WWE Superstars Who Could Be Affected By Vince McMahon’s New Naming Rule

April 17, 2022, 6:13pm

WWE’s roster has seen a growing number of Superstars undergoing name changes in recent months, with the latest examples being Austin Theory losing his first name and Kacey Catanzaro and Kay Lee Ray getting their names changed to Katana Chance and Alba Fyre. The reason behind all the changes was explained in a new report from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — “Vince McMahon decreed he doesn’t want anyone new using their real names anymore, nor names they’ve used before on the indie scene.”

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The report later noted that current major stars will not be affected by the new rule, so stars like Randy Orton, Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair and Cody Rhodes are all in the clear. Meltzer wrote, “As it 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. Humberto Carrillo isn’t a pushed name but his real first name is Humberto. Pete Dunne had to be Butch… 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.”

But a quick look at NXT’s roster shows that it could be a problem if and when they get called up (though hopefully the rule will be changed again by then). Check out some of those names in the list below!

Kushida

The six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion will run up against both aspects of the rule. His real last name is in fact Kushida and he used it all over the world before arriving in NXT in 2019 (with his persona virtually unchanged from his New Japan days). Kushida has been working as one-half of Jacket Time with Ikemen Jiro

Roderick Strong

Strong’s real name is Christopher Lindsey, but he was wrestling as Roderick Strong for over a decade before joining WWE. It also likely won’t matter that Strong has been with the NXT brand since 2016 and has already appeared on the main roster under that name.

Grizzled Young Veterans

Zack Gibson (real name Jack Rea) has been wrestling under that name since 2010 while James Drake’s real first name is James. A name change will probably be more likely for the former than the latter.

Joe Gacy

Gacy has been operating under that name since way back in 2006. He’s currently feuding with NXT Champion Bron Breakker after having kidnapped Breakker’s father, WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner.

Tommaso Ciampa

Ciampa’s real first name is Tommaso and he’s been using the Ciampa name since 2007. He’s also popped up in plenty of major independent promotions under that name, most notably Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling. He might already be in the clear given he was just called up to the Raw roster with his name intact.