10 WWE Moves That Had To Be Renamed
7. Lion Tamer
Another example of a forced change is Chris Jericho’s Lion Tamer—although in this case, the force was applied from within the company, rather than externally.
When Y2J arrived in the WWE, he came with plenty of pedigree. He’d competed throughout the world, including in Mexico and Japan, where he’d been colloquially known as the Lionheart. On top of that, his modified Boston Crab submission manoeuvre was known as the Lion Tamer, and his springboard moonsault the Lionsault.
But according to Vince, with Ken Shamrock already associated with the “Lion’s Den”, there was no more room in the WWE for any further felinity. In a recent episode of his podcast, Jericho explains:
“My finish used to be called the Lion Tamer and Ken Shamrock had the Lion’s Den. So Vince says ‘we have too many lions around here’, so that’s how it became the Walls of Jericho.”
However, just months later, Shamrock had left the WWE. Safe to say that Vince backed the wrong horse—or lion—on this one.