For a while this year, things were looking great for Brendan Vink. Alongside Shane Thorne, he’d make his main roster debut and even get a tag team win over Ricochet & Cedric Alexander, potentially catching the eyes of MVP in the process. However, things wouldn’t pan out.
MVP would form a faction, but Vink was nowhere near that. Shane Thorne would go solo again in NXT for a brief time, before joining Retribution and becoming everyone’s favorite member as SLAPJACK. This left the 6’5 aussie with nothing to do, but he’s now changed his ring name, usually a sign that a talent will start to get somewhere.
Pulling from Australian sports royalty, Brendan Vink would take his name from a legendary Australian Football League player.
Brendan Vink Is Now Tony Modra
His new name is Tony Modra, which was also the name of a former AFL player who was famed for his high flying marks (a catch of a kick that has travelled 15 meters without touching another player or the ground) and for kicking goals. Modra played for West Adelaide, and won numerous accolades during this career, which lasted from 1992 to 2001.
Highlight clips of Modra indicate he was a master of catching a ball while also nailing a dropkick on another player, and are enough to send the average internet user down a deep AFL rabbit hole.
Modra was the top of his sport, and now Vink has intentions on using this name to get to the top of his. Vink has won gold in professional wrestling, namely being a former Melbourne City Wrestling heavyweight champion, an accomplishment he shares with Bronson Reed.
He held that title for a staggering 559 days, notching 11 defenses. While he’s had a rocky start in WWE NXT, this name change might give him the confidence he needs to reach the North American or even NXT Championships. The skills were always there, now it’s time for Modra to show them.
Do you think Modra will be set for some success in NXT following this name change? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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