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

#1 The Rock did not like his original WWE name change

The Rock was not a fan of Rocky Maivia

While Curtis Axel was keen for his family history to be part of his WWE character, Dwayne The Rock Johnson had the opposite mindset. He told Oprah in 2020 that he wanted to make a name for himself without being compared to the rest of his legendary wrestling family.

"When I first started wrestling, the idea was why don't I call myself Rocky Maivia, out of respect for my father, Rocky Johnson, and for my grandpa, Peter Maivia. I hated the name. I just wanted to make my own way.

"I love my family, but I don't want to do it like that, because it's like I'm trying to leverage their fame. The powers that be [WWE management] said, 'Nope, that's your name.'" [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

WWE’s decision-makers eventually dropped the Rocky Maivia name and allowed the up-and-coming Superstar to use the name The Rock instead. As The Rock, Dwayne Johnson went on to become one of the most successful Superstars that WWE has ever seen.

Although he initially had reservations about acknowledging his family history, The Rock recently said he would like to face his cousin, Roman Reigns, in WWE. The WWE Universal Champion refers to himself as The Tribal Chief of their family – something that The Rock’s character would undoubtedly dispute.