The NXT Discussion Thread

[Devon Malcolm]

He might have requested a name change. Nobody will care after a couple of weeks.

[Chili]

5 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

He might have requested a name change. Nobody will care after a couple of weeks.

And he didn't go with Bubba Poon. The man's an idiot.

[tiger_rick]

5 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

He might have requested a name change. 

About 1% likely.

5 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Nobody will care after a couple of weeks.

100% correct.

It's not that bad. At least he's not called Phileas Grenier or something.

Don't want to get into a pointless WWE/AEW debate over someone as shit as Pillman/King. Life's too short.

[theringmaster]

27 minutes ago, Chili said:

 

I really enjoyed the Varsity Blondes. It was so WCW Pro/Saturday Night I couldn't completely hate them.

I think i feel the same, they were sort of a nice throwback to a more simpler time in tag team wrestling.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Duke said:

Ricky Starks is his real name, isn't it?

Yes, but if someone with the same or a similar name has beaten him to the punch in trademarking the name for use in situations WWE might want to use it in, that might cause problems. Potentially not insurmountable ones, but it would likely be easier to simply change his name than to mount any challenges. My understanding of US trademark law is very limited, though - so I may be totally off the mark! But very few wrestlers change their name these days, so I imagine there’s a reason for it other than ‘it’s just what we do’. 

Although that reason could be a simple as Ricky wanting to change his name, as Devon suggested!

33 minutes ago, Chili said:

Still it's better than poor Lexis King. Who could be a wrestler, but could also be doing a scene for Brazzers if you just heard the name.

I think Lexis King is one of their stronger efforts as far as rebrands go, funnily enough! 

Edited February 19, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Chili]

Fair enough @RedRooster I understand it means absolutely nothing as we know he's Pillman's kid anyway, but I just never understood why you'd bother. Same with Bron Brekker, we're used to it now, but it's Dolph Ziggler levels of shit. Can't wait to see what Scott Steiners kid ends up with when he comes in one day.

[poetofthedeed]

Nick khan/TKO getting Jeff hardy on the roster for wrestlemania weekend without any legal or moral responsibility for his next fuck up should be studied in business schools for generations.

[Chili]

So how long until Tessa Blanchard gets backdoored back into all this then, feels inevitable.

Edited February 19, 2025 by Chili

[RedTwoster]

11 minutes ago, Chili said:

Fair enough @RedRooster I understand it means absolutely nothing as we know he's Pillman's kid anyway, but I just never understood why you'd bother. Same with Bron Brekker, we're used to it now, but it's Dolph Ziggler levels of shit. Can't wait to see what Scott Steiners kid ends up with when he comes in one day.

I quite liked how they made the name change part of his gimmick, but I’d completely forgotten how shit I thought ‘Bron Breakker’ was when he debuted back in the NXT 2.0 days, which definitely illustrates your point. Eventually, you just accept it! 

‘Saints’ will take a while to get used to though - I’ve watched enough AEW for this to feel like it could be a ‘Cope’ or ‘Paul Wight’-style rebrand to me - it just feels unnatural and weird calling him a anything other than Starks! 

 

[Chili]

Has there ever been a rebrand of a name that actually didn't work or was completely rejected? My brain isn't working. Dolph Ziggler was a cack name but we eventually didn't notice it because time etc

[tiger_rick]

25 minutes ago, poetofthedeed said:

legal or moral responsibility

[JLM]

15 minutes ago, Chili said:

Has there ever been a rebrand of a name that actually didn't work or was completely rejected? My brain isn't working. Dolph Ziggler was a cack name but we eventually didn't notice it because time etc

The Viking Experience! 

There have also been some of the Vince changes which HHH overturned when he took charge, like changing Max Dupree back to LA Knight. 

[RedTwoster]

18 minutes ago, Chili said:

Has there ever been a rebrand of a name that actually didn't work or was completely rejected? My brain isn't working. Dolph Ziggler was a cack name but we eventually didn't notice it because time etc

I was wondering the same thing! I’m not sure it counts, but ‘Butch’ and ‘Max Dupri’ are the only names coming to mind right now, but their ‘rejection’ came from Triple H, rather than the fans.

I’m not sure ‘Husky Harris’ counts, but that obviously didn’t stick - and ‘Lucky Cannon’ surely killed that guy’s chances of ever making anything of himself in WWE. Sticking with the original NXT, perhaps ‘Michael McGillicutty’ is a shout? It failed to the point they rebranded him as Curtis Axel, although he didn’t fare much better under that name, so maybe it was the wrestler who was at fault. 

EDIT: @JLM beat me to the punch with some of these - and ‘The Viking Experience’ is a far better example than any of mine!

Edited February 19, 2025 by RedTwoster

[DavidB6937]

It's a difficult one to say whether any failure was ever down to a name/rebrand rather than just rubbish booking.

Yeah the Viking Experience was stupid but also their tag division is weak as piss and why should anyone care. Admittedly they've got more over on the main roster in time but I'm not convinced that's anything to do with name etc.

I think it'd have to be a really really bad name to hold back someone who's actually talented.

[JLM]

The Viking Experience is an example of a name that was rejected, wasn’t citing it as a reason for them not getting over. It was just a notable and quite rare instance of Vince-led WWE very rapidly making a change after an idea was resoundingly shat upon.