WWE's Andrade Almas Has A New Name
'La Sombra's nombre will be easier to remember from now on.
Andrade 'Cien' Almas wowed crowds this Tuesday on SmackDown in his phenomenal encounter opposite fellow lucha libre Rey Mysterio, but the former 'La Sombra' did so under a new mask.
From now on, Almas will be known as simply 'Andrade'.
Once again, WWE have presumed that both a forename and a surname are too complicated for their thick fans to remember or wrap their tongue around. A similar process of nominal reduction was previously applied to (Antonio) Cesaro, (Alexander) Rusev, and (Adrian) Neville.
Perhaps Vince McMahon just doesn't like names beginning with the letter 'A'? No wonder Arn Anderson only had a brief spell in the company.
In any event, short of a complete rebrand, he's stuck with at least one in the newly re-christened Andrade's moniker. The attention being afforded the character - not to mention his marquee showing last night - hints that there could be something special in store for 'El Idolo' in the very near future.
At the moment, we don't know an actual reason for Andrade losing the Almas. Though it's likely to be following in the trend of the aforementioned, there could be a more specific reason. Apollo Crews briefly dropped his surname in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, as it was considered too similar to gunman Nikolas Cruz. He quietly readopted the full name a few months later.