Yet Another WWE Star Gets Their Full Name Restored On Raw

Third wrestler in recent weeks regains part of their old ring name.

by Scott Carlson
Ciampa WWE
WWE

First it was Matt Riddle. Then it was Austin Theory. Now, Tommaso Ciampa is back.

The former NXT Champion was called up to the main roster after WrestleMania 38 and apparently lost his first name in transit, as he quickly began going by just Ciampa after showing up on Raw in April.

The name-shortening was another in a long list of wrestlers who inexplicably had their identities modified due to an edict from then-chairman Vince McMahon, as WWE didn't want superstars having direct connections to the names they used on the independent scene. Hence the axing of wrestlers' first names or outright new names (such as Gunther, Butch and Ludwig Kaiser).

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Ciampa, however, had been briefly up on the main roster in early 2019 and also appeared in the build to WrestleMania 38 and NXT Stand and Deliver in March under his full name. But that didn't stop the WWE machine from lopping "Tommaso" off his chyron.

On Monday, however, the lower third quietly indicated that Ciampa's first name had been restored, and WWE.com confirmed the change.

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Now, if WWE wants to continue this positive movement with names, can we get Doudrop to revert to Piper Niven? Please?

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.