the Final Boss asked me for my soul, and I don’t know, did you ever tell him this? I never shared it with him.”

“When he asked me for my soul, I thought, you know what would’ve been funny? Is to relent and give my soul, but not to him. And this is at the time when you were the NXT General Manager, to you. And I thought, that’s got legs. I’ll never say a word again. She’ll speak.”

“We would’ve crushed that. You know how often people, ‘Oh, he doesn’t want to, you don’t want to be a bad guy.’ I am open to all things. Whatever is the best. Whatever works. But I thought that would’ve been a real good spin.”

“I think we might have had something. Who knows, we might still have something. I thought it was such a fun spin. My soul goes to you and we would’ve wreaked havoc. Sold out every night. That was our idea. It never happened.”