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Have you ever seen WWE sign a wrestler that you were a fan of, only to see them be given a name that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue as their indie names did?
Happens all the time, and considering so many indie wrestling talents are now using their real names before they come into WWE, it feels off when they're given or forced to pick up something completely different.
Kevin Steen to Kevin Owens, Kenta to Hideo Itami, Athena to Ember Moon: WWE has always been about creating and maintaining intellectual property, so nine times out of 10, performers usually get a clean slate coming into NXT.
Still, sometimes they're unable to come up with something as good as the actual names of their performers. Today we'll take a look at five of those Superstars, starting with one of the most exciting newcomers to WWE.
#5 WWE NXT & 205 Live Star Isaiah "Swerve" Scott
Isaiah Scott has made it known in WWE that wherever he goes, whether it's NXT or 205 Live, it's always Swerve's House. He made his debut with the company in their WWE NXT Breakout Tournament and went on to face some of the best cruiserweights in the company.
With how much WWE loves alliteration, it's kind of shocking that they decided to walk away from Isaiah "Swerve" Scott's old ring name, Shane Strickland. Even more surprising, though, is that his real name would've lined up with that as well.
Stephon "Swerve" Strickland rolls off the tongue pretty well, and may have even helped out in the merchandise department. Still, it's not like Swerve is struggling in the WWE, as he's currently on the path towards the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Name change or not, all of WWE is Swerve's House.
#4 WWE NXT Superstar Dominik Dijakovic
This is a strange one because for so many years the WWE Universe has seen WWE shorten or outright drop parts of wrestlers' names for being too long. We've seen it most recently with guys like Otis and Tucker, formerly Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight, and Mustafa Ali, who recently got his first name back.
Others like Antonio Cesaro, Sheamus O'Shaunessy, Alexander Rusev, and more have suffered this fate in the past, and though we're used to those changes now, it doesn't mean that it didn't take a long time for fans to get used to them. Why are we talking about this? Well, when looking at NXT's Dominik Dijakovic, one has to wonder how long it will be until it's just shortened to Dijakovic or Dijak.
When looking at his real name, WWE simply could've used that and saved the fanbase all the trouble of having to get used to its eventual, inevitable shortening. Chris Dijak would've been fine. It's also easier to make a chant out of, which is something WWE fans, more so NXT fans, can't get enough of. Just seems like a missed opportunity to go from "Hey Baby," to "Hey Bayley," to "Hey Dijak."
#3 Former WWE Champion Roman Reigns
When someone belongs to one of the largest and most impressive wrestling dynasties in the sport, it's okay to capitalize on the branding of said family. It's especially true if WWE is going to keep bringing up the familial ties Roman Reigns has in pro wrestling.
The multi-time WWE Champion came to the ring back in October of 2018, then holding the Universal Championship over his shoulder. It's a moment that wrestling fans will remember forever, as it was the day Roman Reigns stopped being Roman Reigns and became Joe Anoa'i.
Reigns revealed that his leukemia had returned, and he'd have to step away to battle it once again. Following that moment, the fans that used to boo Reigns out of the building took a step back to appreciate who he was as a person.
At that point, the curtain was pulled back. We'd left the character behind, and in its place was a guy just trying to fight to be with his family, and maybe one day come back to the business that he loved. When that did happen, he came back as Roman Reigns and was quickly put into a Shield reunion with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
Why not continue on with the real man that we saw several months prior? The opportunity was there.
#2 WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat
This is kind of cheating. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat didn't start his career in WWE so it's not technically something that can be blamed on them, but his real name is worth putting on this list. Steamboat is one of the greatest professional wrestlers who ever lived. A former NWA World Champion, and possibly the greatest rival of Ric Flair, the WWE Hall of Famer certainly had an incredible career.
When he kickstarted his career, Eddie Graham noticed that Richard Blood bore an incredible resemblance to Sammy Steamboat, a wrestler from Hawaii. Graham actually felt that Rick Blood would've been a fantastic name for a wrestler, but only if he was going to be a heel.
Since he was a face, however, they couldn't use it. Therefore, Ricky Steamboat was born, and in some cases was billed as the son or nephew of Sammy Steamboat, though there is actually no blood relation there.
Still, a face couldn't be Rick Blood? Think of the promos. "My Blood's boiling now." "Rick Blood bleeds Red, White, and Blue." "Blood is flowing through the veins of (insert federation here)." Just saying, it's something that could've worked.
#1 Former WWE World Champion Dolph Ziggler
Looking at him now, nobody really bats an eye at the name "Dolph Ziggler." When he was repackaged after the horrible massacre that saw nearly five young careers killed off in 2006, Nic Nemeth began appearing on RAW, shaking everyone's hand and introducing himself as Dolph Ziggler.
Right away, the name was mocked, specifically for its "Ziggler" surname, and it took a while for fans to kind of get over the absurdity of it all. Cut to 112 years later, though, and Ziggler is a former World Champion, multi-time United States and Intercontinental Champion and WWE Tag Team Champion. Not only that, but he's been a standout performer in the past decade, having some brilliant feuds with the likes of The Miz, Zack Ryder, The Authority and more.
The Showoff, who managed to survive being a golf caddy for Chavo Guerrero when he was Kerwin White, a short career as a male cheerleader, and other such gimmicks wasn't going to let a strange name get to him. Interestingly enough, he revealed on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling Podcast that "Dolph" was his great-grandfather's name, and "Ziggler" was simply a name his friend suggested.
Are there any other WWE Superstars whose real names are better than their professional names? Let us know in the comments below.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
