5 most unforgettable wrestler names
WWE, in it's 50-year history has a curious record when naming its performers.
Sometimes, they use a wrestler's real name such as John Cena, Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar.
Other times, what might seem like a ludicrous gimmick and moniker such as The Undertaker and The Godfather will somehow strike a chord with the audience and achieve lasting success. Godfather is incredibly in the WWE Hall of Fame and Taker is still competing three decades after his debut.
WWE has a vested interest of course in naming it's performers with monikers that they come up with themselves; so they can trademark them so it's employees can not use their famous wrestler names and make money elsewhere.
When Bryan Danielson, famed independent worker and a superstar at home and Japan, and former Ring of Honor World Champion joined WWE, he was re-monikered Daniel Bryan and booked to lose his first 10 WWE matches. It was an exercise in turning a successful gimmick into an unsuccessful one. In this case it was intentional.
However, in most cases WWE devise what they believe will be successful wrestler names or gimmicks only to be proved terribly wrong when said wrestlers are paraded in front of it's audience.
Case in point, the April 15 episode of Raw, in which WWE debuted the successful War Raiders tag team as the re-imagined "Viking Experience." The name change was rightly derided online. Time will tell if WWE choose to stick with it or change the tag team's moniker once again.
The following slideshow looks at five of the most unforgettable wrestler names in WWE history.
Let us know in the comments section if you think of any other wrestler names that deserve consideration for this list.
What exactly is a gobbledygooker anyway?!
#5 The Viking Experience
We are one week removed from the main roster debut of the War Raiders, or should I say The Viking Experience.
Word is that Vince McMahon changed the tag team's name the day of the April 15, Raw. Further reports stated that McMahon believed his family friendly WWE could not have a wrestler act with "War" in the title.
Whatever the reason, this promising act now shares a name with an attraction in York, England's Jorvik Viking Centre, which was inundated with calls and emails about WWE following this now infamous episode of Raw.
Who can take this champion tag team seriously now. The name change has made them a complete joke.
The irony is that they were never supposed to be actual Vikings, more that their wrestling style embodied the Viking spirit.