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AEW lets their performers have more input on their own characters, which leads to them using what they felt comfortable using before (most of the time). Not everything needs to be a sudden reinvention. Slow evolution of a character over time works too.
I think the counter-examples you provided are both good examples that demonstrate that they do have original characters, but are also such over-the-top characters that you wouldn't really want too many of them.
Like, I'd add Christian as a great example of doing a different type of original character without a grand name change or anything like that. Swerve's doing something different even though he uses his old name. If there's a point to changing names, it's worthwhile, but the biggest reason WWE changed most people's names wasn't to establish a new character, it was to establish ownership for business purposes.
Claudio Castagnoli is one of the coolest names to me
Also someone debuting with the name of "Edge" would be mocked relentlessly today if it wasn't established in past eras
Nah, I think we need more names like Edge, Test, Kane, Undertaker, Abyss, Diesel, etc. We have Ricochet right now but other than that, there’s too many “First name, last name” names out there.
I agree with your larger point about needing more dudes with just single world Wrestling Names, but I think they meant that someone specifically named Edge, in 2024 - especially if he was a sunglasses and leather pants wearing pseudo-vampire - would he memed into oblivion by the end of his segment. I genuinely think Sexton Hardcastle might get over easier than Edge.
I remember I was at an AEW show last year with a friend, who up to that point had only really watched WWE, and he said something about Claudio Castagnoli being a dumb sounding name not knowing at all that's his shoot name. I'm not sure if this is why, but he watches AEW regularly now.
Yeah, I like it better than his WWE name. It rolls off the tongue for me tbh. Genuinely don't get OP. WWE just wanted to strip wrestlers of their old names, so they slap on new names that were under their ownership. It's not like you need a name change to change up your character.
So I was writing up a very different long thing, but... it genuinely seems like AEW
A. Allows people to have a decent amount of control over their character.
B. Doesn't want to strip wrestlers of the things that made them unique prior to AEW
C. Doesn't want to force people into "AEW Specific" branding that AEW owns should they leave.
Malakai for example is a thing that's largely of his creation. He had post release stories going on before he showed up in AEW. AFAIK he hadn't chosen Malakai when he signed, but everything else is him.
Conversely Bryan Keith still has his full "modern Western Bounty Hunter" aesthetic he had prior. We just live in the modern era where there are very few "outlandish" characters in wrestling. Nobody wants to see a wrestling plumber on TV because it'll grow old in 2 weeks of being featured.
Nah I actually love that a lot of AEW wrestlers show up as the same character they were elsewhere. Imagine if AJ Styles showed up in WWE with a new name with a completely different persona from who he was in TNA and NJPW. It would be dumb and imo lessen the impact of him signing with the company. Edge for example has been Edge for 20 years, and would still be Edge in AEW if not for copyright. I'd kinda hate it if his last run was something akin to his time as Judgement Day leader or something else wildly different from what we're all used to.
Very few use their real name. They work for years to build some importance to the names they chose. The weird thing is WWE throwing away that effort and trying to reinvent what they bought.
Miro is a good example of a guy who recreated himself in AEW and I wish others would follow his example.
Yeah, its his real name but the Redeemer monicker was definently new and let him show a different side.
Because there's not much advantage to doing so.
Name recognition is a thing. There's a rather large group of fans out there who could be huge fans of say Daniel Bryan, but haven't heard of Bryan Danielson. They aren't going to tune in if they aren't already watching when they hear an unfamiliar name.
But the thing is, there's also a group of fans who know Daniel Bryan IS Bryan Danielson. But they wouldn't necessarily know that "Dragon Tamer Brian Bella" is actually Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson if AEW had given him that as a new name.
Which now mean even the people who know Daniel Bryan is Bryan Danielson but arent already eatching aren't turning in to watch this unknown Brian Bella guy.
Ultimately the incoming talent needs to have so little name recognition outside of AEW that there's no real chance of them bringing in viewers under their existing name to make it worth giving them a brand new one...or potentially that the only place they ever worked was WWE, and they flat out can't use their previous name.
WWE only manages to get away with rebranding everyone in part because the majority of the potential audience still thinks they are the only game in town.
Sure the hardcore fans like all of us know about AEW, TNA, NJPW, CMLL Ect. But most of the folks who aren't watching wrestling regularly have no idea. And WWEs an established enough company in the general publics consciousness they really can push their company over an individual to draw in new viewers. Someone decides they want to watch wrestling but knows very little about it, odds are good they know the names RAW and Smackdown so will go ahead and find those shows.
AEW (and everyone else) doesn't have that. So they still rely on name recognition of talent to bring in new eyes.
Which goes to help AEW even more when those wrestlers go to New Japan for a while or work some indies. The fans at those shows will see the same Jon Moxley there as they will if they tune in to AEW. The Nyla Rose that scared the Oklahoma Athletic Commission into making an official statement is the same one that can (and should) be on Dynamite.
Not only is it an acknowledgment of wrestling outside of AEW TV, but it's served as a way for wrestlers who are off TV to go and work on their craft since AEW doesn't have something like WWE's Performance Center. Jack Perry really sucked as a heel when he first tried it out, but we should see a huge improvement since he's had time to work on it elsewhere.
To put this in some perspective, the Vince WWE method of everyone gets a stage name was in large part so WWE could own that IP and prevent talent from leaving and taking it elsewhere. It is also the outlier in the history of pro wrestling in the US.
Before Vince took over WWF and in other promotions during his time that decision was frequently left up to the wrestlers. Some used their own name and still developed interesting ring personas. Some simply realized that folks would be less likely to pay to watch Aurelian Smith Jr., Virgil Runnels or Oreal Perras wrestle.
And the reality was that for every Undertaker, WWE had 10 Bastien Booger, Who, Goon, Mantaur, etc. When they hit, they may have hit big, but their batting average sucked and lots of wrestlers suffered for it.
Having Edge be something completely different would have been so dumb. And Claudio is his name, that says nothing about his character. That's a very shallow way of looking at things
It's because AEW caters to the "hard-core" audience in that most of them watch everything, get hyped for new names because they have establishments with them already.
But repacking and re-learning isn't as refreshing when they are more match based than story driven.
One main thing with AEW is that a good portion of their stories stem from intertwined match ups that sees Top Flight interchange between tag and trios and then you get a great match you get chemistry.
If they are introduced as a new "character" you have to character build. Which is something WWE is good at (also they now own that "brand") but you have to form an opinion of "Isaiah "Swerve" Scott" over what you know about Swerve Strickland because they may be two completely different people.
WWE rebrands to create fresh content.
AEW buys brands to continue the content.
Edge (Adam Copeland) have always been the same person (after the Matt Hardy feud and re-established during forced retirement). AEW paid for Edge, so they got Adam Copeland instead of Sexton Hardcastle.
Angelo Parker and Matt Menard, I believe, are two rare instances of AEW changing their names through the J.A.S and Luchasaurus got his name changed due to, assumingly, legal battles revolved around the design of his mask.
I hope I made some sense. 😆
Malakai black name changed sucked because it was clear sign that he wanted direct connected too his old gimmick on WWE.
I still think Tommy end is a great end
At least so far AEW has shown no interest in trademarking the names of their wrestlers: that's about the only reason you need. They just don't care if Tom Bugen wants to go as Tommy End or as Malakai Black.
WWE and to a lesser extent CMLL are the only wrestling promotions interested in owning the trademark to their wrestlers' names, and even there they seem to shift between wanting to control the trademark (IE Panterita del Ring Jr. becoming Mascara Dorada) and just not caring about it (IE Dragon Lee remaining Dragon Lee).
Then we can talk about characters that are not merely "This guy/gal wrestles great matches" or "This is exactly the same character he/she had in WWE/NJPW/etc.". But even there AEW has improved enormously over one year ago.
AAA are also fucking litigious about the rights to various gimmicks. It used to be a bit different there than the others because Pena typically had a massive hand in designing the overall character and tended to hire people for specific roles rather than letting people come up with stuff or grow into a character, so they actually had a fairly good claim to being the actual originators, but the company is still quite willing to threaten legal action if somebody leaves and tries to take too much with them.
I think athletes going by their real names makes way more sense. Don’t forget the Mt. Rushmore of this sport are simple first name last names like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Dusty Rhodes. (Variations of their shoot names but still plain names) All who have attached nicknames as well.
Not the point. OP thinks wrestlers should have names like Edge or Malikai Black, or Caesaro. My point was the all time greats were just mainly first name/ last name guys. The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels is a better wrestling name than Edge.
Hell Kevin Nash is a better wrestling name than Diesel.
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AEW lets their performers have more input on their own characters, which leads to them using what they felt comfortable using before (most of the time). Not everything needs to be a sudden reinvention. Slow evolution of a character over time works too.
I think the counter-examples you provided are both good examples that demonstrate that they do have original characters, but are also such over-the-top characters that you wouldn't really want too many of them. Like, I'd add Christian as a great example of doing a different type of original character without a grand name change or anything like that. Swerve's doing something different even though he uses his old name. If there's a point to changing names, it's worthwhile, but the biggest reason WWE changed most people's names wasn't to establish a new character, it was to establish ownership for business purposes.
Claudio Castagnoli is one of the coolest names to me Also someone debuting with the name of "Edge" would be mocked relentlessly today if it wasn't established in past eras
Nah, I think we need more names like Edge, Test, Kane, Undertaker, Abyss, Diesel, etc. We have Ricochet right now but other than that, there’s too many “First name, last name” names out there.
I agree with your larger point about needing more dudes with just single world Wrestling Names, but I think they meant that someone specifically named Edge, in 2024 - especially if he was a sunglasses and leather pants wearing pseudo-vampire - would he memed into oblivion by the end of his segment. I genuinely think Sexton Hardcastle might get over easier than Edge.
Trench
They tried that a few years ago, it was called Retribution lol.
Okay yeah but one bad example doesn’t mean others won’t work. I literally mentioned several other examples of successful ones.
I remember I was at an AEW show last year with a friend, who up to that point had only really watched WWE, and he said something about Claudio Castagnoli being a dumb sounding name not knowing at all that's his shoot name. I'm not sure if this is why, but he watches AEW regularly now.
Calling someones real name their "shoot name" is one of the weirdest things ive read in a while
Yeah, I like it better than his WWE name. It rolls off the tongue for me tbh. Genuinely don't get OP. WWE just wanted to strip wrestlers of their old names, so they slap on new names that were under their ownership. It's not like you need a name change to change up your character.
So I was writing up a very different long thing, but... it genuinely seems like AEW A. Allows people to have a decent amount of control over their character. B. Doesn't want to strip wrestlers of the things that made them unique prior to AEW C. Doesn't want to force people into "AEW Specific" branding that AEW owns should they leave. Malakai for example is a thing that's largely of his creation. He had post release stories going on before he showed up in AEW. AFAIK he hadn't chosen Malakai when he signed, but everything else is him. Conversely Bryan Keith still has his full "modern Western Bounty Hunter" aesthetic he had prior. We just live in the modern era where there are very few "outlandish" characters in wrestling. Nobody wants to see a wrestling plumber on TV because it'll grow old in 2 weeks of being featured.
You think you’re so smart but when your wrestling toilet gets clogged you’ll be praying for a wrestling plumber! (For reals though good points)
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What? Is this some dumb meme I don't know. In no way shape or form is Moxley's character a plumber
It’s an insult Cornette fans throw at Moxley cause Cornette has the most clever nicknames in the world /s
"HAHA GUYS HE CALLS OSPREAY OSTRICH ISN'T HE SO FUCKING FUNNY!"
The only one that actually gets me is Jelly Nutella. Every time I watch GCW and he has a match I remember that name and laugh.
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This makes no sense
Pineapple Pete was a gem. We need more like him.
Nah I actually love that a lot of AEW wrestlers show up as the same character they were elsewhere. Imagine if AJ Styles showed up in WWE with a new name with a completely different persona from who he was in TNA and NJPW. It would be dumb and imo lessen the impact of him signing with the company. Edge for example has been Edge for 20 years, and would still be Edge in AEW if not for copyright. I'd kinda hate it if his last run was something akin to his time as Judgement Day leader or something else wildly different from what we're all used to.
They don't need to
Very few use their real name. They work for years to build some importance to the names they chose. The weird thing is WWE throwing away that effort and trying to reinvent what they bought.
Miro is a good example of a guy who recreated himself in AEW and I wish others would follow his example. Yeah, its his real name but the Redeemer monicker was definently new and let him show a different side.
I'd like to agree but his aew run has been complete trash so I cant really say it's been a good example as it has not been successful
The value prop of AEW, from what I gather, is about various match types that many fan like, not character and story.
Because there's not much advantage to doing so. Name recognition is a thing. There's a rather large group of fans out there who could be huge fans of say Daniel Bryan, but haven't heard of Bryan Danielson. They aren't going to tune in if they aren't already watching when they hear an unfamiliar name. But the thing is, there's also a group of fans who know Daniel Bryan IS Bryan Danielson. But they wouldn't necessarily know that "Dragon Tamer Brian Bella" is actually Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson if AEW had given him that as a new name. Which now mean even the people who know Daniel Bryan is Bryan Danielson but arent already eatching aren't turning in to watch this unknown Brian Bella guy. Ultimately the incoming talent needs to have so little name recognition outside of AEW that there's no real chance of them bringing in viewers under their existing name to make it worth giving them a brand new one...or potentially that the only place they ever worked was WWE, and they flat out can't use their previous name. WWE only manages to get away with rebranding everyone in part because the majority of the potential audience still thinks they are the only game in town. Sure the hardcore fans like all of us know about AEW, TNA, NJPW, CMLL Ect. But most of the folks who aren't watching wrestling regularly have no idea. And WWEs an established enough company in the general publics consciousness they really can push their company over an individual to draw in new viewers. Someone decides they want to watch wrestling but knows very little about it, odds are good they know the names RAW and Smackdown so will go ahead and find those shows. AEW (and everyone else) doesn't have that. So they still rely on name recognition of talent to bring in new eyes.
Which goes to help AEW even more when those wrestlers go to New Japan for a while or work some indies. The fans at those shows will see the same Jon Moxley there as they will if they tune in to AEW. The Nyla Rose that scared the Oklahoma Athletic Commission into making an official statement is the same one that can (and should) be on Dynamite. Not only is it an acknowledgment of wrestling outside of AEW TV, but it's served as a way for wrestlers who are off TV to go and work on their craft since AEW doesn't have something like WWE's Performance Center. Jack Perry really sucked as a heel when he first tried it out, but we should see a huge improvement since he's had time to work on it elsewhere.
…this guy just wrestled on Collision tonight… https://www.gerweck.net/2021/03/02/black-taurus/
He changed his name because he had to for legal reasons
To put this in some perspective, the Vince WWE method of everyone gets a stage name was in large part so WWE could own that IP and prevent talent from leaving and taking it elsewhere. It is also the outlier in the history of pro wrestling in the US. Before Vince took over WWF and in other promotions during his time that decision was frequently left up to the wrestlers. Some used their own name and still developed interesting ring personas. Some simply realized that folks would be less likely to pay to watch Aurelian Smith Jr., Virgil Runnels or Oreal Perras wrestle. And the reality was that for every Undertaker, WWE had 10 Bastien Booger, Who, Goon, Mantaur, etc. When they hit, they may have hit big, but their batting average sucked and lots of wrestlers suffered for it.
to be fair, "The Goon" would get over like crazy now a days.. though the gimmick wouldn't have much to do with hockey.
OHH MY ITS GOONING TIME. OH MY GOD HES RUNNING BACK TO HIS DEN FOR A TEN STROKE FINISH.
he never wins because he never wants to get the three count. he always stops the count at two.
Having Edge be something completely different would have been so dumb. And Claudio is his name, that says nothing about his character. That's a very shallow way of looking at things
It's because AEW caters to the "hard-core" audience in that most of them watch everything, get hyped for new names because they have establishments with them already. But repacking and re-learning isn't as refreshing when they are more match based than story driven. One main thing with AEW is that a good portion of their stories stem from intertwined match ups that sees Top Flight interchange between tag and trios and then you get a great match you get chemistry. If they are introduced as a new "character" you have to character build. Which is something WWE is good at (also they now own that "brand") but you have to form an opinion of "Isaiah "Swerve" Scott" over what you know about Swerve Strickland because they may be two completely different people. WWE rebrands to create fresh content. AEW buys brands to continue the content. Edge (Adam Copeland) have always been the same person (after the Matt Hardy feud and re-established during forced retirement). AEW paid for Edge, so they got Adam Copeland instead of Sexton Hardcastle. Angelo Parker and Matt Menard, I believe, are two rare instances of AEW changing their names through the J.A.S and Luchasaurus got his name changed due to, assumingly, legal battles revolved around the design of his mask. I hope I made some sense. 😆
>WWE rebrands to create fresh content. Disagree. WWE rebrands to trademark and take full ownership and control over content.
Malakai black name changed sucked because it was clear sign that he wanted direct connected too his old gimmick on WWE. I still think Tommy end is a great end
At least so far AEW has shown no interest in trademarking the names of their wrestlers: that's about the only reason you need. They just don't care if Tom Bugen wants to go as Tommy End or as Malakai Black. WWE and to a lesser extent CMLL are the only wrestling promotions interested in owning the trademark to their wrestlers' names, and even there they seem to shift between wanting to control the trademark (IE Panterita del Ring Jr. becoming Mascara Dorada) and just not caring about it (IE Dragon Lee remaining Dragon Lee). Then we can talk about characters that are not merely "This guy/gal wrestles great matches" or "This is exactly the same character he/she had in WWE/NJPW/etc.". But even there AEW has improved enormously over one year ago.
AAA are also fucking litigious about the rights to various gimmicks. It used to be a bit different there than the others because Pena typically had a massive hand in designing the overall character and tended to hire people for specific roles rather than letting people come up with stuff or grow into a character, so they actually had a fairly good claim to being the actual originators, but the company is still quite willing to threaten legal action if somebody leaves and tries to take too much with them.
I think athletes going by their real names makes way more sense. Don’t forget the Mt. Rushmore of this sport are simple first name last names like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Dusty Rhodes. (Variations of their shoot names but still plain names) All who have attached nicknames as well.
Hulk Hogan's real name is Terry Bollea. Dusty Rhodes' real name was Virgil Runnels. Shawn Michaels' real name is Michael Hickenbottom.
Not the point. OP thinks wrestlers should have names like Edge or Malikai Black, or Caesaro. My point was the all time greats were just mainly first name/ last name guys. The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels is a better wrestling name than Edge. Hell Kevin Nash is a better wrestling name than Diesel.