10 Dumbest Names For Modern WWE Wrestlers
Loathsome labels that spelled doom for some.
Imagine how different wrestling would be if Steve Austin hadn't gone to Vince McMahon and shot down the likes of "Chilly McFreeze" and "Otto Von Ruthless" as potential ringnames in 1996. Or if Mick Foley doesn't suggest Mankind as a curious alternative to a name like "Mason the Mutilator". And wasn't professional wrestling better off for Bret Hart resisting being called "Cowboy" instead of his later choice, "The Hitman"?
Presentation is everything in wrestling, especially when it comes to a ring name. Names like Razor Ramon, Lex Luger, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and others projected an air of danger for their portrayers, while a birth name like Brock Lesnar fits an action hero type, indicating menace from the first grunt of the B-R sound. Even if someone like Jack Swagger didn't live up to his pushes, it's at least a cool-sounding moniker.
Other times, you wonder just what in the hell WWE was thinking when it came to naming its talents. In the days before NXT became a fire-breathing entity of excitement, WWE developmental was a haven of some pretty derpy choices for character names. It's safe to say that if NXT was filled with characters possessing the following names, it wouldn't be quite as popular as it is today.
Here are some of the dumber names WWE has ever foisted upon their employees.
10. Osama Rodriguez Alejandro
You might recognize the man in the photo better as Armando Alejandro Estrada, the shady businessman with the nasally squawk that guided Umaga through a destructive 2006. Despite playing a Cuban national at that stage in his career, Estrada is actually Palestinian (real name: Hazem Ali), and his time in Ohio Valley Wrestling saw him work under the unusual name listed here.
Originally, he was simply "Osama", a bodyguard in Muhammad Hassan's squad whose name was no doubt meant to conjure up angry thoughts of Al-Qaeda less than three years after the events of September 11, 2001. When Paul Heyman took over as OVW booker, he expanded the name with the Latin affects, and "Osama" campaigned to be "Dictator of Kentucky". Not the sharpest attempt at inspiring jingoistic sentiment among fans.