Bronson Reed reveals how he got his WWE ring name
Jonah Rock, formerly known as Bronson Reed, spoke about how he got his WWE ring name in a recent interview.
The former NXT Superstar told Chris Van Vliet that his repeated request to use his indie ring name was denied by WWE higher-ups, and his Bronson Reed moniker was a combination of a list of first and last names that he pitched.
"I pitched Jonah maybe 100 times," said Bronson Reed. "My name was Jonah Rock, and they didn't want the Rock part, obviously. I pitched all different last names for Jonah, and they just wanted to get rid of Jonah. So I came up with a bunch of different first names and a bunch of different last names. They picked Bronson and Reed and they put it together. I feel that that's how a lot of people recently got their names," Bronson Reed said.
Bronson Reed also opened up on how his WWE theme song came about:
"I loved it as well," said Reed. "So I was lucky enough to work with the music people and Road Dogg, who was overseeing the music at that time. I had the generic, free music for a while on NXT TV. There was a huge list of songs that you could choose out of, and I recon I spent an hour or an hour and a half trying to find the best thing I could. I am under the impression that the theme means a lot," explained Bronson Reed.
"Your entrance music sets the tone for who you are and as you're coming out, so I wanted something good," he continued. "What I had was good, but I needed something custom and different. When they decided I could have new entrance music, I was very hands-on with Road Dogg. I was like I want a siren at the start. I wanted it to feel like a Godzilla movie. There needed to be deep bass like in hip hop. It sets the tone for the big guy coming out, and what they did produce was fantastic," contibued Bronson Reed.
Bronson Reed on his finishing move 'the Tsunami'
Bronson Reed performed a top rope splash as his finishing maneuver during his time on the black and gold brand. The move was called 'the Tsunami,' and the former NXT North American Champion provided some insight into the move.
He stated that he told NXT commentator Wade Barrett what the move was called, and he misses the way Barrett calls it on commentary.
"I had been doing the splash off of the top rope and I said to Wade [Barrett] 'I call it the Tsunami," said Bronson Reed. "It's not just a big splash, it's even bigger.' I came up with that and we had different announcers at the time, and they were good. But as soon as Wade got his hands on it, and he didn't tell me he was going to say it like that, I was like wow that's great. Then it sort of became a thing. I definitely miss the way he calls it, because he calls it great," said Bronson Reed.
Bronson Reed hits the Tsunami on Shane Thorn to capture the victory #WWENXT https://t.co/7c7Ub3iJGQ
While Bronson Reed's run on WWE NXT was decent, he has the potential to become a bigger star in other wrestling promotions such as IMPACT Wrestling and AEW.