WWE referee shares heartwarming message from her father

WWE referee Aja Smith (aka Daphanie Lashaunn) recently shared a message of encouragement sent to her by her father.

Smith is the first African-American female referee in WWE. She was also one of the first two female referees to officiate a match at WrestleMania. when she oversaw the tag match between Rey & Dominik Mysterio against Logan Paul and The Miz at this year's 'Mania 38 ( the second was Jessika Carr, who officiated Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin on the same show).

Aja, who is married to the former NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff, recently took to Twitter to share a text conversation between her father and herself. Her dad messaged her about how he enjoyed a knee slide she performed while making a pin during a recent match:

"If I hit a really good slide into a pin fall, my dad makes sure to let me know.😎Apparently it’s trademarked. Lmao You can’t argue bc my daddy said so.😂🔥 My folks make me feel like such a badass referee.❤" she wrote

In case you missed it, you can check out the Monday Night RAW results here.

---

Aja Smith created history for WWE at Crown Jewel.

WWE made their most recent journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when to put up the Crown Jewel premium live event in Riyadh on November 5th. Referee Aja Smith made history on the show.

The event made history when it featured two women's wrestling matches. The 'Last Woman Standing' match for the RAW Women's Championship was officiated by a different referee. Meanwhile, the Women's Tag Team Championship match between Asuka and Alexa Bliss vs. Damage CTRL was overseen by Smith. She became the first African-American female referee to officiate in the country.

Jessika Carr also made an appearance on the same show. She became the first female referee to officiate a match in the country when she oversaw the match between Edge and Seth Rollins on Crown Jewel 2021.