Vince McMahon refused to let 2-time World Champion change his WWE name

Speaking on the latest episode of Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, Dolph Ziggler revealed that Vince McMahon refused to let him use his real name in WWE.

Ziggler, who used the name Nicky as a member of The Spirit Squad earlier in his WWE career, wanted to be referred to by his real name – Nick Nemeth – in the same way that John Cena and Randy Orton used their real names at the start of WWE’s ‘Reality Era’.

“I thought we could use my real name because if you Google me you can see that I broke these records at Kent State, that's the only reason I'm here to get a try-out. I bump into Vince and said, 'Vince McMahon, I love this. We're doing the Reality Era. You can Google my name. Everything works. I would love for you to use this name.'” [H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcription]

Although Cena and Orton were allowed to keep their real names, McMahon felt that the name ‘Dolph Ziggler’ would help cement his status as a heel.

“He goes, 'well, nope. It's Dolph Ziggler. It stands out. No one's gonna forget it, and we're gonna shove it up their [fans'] butts every time they see your face on TV.'”

WWE name changes approved by Vince McMahon

Several WWE Superstars have had their names changed after moving from NXT to RAW or SmackDown, with The War Raiders’ Hanson and Rowe (now known as The Viking Raiders’ Ivar and Erik) being two of the most drastic examples.

Alexander Rusev, Andrade “Cien” Almas, Antonio Cesaro, Big E Langston, Elias Samson, Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight have also had their names shortened after making their WWE debuts, while Mustafa Ali and Erick Rowan have even had their first names taken away – and then re-added – in recent years.

---

Listen to Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz give their predictions for the 2020 Royal Rumble in this week’s episode of Sportskeeda’s Dropkick DiSKussions podcast!