8 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (May 1)

Downs...

6. Announcers Wear Out New Name

TJP austin aries
WWE.com

Every once in a while, a wrestler gets rebranded midstream, forcing announcers, wrestlers and fans to refer to someone by a new name. It can be abrupt and somewhat jarring, but when the announcers do what they did Monday, it becomes downright aggravating.

We learned Monday that TJ Perkins is now only referred to as TJP (no, seriously). This is despite merchandise being labeled with his full name. How do we know this? The chyron and tron said so. And the announcers said so… no less than 20 times. They constantly referred to “TJP” throughout his match with Austin Aries, to the point where it felt insanely forced.

And just like that, a nickname became a wrestler’s name. Next, maybe Aries will become A-Double. Or Cesaro will become The Swiss Superman. Or Seth Rollins will become The Architect.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.