More 'Big' Changes Afoot As WWE Cleans Up Its Superstars' Names

WWE slowly ditches descriptive monikers that served little or no purpose.

by Scott Carlson

Nicknames are a major component of professional wrestling. When fans hear "Macho Man," they immediately think of Randy Savage. Same goes for the "Million Dollar Man" being Ted DiBiase or "Hitman" being associated with Bret Hart. Even today, "The Ring General" is unmistakably Gunther.

But not every nickname is born equal, and WWE has started shedding some of the odder monikers. In addition to ditching Seth Rollins' "Freakin'" nickname from the WWE.com superstars page, fans have taken note that two more wrestlers have seen their names shortened: Bronson Reed is no longer "Big" and Dominik Mysterio has scrubbed "Dirty" from his official name on the roster page.

Fightful noted these changes on Wednesday. Mysterio added "Dirty" to his name in July 2023, while Reed's "Big" nickname was bestowed upon him in August 2023. While Dominik's descriptor actually worked with his character and played into his appearance -- plus, "Dirty Dom" rolls off the tongue -- Reed's nickname was probably the lamest one in recent memory, on par with "Bearcat" Keith Lee as being totally unnecessary. Yes, Bronson is big, but that hardly means it's a good nickname. Otherwise, WWE would have "Bearded" Braun Strowman and "Tall" Damian Priest.

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While outwardly minor tweaks to characters' names, hopefully this is a further sign of WWE not being afraid to ditch some of the sillier, nonsensical stuff that still lingers from the previous era.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.