5 strategic steps for Simone Johnson in her WWE career

Professional wrestling legend and Hollywood megastar Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s daughter Simone Alexandra Johnson seems all set to join the ranks of the WWE.

Granted that the 18-year-old has just started off at the WWE Performance Center, but if one is to believe the ongoing rumors in the pro wrestling community, Simone is a hardworking youngster with a true love for the pro wrestling craft.

With several notable names in the business praising the teenage prodigy, today, we look at some of the essential strategic steps Simone Johnson has to take in order to validate all the hype surrounding her work with the WWE.

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#5 Simone Johnson must start with NXT, and not the main roster

NXT is the place to be for Simone Johnson

Let’s start with the most obvious step – Simone Johnson has to get her feet wet in the NXT brand before moving on to the main roster shows. Now, most pro wrestling fans are likely expecting her to join the NXT ranks before she debuts on RAW or SmackDown, and this wouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone.

However, I’d like to draw your attention to the significance behind Johnson debuting on NXT. As the WWE noted on its official website, once she starts competing in a WWE ring, Simone Alexandra Johnson will become the first-ever 4th generation WWE Superstar.

Needless to say, this is a huge responsibility for the 18-year-old athletic marvel (I’ll touch upon that later), and both Johnson as well as the WWE wouldn’t want to throw her in the deep end right from the get-go.

Having her experience the pressure and atmosphere that comes along with performing in front of a live audience must be done in NXT, which would allow the young prodigy to make mistakes, learn from them, and still manage to keep her brand value secure.

In simple terms, any mistake on RAW or SmackDown is amplified several times more as compared to the errors that a Superstar may commit on NXT. And speaking of mistakes, we now ought to touch upon another important factor that’ll influence her WWE career.

#4 Simone Johnson should be resilient against a pro wrestler’s scariest opponent – The injury bug

Stay away from the injury bug, Simone

I remember speaking to an elderly gentleman about old school boxing gyms and the hard sparring culture that was prevalent in most gyms back in the day. I’ll be honest, we (respectfully) disagreed on a lot of things as regards to modern training habits, but one thing that we indisputably agreed on was how hard sparring sessions play a major role in damaging a fighter’s body especially in the long run.

Regardless, without getting too much into the boxing and combat aspect of things, what I aim to highlight is that the line between training hard and training smart is ambiguous. Some athletes – be it pro boxers, Olympic wrestlers (yes, Kurt Angle’s case comes to mind!), MMA fighters, professional wrestlers, you name it – fall into the bad habit of overtraining.

What we’ve learned thus far from the WWE’s promotional material as well as the pro wrestling rumor mill, is that Simone Johnson is an exceptional athlete and works extremely hard at the WWE Performance Center.

Well, that’s exactly what you’d want from a blue-chip prospect, but since Johnson is self-admittedly highly committed to the sports-entertainment industry, she has to exercise an abundance of caution and avoid overtraining. The injury bug is arguably a pro wrestler’s most formidable opponent, apart from obviously Father Time who’s yet another thorn in an in-ring competitor’s side.

The key to long-term success for Johnson lies in training smart and steering clear of the injury bug as much as possible

#3 Appeasing the pro wrestling ‘critics’, shouldn’t influence Simone Johnson’s style

Simone shouldn't let the negativity and undeserved criticism from industry experts change her style

One of the biggest problems the professional wrestling industry is facing today is that most younger performers have been engaging in this seemingly absurd policy of appeasement; drastically changing their wrestling style and personas to meet the lofty standards set by some of the more well-known pro wrestling ‘critics’.

Don’t get me wrong, in no way do I mean to castigate any critic, but simply want to emphasize that it’s the fans whose opinion ought to be given the utmost priority when a wrestler decides what style and persona changes he wants to bring about to his character.

I’d like to stress that not all newer pro wrestling performers fall into this trap of critic appeasement; but the ones that do find themselves entrapped in it, tend to turn most of their matches into mindless spot-fests severely lacking in-ring psychology and effective storytelling.

Considering that, it’s paramount for Simone Johnson to keep her mind free of the negativity and pressure that comes with the constant barrage of advice directed her way by the myriad of pro wrestling critics.

Johnson would be better off letting her passion and style flow instinctively, rather than condition herself per the guidelines set by the industry critics…That brings us to yet another challenge in the business today.

#2 Remember Rocky Maivia?

Rocky Maivia was an athletic character who lacked good promo skills

As we’d discussed earlier, Simone Johnson is a great athlete, and so is her father Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. However, The Rock needed much more than elite athleticism to truly break through as a megastar in this industry; to go from a generic character like Rocky Maivia to the electrifying Brahma Bull.

I truly believe that it’d be safe to say this is the most important aspect of her career that Simone Johnson must focus on, particularly in the rookie years when a performer is still finding his/her rhythm. To put it bluntly, no matter how good of an in-ring performer Johnson may be, the audience may not be drawn to her unless she manages to be entertaining.

Johnson has to work towards building her promo skills, which in turn would decrease the probability of her being overwhelmed by the unpredictable reactions (cheers, boos, etc.) from the live audience.

Most fans may remember Charlotte Flair struggling with her mic work in the early stages of her career. If Johnson is to avoid the same problems, she’d be better off devoting a considerable amount of time and effort toward the evolution of her skills in the promo department.

#1 Simone Johnson’s ascent to stardom should be slow and steady

Simone Johnson shouldn't be rushed to the throne like Charlotte Flair (above) was

Truth be told if an artiste (yes, I’m talking specifically about an artiste, not an artist) has that ‘It Factor’/’X-Factor’, he/she would reach the pinnacle of superstardom irrespective of whether they’re an 18-year-old prodigy or a late bloomer.

Nevertheless, in Simone Johnson’s case, the WWE would be better off taking a slow and steady approach.

Bear in mind that the company had previously accorded Charlotte Flair a monstrous push in NXT as well as on the main roster, and this was during the time that Flair was still battling against the challenges that one faces in cutting a promo with thousands sitting in the live audience and millions watching around the world. ‘The Queen’ eventually overcame the challenges and is now quite comfortable at cutting a good promo.

However, it’s quite clear that Flair’s early struggles in the promo department could’ve been avoided if only she was pushed to the top of the food chain gradually instead of skyrocketing past her competitors.

Simone Johnson appears to be incredibly passionate about the sports-entertainment industry and is potentially already taking notes from Flair’s rise to the top. Both performers come from pro wrestling royalty, and just like Flair, Johnson may face the intimidating prospect of finding oneself front and center on a global entertainment platform way too early in her career.

What’s best of business is for Johnson to spend about 2 to 3 years in NXT, and win gold in the yellow brand’s Women’s Division.

Following which, she’d likely move to the mid-card on RAW or SmackDown; then work her way up to the top of the Women’s Division and hopefully win both RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships.

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Which current WWE Superstars would you like to see Simone Johnson wrestle? Sound off in the comments!