[Spam1985]

Any Superstar ring names that strike you as particularly awesome/odd/awful?
I'll hit you with a few:

The Good:

John Cena- His actual name, and it works. All good action heroes are called John.

Mark Henry- His real name, and the name was famous. Why change it?

The Undertaker- Perfect fit, even though he's not the best at burying people.

Bray Wyatt- Seems to fit just fine for a backwoods hillbilly.

Kane- Sounds suitably sinister.

Jack Swagger- It works. Needs to show a little more swag, but it works.

The Bad:

Sheamus- It's just a first name. Like "Bob". Imagine a wrestler called "Bob".

Big E- Just makes me think of a big letter "E".

Brodus Clay- "Brodus" just sounds dorky and "Clay" is something you make pottery with. I don't get it.

Ryback- He's named after a Steven Seagal Character.

Yoshi Tatsu- Reminds me of that dinosaur thing in Mario games.

Curtis Axel- Well... it's better than "Michael McGillicutty", but not by much. Whilst his previous ring name sounded too dorky, his new one seems like it's trying too hard to be cool.

The OK:

Dolph Ziggler- Kinda sounds douchy and overly flashly, but that fits the character.

The Miz- He's a Miz. What exactly is a "Miz"? He is. He is The Miz.

Drew McIntyre- "Drew" sounds like a girls name. But at least he has "Mc" in his name. If you don't have a "Mc" you aren't Scottish enough.

Daniel Bryan- Well it's a rejigging of his real name... not much to say.

Big Show- Well yes, he is big. And apparently he's a "Show". Not too bad.

Randy Orton- Do I make you randy, baby? Do I? Plain name.

Wade Barrett- Sounds like a very American name. How many Brits do you know called Wade? Not a particularly bad name per se, just unfitting (then again, maybe he isn't supposed to be a typical Brit stereotype like Regal was).

The Bland:
WWE Seems to love giving their "Superstars" extremely normal/generic names for some reason. Perhaps creative has a very limited list of cool names they don't want to waste on someone they won't push?

Dean Ambrose- Reminds me of Ambrosia Custard.
Seth Rollins
Luke Harper
Erick Rowan
Darren Young
Evan Bourne
Justin Gabriel
Damian Sandow
and many more...

One more thing... what's with giving the divas a generic, common first name and nothing more?
Emma
Paige
Naomi
Cameron
Natalya
Lana
Layla

 

[RyanPelley]

I thimk Sheamus is a good name for the American audience, since its not a common name to us. I could see why say, an Irish crowd, would view it was just a typical name.

 

[tabish.f16]

I see your point...what the hell kind of a name is Bo Dallas? fpalm

 

[TheWeasel]

I really dislike the name Sami Zayn.

 

[Joshi Judas]

Dean Ambrose is a badass name though.

Agreed about the divas. But they have a lot of divas with 2 names too-

Nikki Bella
Brie Bella
Eva Marie
Rosa Mendes
Alicia Fox
AJ Lee (?)
Tamina Snuka
Sasha Banks
Summer Rae
Alexa Bliss
Devin Taylor
Renee Young
Eden Stiles
Raquel Diaz
Becky Lynch
Veronica Lane

:draper2

 

[Barry Horowitz]

The Undertaker- Perfect fit, even though he's not the best at burying people.

The funny thing here is, Paul Bearer's character is that of a mortician (not a pall bearer as his name pun would suggest) and therefore the actual "undertaker".

Kane- Sounds suitably sinister.

It is also what the Undertaker's original name was when he debuted, "Kane, the Undertaker". The Kane part was obviously dropped very quickly.

Jack Swagger- It works. Needs to show a little more swag, but it works.

Hilarious given his lisp. He can't say his own name without giving his opponents something to mock.

Big E- Just makes me think of a big letter "E".

Or an arts and music festival. Or an illicit drug.

Dolph Ziggler- Kinda sounds douchy and overly flashly, but that fits the character.

It sounds like he should be in a tag team with Val Venis.

The Miz- He's a Miz. What exactly is a "Miz"? He is. He is The Miz.

It's obviously a shortened version of his last name, Mizanin, but that has never, ever been explained on WWE TV. So a random guy who calls himself the Miz with no explanation just... exists... somewhere. It would be awesome if he ever used the phrase "Nobody beats the MIZ" in his promos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAR6qGvxE8Y

Daniel Bryan- Well it's a rejigging of his real name... not much to say.

A good move because you can actually cheer it. Dan-iel Bry-an!! *clap 5x*

Big Show- Well yes, he is big. And apparently he's a "Show". Not too bad.

Hated it at first, but it's one of those names like Big Boss Man or Triple H that after a while, you just get used to is and stop about thinking how silly it actually is.

 

[samizayn]

OP is right. I want some more zazz in the diva names. Less Emma, more THE DARK DESTROYER OF HADES pls.

I thimk Sheamus is a good name for the American audience, since its not a common name to us. I could see why say, an Irish crowd, would view it was just a typical name.

An Irish crowd wouldn't see it as a typical name because it's not an Irish name. Plenty of Seamuses, but this is the first and only Sheamus I have ever encountered :lol

I really dislike the name Sami Zayn.

What, that's crazy! That's... inzayn.

 

[PalladiumL]

David Otunga sounds classy.

 

[TheWeasel]

What, that's crazy! That's... inzayn.

Let's be Syria's for a moment. He's a great talent but a name like that could lead to Rami-fications...I'm sorry, that's all the puns I could come up with.

On topic I actually quite liked the name Big E Langston, but I don't really like Big E on its own. Similarly I am not a big fan of the name Titus O'Neil but if it was just shortened to Titus I think it'd be alright.

 

[Spam1985]

Let's be Syria's for a moment. He's a great talent but a name like that could lead to Rami-fications...

:lmao

Hated it at first, but it's one of those names like Big Boss Man or Triple H that after a while, you just stop thinking about it and stop about thinking how silly it actually is.

Good post, Bazza. And yes, there's a lot of ring names out there that we are so used to that we forget how silly they really are. I was going to cover that in my original post, as well as some other names that I omitted, but I decided to try and keep it short(ish).

Keep it coming, guys! Any names that strike you as good/bad/weird?

Another one that comes to my mind is Roman Reigns. He has the most unique name in the stable, especially compared to the generic names given to his counterparts. If that isn't indicative that he is the chosen one to be pushed over the other two, I don't know what is. (That, and the fact that he is generally booked stronger and get's the most attention from the cameramen).

 

[HeelTID]

What kind of a name is Bad News Barrett? Just call him Wade Barrett, keep the catchphrase by all means but as a name it's so cringe.

 

[xfiles2099]

I like the wrestler but I cant stand Fandango's name the only good thing was when Jericho made fun of it by using a Queen song that rocked