What's in a name? In the wrestling business, a name means a lot. A good name could make a performer stand out from his or her peers while a bad name could kill your career faster than you can say Mantaur or Beaver Cleavage. It's important to have a name that sounds like a star or at least doesn't sound awful. Recently in WWE, they have decided to change the names of two current midcard stars. One of them is actually going to be in the main event of Elimination Chamber. The two people are Antonio Cesaro, who is now going by just Cesaro and Big E Langston, who is just Big E now. The changes happened on Tuesday. According to Dave Meltzer of the
Wrestling Observer it was a Vince McMahon decision. The report notes that somebody within WWE thought "Antonio" sounded like the name of a guy who wasn't tough, and that's why he's just being called Cesaro now. Did nobody in WWE ever hear of Antonio Inoki? He was pretty tough. A very successful wrestler too. As for Big E Langston, no real reason was given for his name change although it could be a case of WWE simply not liking the "Langston" part of it or maybe they didn't want somebody to have a three word name. The E isn't even a word, but it counts. Both Cesaro and Langston are going to be major players in WWE. It's just a matter of when. Since Cesaro is coming off a huge win on Smackdown over Randy Orton and Big E is the current Intercontinental Champion, it's obvious that management is high on both guys. Management is also a fan of shorter names apparently. It would surprise me if Roman Reigns had his name shortened Roman or perhaps Triple H can lose two of the H's in his full name that he never says. No? Okay then. Keep watching WWE for other random name changes due to the lack of toughness. Oh wrestling business you're so weird. Never change.