Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialWWE Superstars Who SHOULD Have Their Names Changed

WWE Superstars Who SHOULD Have Their Names Changed

3,244 views

TRENDING

Lately, WWE has been in another one of its fits where many Superstars have been forced to change their names. Some people received new gimmicks to go with this, while others were just written off as just “I’m ____ now.” Like everything, the new names have ranged from great to good to okay to disappointing to just utterly horrendous.

But we can assume WWE is not done with these shifts. More Superstars are going to get new names in the coming weeks and months, for better or worse.

That got me thinking about how there are some wrestlers on the roster that I’m actively hoping are renamed, rather than ones that I’m worried will be given a terrible new moniker. Maybe, just maybe, WWE can use this current trend for something good.

Here are my suggestions for WWE Superstars I’m personally holding out hope will be rechristened something else as soon as possible.

Pre-List Note #1: Superstars Who Are Off-Limits

Before even getting into my list, I have two things to preface this article with. The first is that there are people I won’t be including here because I assume they’re off-limits.

Yes, I hate the name Butch for Pete Dunne. I never liked the name WALTER, but GUNTHER isn’t any better. Raquel Rodriguez was such a pointless change and Kacy Catanzaro shouldn’t need to be Katana Chance (side note: I saw the suggestion on Twitter that she should be Katana Zaro, which would be so much better.)

However, WWE just changed these names. I don’t think I can justifiably put them down here as people I’d like to get a new name. There is only one example of that where I think there’s room to debate the possibility of a change, but I’m assuming Kay Lee Ray is going to stick with Alba Fyre and so on, so I won’t even dive into those.

Pre-List Note #2: The Real Name & Previous Trademark Fiasco

The second thing to preface is that this is a list of people I hope will get new names, rather than people I think will be renamed. My personal picks aren’t the same as predictions.

Since WWE is so focused on removing the real names from its Superstars, I fully expect to see Humberto get a new name (as his real name is Humberto Carrillo). The same goes for Tyler Bate, Mansoor and anyone else using a first or last name that coincides with what’s on their birth certificate (or close to it, a la Chris if you’re Christopher).

I’d imagine that will apply to someone like Io Shirai, too. That’s not her real name (Masami Odate) but she’s used it in other companies prior to NXT, so WWE will likely force her to rebrand.

Again, this list is about people I want to see get a new name, rather than who I’m predicting will. Keep that in mind.

Theory

The one and only exception I have to the “they just changed their name” examples on this list is Theory. Primarily, the reason why is because he’s in a completely different position than the rest.

There’s nothing to spark Raquel Rodriguez going back to Raquel Gonzalez, but Theory just won the United States Championship. His name being just Theory is absolutely ridiculous. Sooner or later, they’re going to realize that. Vince McMahon will be sitting in some meeting, someone will keep saying Theory’s name and it’ll click in his head that it’s absurd. We’ll hear some story about how he said “Goddamn, pal. Why don’t we just call him Austin Theory?” and it will revert in the same way Apollo Crews and Mustafa Ali did.

Alternatively, he needs a different first name. I’ve seen “All Day Theory” put out there, but I absolutely despise that, so I came up with another solution that they can retroactively make canon.

Let’s have Vince McMahon in a segment say that the reason why he got rid of the Austin name is due to Stone Cold Steve Austin. He’s sick and tired of hearing about Austin this, Austin that, and how he humiliated him not only at WrestleMania 38, but over and over since 1997. So he took Theory’s first name away from him because he doesn’t want that albatross associated with him.

In turn, Theory can say that he wants to take on a new name to honor how he’s Vince McMahon’s protege. Preferably, something that will make Mr. McMahon proud of him.

You can’t really do Vince Theory or Kennedy Theory, or even Shane Theory (but that would be hilarious). But Vince’s father was Vincent James McMahon. His grandfather was Roderick James “Jess” McMahon. You could get away with James Theory, Jamie Theory (not my favorite by a long shot), Jess Theory or Roderick Theory. Hell, he can even name himself Victor Theory after Vince’s mother Victoria.

Or, you can go in any number of other directions. Maybe he has another first name he’d like to go with and you can just write it off as a simple name change. For argument’s sake, let’s just say he tells Mr. McMahon “Well, my middle name is Zack” and Vince says “Perfect. You’re Zack Theory now.” That’s more of a justification than Raul Mendoza just becoming Cruz Del Toro, at least.

The point remains that above all else, leaving him as just “Theory” is going to make it more difficult for him to ascend the hierarchy and become that next John Cena. People won’t be able to identify that someone with that name is a WWE Superstar. It’s as lame as naming him Guess or Question without even a gimmick to go along with it. You remember Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, but you don’t remember Who.

Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss

Immediately, Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss need to have new names. These names were bad enough as is, but they’re way past their expiration date.

After splitting, Madcap Moss in particular needs to drop the Madcap persona. That means both the name and the stupid suspenders. His character has flat out apologized for the way he acted, said he didn’t like being that type of person and that he has no allegiance to Corbin anymore. There isn’t any reason whatsoever why he’d keep that name.

That means no “I think I’ll keep that moniker” bullshit like with Doudrop. He should just go back to being Riddick Moss.

The same goes for Corbin. Even if you keep him as the douchebag with those awful outfits who is beaming with joy just to try to rile up the crowd—which I think is a mistake, as he can find a better way to get heat—the name Happy Corbin is absolutely lame. Just go back to being Baron Corbin. Hell, even just Corbin is better, though since they have the Baron Corbin trademark, there’s no reason not to give him his proper first name back.

T-BAR

Christopher James Dijak has had several name changes in WWE. Naturally, they didn’t want him to stay Chris Dijak for too long. He’s been Dijak, Donovan Dijak, Dominik Dijakovic and in 2020, turned into T-BAR.

This name has been absolute garbage from the start of RETRIBUTION. That whole angle and all parties involved couldn’t save it from being trash. T-BAR never sounded intimidating, especially when you look on Urban Dictionary and see that it’s slang for a thong. Naming your tough wrestler “g-string” was only topped by Slapjack. Just look at the top entry for that.

Dijak is far too good to be a jobber on Main Event with the name T-BAR. Let’s repackage him into something better.

Dijak and Dijakovic won’t be part of the name. Neither will Dominik, to avoid confusion with Dominik Mysterio. Frankly, I have no actual suggestions of names I’d like to see him have, as I’m of the belief a wrestler should come up with those on their own unless there’s a specific gimmick. The Undertaker is a name straight from WWE Creative, not Mark Calaway himself. But Luis Martinez was able to come up with Damian Priest and others have named themselves after their relatives (Curtis Axel) or taken inspiration from pop culture (Dexter Lumis from both Dexter and Halloween). Maybe Dijak has some names in his back pocket.

I’d be cool with him joining Edge’s stable and rechristened something through that method. Edge can simply say that T-BAR is being reborn a new man under his guidance and is casting aside the moniker of his past in order to shed that negativity and start anew. From now on, he’ll be known as ______. That’s all the explanation you need to get him away from the awful T-BAR name.

MACE

Likewise with T-BAR, it’s more than past time for MACE to be something else. Brennan Williams was Dio Maddin for a little bit before they went with the RETRIBUTION angle and saddled him with the horribly generic name that makes him sound like one of many forgettable henchmen in a bad action film.

If they still have the trademark, go back to Dio Maddin. That was a perfectly fine name. If not, it’s time to come up with something else.

Funny enough, it looks like they might be repackaging him under LA Knight’s new faction “Knight Model Management” as, I’m not joking, FACE. If the idea is that he’s a model and “the face of the agency”, that can work in theory (not Austin), but it’s still something I can’t picture catching on.

That is, of course, unless they turn that into initials. If his name is something like Frederick Alan Charles Edwards, aka F.A.C.E., then that’s just silly enough to work. At least give him a surname, if not, and make him something like Face Maddin.

A-Kid

I get it. Carlos Ruiz was The Anonymous Kid, El Nino Anonimo, and that’s where A-Kid comes from. Ha. Ha. Can we move on?

He’s 24 years old, no longer a kid, and has used this name outside WWE. The sooner an alternative is figured out, the easier it will be for everyone to just move on and get over it.

Assuming WWE likes him enough to invest in him—which appears to be the case after he was given not only the NXT UK Heritage Cup, but also had some seemingly trial matches to test out his potential on NXT recently—I think this is on the bubble. He’ll get a new name by the end of the year, if not by the summer.

More than likely, he’ll just get some sort of generic name. One random day, we’ll find out that WWE filed a trademark for Antonio Munoz (closest I could think of for Anonimo) or something even more generic like Daniel Hernandez or whatever and he’ll just be that going forward. But A-Kid isn’t a sustainable name.

Nikki A.S.H.

At first, Nikki Cross trying out this superhero gimmick was something I was okay with. However, I’ve never liked the branding they’ve used of “almost a super hero.”

It isn’t catchy. You can even argue the initials would be A.A.S. (almost a superhero) with one more common variation of the superhero/super hero distinction. This gimmick went down the toilet a long time ago and she doesn’t even reference the “almost a” anymore. She’s just “Nikki who happens to wear a really bad outfit” with no character.

Revert back to Nikki Cross. Karrion Kross isn’t on the roster anymore, so there won’t be any confusion. She doesn’t have to go back to being the psycho who runs around the ropes, but she can just use her old name and try to find out the next incarnation of her persona.

Which WWE Superstars would you like to get new names? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

- Advertisment -

LATEST NEWS

- Advertisment -

Related Articles