Top 10 WWE Superstars who have changed their names

Leati Joseph Anoa'I, Windham Lawrence Rotunda, Claudio Castagnoli, April Jeanette Mendez. Those names doesn’t make much of a sense do they? Well Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro and AJ Lee are sure to ring some bells. A number of alter egos are a natural thing that comes along with the profession Wrestling career and we’ve been admiring most of the WWE superstars for the in ring name that they are assigned with.However, that ain’t permanent either. The WWE has a tendency to change the superstar names once in a while just to add some freshness into the character or for much more than that. And in the past few weeks, many of the wrestlers has been under the scanner for the names with some like Cesaro and Big E Langston even getting alterations in their names.The recent burst of creativity from the company has urged us to take a look back into the history and see some of the interesting name changes that the superstars have gone through. So let’s take the ride back and dig through the history to take out some great name changes.

#1 Glenn Jacobs (Angus King to Christmas Creature to Dr. Isaac Yankem to Kane)

Being the monstrous figure he is, Kane had some interesting names back in his early days. The Yankem character was the one which the WWE gave him as he was portrayed as a monster that Jerry the Lawyer hired to dispatch Bret Hart.

Before that Kane was the Christmas Creature and Angus King at Smoky Mountain Wrestling which were his initial attempts to be a professional Wrestler.

Once is dropped the Yankem character and started to come out as Kane, he quickly became a hit among the fans with his teaming up and feuds with Undertaker. And thats how a Christmas creature became an authority figure.

#2 Dave Batista (Leviathan to Deacon Batista to Batista)

Well his return mightve been a disaster, but one cannot just ignore the fact that Batista was one of the wrestlers that we used admire back in his good old days.

As most of the wrestlers, Batista also came through the development territory of WWE and he had a pretty much funny character back then. Leviathan, who had the looks of a Dracula or vampire with chain around his neck, was the designated character to Batista back in the his OVW days.

Then he took a name change and became Deacon Batista before he eventually joined the Evolution and dropped the Deacon. Making him stuck with the previous ones is unimaginable as the last one was the name which he clearly needed.

#3 Paul Wight (Big Nasty to The Giant to Paul Wight to Big Show)

Well the first two names doesnt sound bad for a wrestler of his size considering the fact that giant wrestlers were used in professional wrestling due to their sheer size and in ring presence.

But Show was something different for most of his career as he had the in ring skills to go with his size. The Giant was the name he had at WCW and proved to be a great enforcer for the New World Order. He then jumped to WWF to become enforcer again, this time for the corporation of Vince McMahon.

And Show got his name from their and never looked back. But the current situation of being pushed abruptly or not pushed in a saddening sight for everyone who loves him.

#4 Bryan Danielson (Bryan Danielson- Daniel Bryan)

Well this is just not a wrestler getting his real name changed, this one is much bigger. Thats because Bryan before joining the WWE was one of the hottest stars in the independent wrestling world. and wrestling under his real name, he quickly became famous all over the world.

And if someone wouldve signed him on for a Wrestling promotion, there was no problem with using the name since it was famous enough for any company.

But Vince McMahon had other plans. McMahon, signed Bryan and asked the creative to rebrand him so that he will be a completely new exclusive wrestler to WWE. It worked out well for everyone and with Bryans in ring skills taking him a long way, his real name and history soon got buried.

#5 Joe Anoa\'i (Leakee- Roman Reigns)

Reigns is arguably one of the hottest star in the company at the moment. But before he became the hard hitting muscle of Shield, Reigns used to run around the Florida Championship Wrestling of WWE as Leakee.

He used to be a babyface there who had a upper midcard or main event pushes and was known for the immense talent he possessed inside the ring. Coming from the family full of wrestlers including The Rock, Rikishi, The Usos and being the brother of Rosey, Reigns was destined to be in the WWE.

But the change of fortune came when the WWE decided to rebrand FCW as NXT with which Reigns also got a new name and after that we all know what happened.

#6 Dwayne Johnson (Flex Kavana to Rocky Maivia to The Rock)

Rock made his wrestling career under the name Flex Kavana and refusing to take his family name which had many big names like Afa and Sika Anoai (The Wild Samoans), Afa Jr. (Manu), Rodney (Yokozuna), Solofa (Rikishi), Matt (Rosey) and Eddie (Umaga). (And Roman Reigns and Usos now).

However, once he moved to the WWE, he got a much better name in the form of Rocky Maivia. Being the WWEs first third generation wrestler, Rock had a decent run under this name.

But soon Rock decided to drop the name and take up a heel character who started to insult the fans and called himself The Rock. He then went on to establish himself as the face of the company winning almost every title they had. Rock still remains as one of the most bankable names in the WWE due to the sheer star quality that it has.

#7 Windham Rotunda (Husky Harris to Bray Wyatt)

From just a plus one for the Nexus to the creepy guys who is the best mic worker in the company, the evolution of Rotunda from Husky Harris to Bray Wyatt was simply monumental.

Being from a rich wrestling family which includes the lights of Blackjack Mulligan, Mike "I.R.S." Rotunda , Bo Dallas and many more, Bray is someone who had wrestling embedded in his blood. However, it was the character and name change that proved to be the game changer for him.

Bray has all the potential to become the best performer in the company and he is not going need any more changes since his current character is simply the best thing that happened to WWE creative in the recent history. ,

#8 Mark Calaway (Texas Red to The Master of Pain to Punisher to The Undertaker)

Texas Red will defend his WrestleMania streak against Brock Lesnar, imagine that.

The name Undertaker is so iconic and legendry that we cant even imagine the above mentioned scenario. These were the names that Taker went through before settling for the eventual trademark name.

Its actually funny to know that every great wrestler had to go through some crappy names in their career and Takers is one of the best examples. The frequency of the name changes that he had in his early career were so high but settling for the Undertaker name for almost two and a half decades proves that every wrestler needs an apt name to reach on top of the food chain.

#9 Mick Foley (Cactus Jack to Mankind to Dude Love to Mick Foley)

Foley might be known for the crazy bumps that he took during his career, but one thing he doesnt get the credit is for the brilliance with which he made his characters a hit among the fans.

Heel or face, all three characters of Foley made classic matches and promos and the fans were clearly into each name no matter how weird it sounded. There wouldnt be any wrestler in the histories thatve had so much success with such different names as well, making Foley a rare breed.

The changes in persona that came with Foleys name changes also called out how great he was in pulling off the kayfabe characters. He also went on to win various titles and headline WrestleMania and still remains unmatched when it comes to delivering the same hype with every name hes given with.

#10 John Cena (The Prototype to Mr.P to John Cena)

No it isnt the character names of any Steven Spielberg movie nor is it the name of any comic hero, Mr. P was the name that Cena had to take up during his OVW days. Names like these make us realize that the wrestlers clearly had a tough time down in the development.

And more surprisingly, with such a silly name, Cena even went on to become the OVW World Heavyweight champion and reigned for more than three months.

If it wasnt for the name changes, we wouldve ended up with Mr.P headlining WrestleMania and it wouldve been Penation instead of Cenation.