10 WWE Superstars Who Don't Live Up To Their Nicknames

Sobri-kayfabe.

BIG SHOW FEATURE
WWE

Most of us have been given nicknames throughout the course of our lives, but few of us get to choose them. No matter how often throughout school we insisted our peers call us by our preferred moniker ('Captain Knowledge'), they'd continuously revert to their own appellations, usually containing some variation on the word 'head'. They weren't even biologically accurate.

When you're a big hard wrestling man, you earn the right to pick your own nick, safe in the knowledge that you can thump anyone who deviates from the script. Yet with this power has came a lot of relaxed judgement. Just because you can call yourself whatever you like, doesn't mean you should. More often than not, a wrestler's handle sounds contrived, silly, or just plain nonsense.

WWE's marketing machine goes into overdrive when christening stars with memorable epithets. Many work - who could argue with 'The Excellence of Execution'? - but many more fail. Whether self-appointed or doled out, it isn't easy to live up to a ridiculous title laden with boastful claims of braggadocio. Even less so when it makes no sense to begin with.

These lads and lasses could do with a rebrand...

10. Dean Ambrose - 'The Lunatic Fringe'

BIG SHOW FEATURE
WWE.com

If not quite the worst, this is just about the most annoying nickname in all of wrestling. What does it even mean? Ambrose used to have unkempt bangs, for sure, but a dodgy haircut shouldn't make up the central theme of a wrestler's entire persona.

It's actually supposed to suggest crazy Dean is on the very edge of acceptable society, but we don't really see that in his character. He's 'zany', sometimes even 'whacky', but these are personality traits only applicable to animated ducks, not actual human beings. The whole act is embarrassing in its current guise.

Suggested new nickname: The Lunatic Cringe

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.