10 Cancelled WWE Ring Names

The creation of a WWE ring name has become a somewhat streamlined process where a talent will pitch a bunch of names to WWE, and the company will choose which combination of forenames and surnames they like the best to give us such monikers as Riley Osborne, Blake Monroe, and Nikkita Lyons. 

That doesn’t mean every name during WWE’s long history has been a good one, though, and some talent would have wished for the company to go in another direction with their in-ring persona. 

These are 10 Cancelled WWE Ring Names.

10. Hirohito

In late 2003, Tajiri pretty much begged WWE not to call the stable featuring himself, Sakoda and Akio ‘The Yakuza’, for fear it would anger the actual Japanese mafia and cause all kinds of problems. 

WWE, evidently, learned nothing from this, because in April of 2004 they began airing vignettes for a new character called Hirohito. A ploy to generate foreign heel heat, Hirohito was named after Emperor Hirohito, who ruled Japan during World War Two. 

Supposedly, Hirohito would be the grandson of the former emperor and they would set out to destroy the United States, with the role to be played by Kenzo Suzuki. Immediately after the first vignette aired, it was obvious that the gimmick was a bad idea. 

According to then-WWE writer Dan Madigan, a day after the one and only Hirohito promo played on Raw, Vince McMahon let everyone in creative know that Hirohito ‘never happened’ and they were to move onto something else after the Japanese royal family reportedly let their displeasure be known. 

Suzuki ended up debuting on SmackDown using his real name.

9. Riot and Rage

When performing on the indies, a wrestler can use pretty much whatever name they desire, hence why Adam Copeland named himself Sexton Hardcastle. 

A name suitable on the indies often wouldn’t work in WWE, but the company struggled to produce a name for Copeland for his deaf mute character, before the organisation decided to make him a tortured soul typical of 1990s pop culture. 

Among the list of names considered for Copeland were Riot and Rage, and they were promptly turned down by the future Cope. 

While on a road trip with Don ‘The Jackyl’ Callis, Copeland began throwing around band names like The Offspring, before getting to U2 and mulling over the prospect of Edge, inspired by group guitarist David ‘The Edge’ Evans. 

Thus, Edge was born and Adam Copeland would continue to use the name until 2023. 

8. Shrug Shadow

Scott Hall was famously pitched a GI Joe gimmick upon signing with WWE in the early 1990s, owing to his experience growing up as an army brat. 

Hall probably saved his career by instead doing his best Tony Montana impression for Vince McMahon, who hadn’t seen Al Pacino’s portrayal in Scarface and thought it was great.

This new character would need a name, however, and Scott, for whatever reason, thought Shrug Shadow should be it. Hall pushed for the alliterative moniker, but it was rejected by the powers that be.

After Road Warrior Hawk pitched ‘Deadbolt’, Hall focused in on the name ‘Razor’, which McMahon was hesitant to go with due to professional boxer Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock. But The Bad Guy persisted and, after talking with Tito Santana at the urinals, he got the surname ‘Ramon’ and was off to the races with a name that rolled right off the tongue.

7. Elizabeth Reid

Charlotte Flair is the perfect name for the daughter of The Nature Boy. She gets to keep her father’s second name and carry on the family legacy that way, while the name Charlotte is a nod to Ric’s adopted hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, AKA ‘Flair Country’. 

Real name Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr, Charlotte had initially pitched something different when beginning her sports entertainment journey. Ashley’s idea was to keep the Elizabeth part, not because she loved her middle name, but in tribute to Miss Elizabeth, whom she greatly admired. 

She also wasn’t too keen to go with the Flair surname (perhaps having seen the way it weighed on her older brother David) and suggested Reid after her younger brother’s first name instead. 

But Charlotte was out of luck, since WWE were set on Charlotte being the second-generation prospect’s name before it was eventually changed to Charlotte Flair.

6. Quin Chulainn

It is almost unfathomable that Becky Lynch would be called anything other than Becky Lynch, but to get there was a process. 

WWE wanted to use a name associated with her real name, which is Rebecca Quin (she wrestled as Rebecca Knox on the indies), hence the ‘Becky’ part. Yet The Man herself thought differently and suggested using her shoot surname as her kayfabe forename, coming up with Quin Chulainn, based on Cú Chulainn, a warrior hero and demigod from Celtic mythology.

WWE weren’t convinced, though, and came back with some ideas of their own. According to Big Time Becks, these included Madeline, which she outright rejected, and Robin Daly, which she liked. In the end, she realised that she should keep part of her own name within WWE and went with Becky Lynch.

5. Mason The Mutilator

Jim Ross lobbied hard for WWE to sign Mick Foley during the mid-1990s, with his persistence finally paying off as McMahon relented and brought him in. 

McMahon seemingly didn’t have any interest in Cactus Jack, however, despite Foley’s success in WCW, ECW and Japan wrestling as that persona. One of the conditions for Foley’s signing was that he would have to cover his face up with a mask and wrestle with a new gimmick of WWE’s creation.

That creation was Mason the Mutilator. Foley, unsurprisingly, was not impressed with this proposal, later calling the name one of the ‘worst things’ he’d ever heard.

When Vince McMahon asked him what he thought of the name, Foley lied and said that he loved it, while suggesting a modification to Mankind the Mutilator. WWE went with it and the Mutilator element of the moniker was dropped altogether, with Foley debuting as simply Mankind. 

4. Buddy Peacock

Bryan Danielson spent a decade making a name for himself by putting on classics for independent promotions like Ring of Honor, as well as overseas in Japan and beyond. That name meant nothing to WWE, though, who wanted something they could trademark and market for The American Dragon after he signed with the company in 2009.

The indie veteran was lucky not to be saddled with something as rotten as Nexus contemporaries Michael McGillicutty and Skip Sheffield, but he almost shot himself in the foot when WWE asked him to submit 10 potential names for them to mull over. 

Among the names Danielson included were Buddy Peacock and Lloyd Boñer (pronounced ‘Boner’). It was only after talking with mentor William Regal that the bright idea of swapping his names around for Daniel Bryan came about.

3. Reginald DuPont Helmsley

Paul Levesque had one of the all-time corniest names when he first started working in the business in Terra Ryzing, before the blue blood was christened Jean Paul Levesque, a French-Canadian aristocrat. 

Upon signing with WWE, the company asked Levesque to produce some potential ring names before JJ Dillon informed the young star the company had chosen Reginald DuPont Helmsley. 

Fortunately, Levesque’s disappointment was evident and the company revisited the talent’s original list of names. After a consultation, Dillon informed Levesque the company had greenlit Hunter Hearst Helmsley. 

Shawn Michaels began calling him Triple H immediately, though, and that is the name that ended up sticking.

2. Kane The Undertaker

Mark Calaway had to endure a bunch of awful names and gimmicks before landing on the one that would give him fame and fortune. Prior to joining WWE, he was Texas Red, Mean Mark Callous, Punisher Dice Morgan and The Master of Pain (among others) as he paid his dues in various promotions. 

After initially fearing that he was going to be the Gobbledy Gooker (which also made its televised debut at the 1990 Survivor Series), Calaway was somewhat relieved to be entrusted with The Undertaker character. 

What some fans may not know or may have forgotten is that The Undertaker was initially called Kane The Undertaker and actually wrestled a couple of matches under that name at television tapings prior to his pay-per-view bow. 

The ‘Kane’ part was added at the behest of Bruce Prichard, who liked the Biblical overtones and felt that it was a strong name for a strong character. 

Unfortunately for Prichard – who briefly managed The Deadman as Brother Love – WWE quickly dropped the ‘Kane’ part and just started referring to him as The Undertaker. 

1. Inferno

Like his kayfabe brother, Glenn Jacobs had to suffer through a series of lame names and gimmicks before finding one that was money. 

Bruiser Mastino, Doomsday, Unabomb, Isaac Yankem DDS, fake Diesel – none of those were the ticket to main event stardom for the seven-footer, who must have been contemplating a different career before he was presented with the chance to be The Undertaker’s evil sibling. 

It was a good day for Bruce Prichard too, who was able to recycle Kane with the added significance of Cain and Abel. 

Before Kane, though, WWE were going to give Glenn Jacobs the new name of Inferno. Given the character’s fiery origin story, it made sense on paper, but The Big Red Machine himself wasn’t sold, believing that it sounded too cartoonish.