Are WWE character names really that great, or are we just used to hearing them?

[jadillac]

Depends on the name... sometimes they're good, other times not so.

There's names people initially hated but over time, weren't bad at all. Seth Rollins > Tyler Black. Sasha Banks was a dope name. Finn Balor is dope. Cesaro was better than Claudio Castagnoli.

Really, the only time I felt they were consistently giving people bad names was that late-00/early-10s time period where they'd have these goof-ass names like "Jackson Andrews", "Atlas Ortiz", "etc. that just didn't sound like a wrestler's name, sounded like they came out of a name generator

Hall & Nash also ruined it by making EVERYBODY think, "yeah let's just keep it real and use our actual names"

They were a special case.

 

[Larry]

You just get used to the name


There was a time when fits were thrown over the name Sami Zayn. Kevin (Steen) Owens and Kassius Ohno (Chrs Hero) got backlash as well around that time, but people were suuuuuuper hung up over Sami’s name and saying Generico’s career was dead on arrival because of the name + the fact that he was unmasked


Fastforward, I can’t imagine that little nikka being called anything else.


You get used to hearing it and move on lol

 

[Trips]

I feel it really kind of depends on the performer - but more so how well were they known under the other name before they came to WWE. To me most cases it is a wash. Like I have no real tie to do I think Claudio or Cesaro is a better name. Or Kevin Steen vs Kevin Owens. Even Rusev or Miro. Those all feel like a wash to me. I think you get into that the names are conditioned aspect when you have a hard time speaking about the person and not use their WWE name. So Paige for example I'm always going to think and call her Paige before Saraya. Trinity I still want to call Naomi, Sasha is always going to be Sasha over Mercedes to me. RIP to the man but I will generally say Harper instead of Brodie when talking about Brodie Lee. Moxley I knew of him as Moxley but wasn't sure if I'd get back to calling him that over Ambrose but I did.

Adding the Prince moniker at a period of time with Finn Balor was an added note, but I definitely think Finn Balor is a better name than Prince Devitt. You also end up with guys like Ziggler who his shoot name is meh and his work name is bleh. But, I'd rather he be Ziggler than Nemeth. Breaker better be a Steiner when he's called up. The kid has too much talent to not be given his birthright.

 

[Cattle Mutilation]

You just get used to the name


There was a time when fits were thrown over the name Sami Zayn. Kevin (Steen) Owens and Kassius Ohno (Chrs Hero) got backlash as well around that time, but people were suuuuuuper hung up over Sami’s name and saying Generico’s career was dead on arrival because of the name + the fact that he was unmasked


Fastforward, I can’t imagine that little nikka being called anything else.


You get used to hearing it and move on lol

Kassius Ohno is a really fukking stupid name though. It's a combination of Roman and Japanese names. He's a white boy from Dayton, Ohio.

At least the name Sami Zayn is of Arabic origin so matches up with who Sami is.

 

[Raw Sauce]

There's a science to doing literally anything, including coming up with catchy and/or memorable names. For instance, the three (or four syllable name) is really common when you think about popular wrestlers. A name that either has a widely understood word and a common name are really good too. An uncommon/foreign sounding last name that is still easy to read phonetically and pronounce also works really well. Having strong vowels like a hard E or A or especially hard consonants like Ks, Gs, or Ds in the middle also helps the name have some punch with the rhythm.

Hulk Hogan
Junkyard Dog
Jake Roberts
Mick Foley
Steve Austin
Shawn Michaels
The Big Show
Kurt Angle
Brock Lesnar
JBL
John Cena
Batista
CM Punk
Cody Rhodes
Cesaro
Roman Reigns
Seth Rollins
Finn Balor
Bray Wyatt
Trish Stratus
Charlotte Flair
Sasha Banks
Becky Lynch
MJF
LA Knight

Randy Savage
Undertaker
Randy Orton
Bianca Belair
Jade Cargill

Anyways, when you have an established organization with veterans who who understand this concept and apply it, it tends to have more consistently good outcomes than letting talent who don't have this knowledge do it for themselves.

 

[Larry]

Kassius Ohno is a really fukking stupid name though. It's a combination of Roman and Japanese names. He's a white boy from Dayton, Ohio.

At least the name Sami Zayn is of Arabic origin so matches up with who Sami is.

Sami Zayn still sounds dumb to me. But.. so does Lebron James.


fukk is a Lebron?


End of the day, the star will shine bright if the performer is like that.

We clowned LA Knight at one point. Name sounds like a G league basketball team… but now look at him lol. LA Knight is on more tongues than Eli Drake ever was. A name is a name. I’ve always thought Killer Kross / Karrion Kross was an ill wrestling name… but the nikka sucks, so it’s like



I feel like it’s less about a name and more about what you do with it

The Rock is about as dumb of a name as you can get, but the performer made that name legendary

 

[Cattle Mutilation]

Sami Zayn still sounds dumb to me. But.. so does Lebron James.


fukk is a Lebron?


End of the day, the star will shine bright if the performer is like that.

We clowned LA Knight at one point. Name sounds like a G league team… but now look at him lol. A name is a name. I’ve always thought Killer Kross / Karrion Kross was an ill wrestling name… but the nikka sucks, so it’s like



I feel like it’s less about a name and more about what you do with it

Killer Kross is a good name. Shame it was wasted on such a mid bum like him.