If there’s one way to confuse wrestling fans it’s by changing wrestler’s names. We get used to them ass one name only to have the powers that be change it when they join the WWE and it’s for a simple reason.
Trademarks, in our opinion.
That’s what it seems like as it’s been reported the WWE doesn’t want any new talent going by their own names or names they’ve used elsewhere.
Vince McMahon wants them to have WWE names, like Bron Breakker, so they’re WWE property.
This means that the WWE owns the trademarks on the names and if the talent goes elsewhere they can’t take the name with them and they basically have to start over in building themselves back up.
It’s not a surprise given the various trademark battles the WWE has been in with Ryback and others, and the reports that one of the reasons Cody returned to the WWE was to use the Rhodes name, which he wasn’t previously allowed to use due to it being trademarked by the WWE.
Previously, it was stated that Vince thinks shorter names are simpler to remember, hence Matt Riddle becoming Riddle and so on.
Others that have had their names changed recently are Marcel Barthel (Ludwig Kaiser), Austin Theory (Theory), and Raquel Gonzalez (Raquel Rodriguez) to name a few.
Released memo
According to Dave Meltzer, the WWE released a memo that stated this only applies to new talent, meaning older wrestlers like Randy Orton will most likely keep their names.
From f4online.com:
“The actual story behind this is all the talent got a memo and Vince McMahon decreed he doesn’t want anyone new using their real names anymore, nor names they’ve used before on the indie scene. Walter became Gunther because Walter was both his real name and a name he used on the independent scene. Raquel Gonzalez kept Raquel (not her real name) but had to drop Gonzalez (her real name). Many thought Austin Theory dropped the Austin because of Steve Austin, but it’s actually because his real name is Austin White. Raul Mendoza is a WWE name, except Raul really is his first name so he had to ditch it. As is always the case, the memo only applies to people who are newer and who they decided it applies to. Randy Orton isn’t going to change to Frank Trevino and Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey don’t have this applied to them. It would be nutty if Riddle has to change his name because Riddle really is his last name, but it looks like this applies mostly to people just coming to the main roster and this doesn’t apply to Cody Rhodes,” Meltzer wrote.
“But from this point forward, they don’t want anyone new using former names from elsewhere or real first or last names. Except if you’re Gable Steveson. And this will change soon enough like it always does.”
Given the company forced their talent to either include them in their third party earnings or be fined and/or released gives credence this is for the trademark argument we opened with, but could there be another reason?
Let us know in the comments below.
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