10 Rejected Wrestler Names WWE ACTUALLY Pitched

4. Buddy Peacock (Daniel Bryan)

John Laurinaitis
WWE.com

A break for WWE's creative heads now, if not the processes themselves.

Buddy Peacock is a ridiculously lame wrestling name, as unremarkable as Michael McGillicutty or Braden Walker, but somehow even more a p*ss take of the company's wretched recent history labelling their talent. As if the mind thinking it up might actually have been trolling those that had asked for one in the first place. It almost certainly was.

As if he's not already proven this hundreds of times over in his remarkable decade-long stay with the company, Bryan's a polymath. He can do it all between the ropes and on the microphone, with a patter game behind the scenes as impressive as the physical gifts he's shared with the world.

Bryan submitted 10 names himself as per the company's request, before landing on the surname switch via William Regal. He later told Chris Jericho on his podcast that Peacock was his favourite, along with Lloyd Boñier, ("pronounced as boner") before Daniel Bryan was the agreed-upon answer.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett