3 WWE Superstars who liked their new name and 3 who did not

#2 Roman Reigns liked his WWE name change

Roman Leakee (left); Roman Reigns (right)

Back in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and WWE NXT, Roman Reigns went by two names: Leakee and Roman Leakee. He explained on Talk Is Jericho in 2017 that he only wanted to be known as Roman in WWE. However, he was told that he needed to have a surname.

Another developmental talent, Calvin Raines, left FCW shortly before The Big Dog was asked to think of a new name. Corey Graves then suggested that he should take Raines’ surname but spell it in a different way.

“I was going through it and Corey Graves, he was down in FCW, still working at that time, he's actually one of my good buddies and our families are like really good friends. He told me, he was like, 'Hey, I heard you saying 'Roman Raines'. What if you spelled it like, 'Reigns', like a king reigns.' And I was like, 'Whoa, I like that.' And there you go. And total heel name too!” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

The Leakee name was used for the final time at a WWE NXT live event against C.J. Parker on August 16, 2012. Two weeks later, the Roman Reigns name debuted in a Fatal Four-Way match at another live event on August 30, 2012.

Reigns made his first appearance on WWE’s main roster three months later at Survivor Series.