5 WWE Superstars and the reason behind their nicknames

In professional wrestling, your image and your character are what matters above and beyond everything else. You could be a subpar wrestler and still be one of the biggest names in the industry. But, on the other hand, you could be an amazing wrestler but just not get over due to a lacklustre character.

One of the more underrated aspects of a character is the nickname given to wrestlers. Imagine if Braun Strowman wasn't called The Monster Among Men. It just doesn't sound right. A great nickname can go a long way in legitimising a gimmick. On the other hand, there are some terrible nicknames which don't make any sense at all.

So, without any further ado, let's get into our list of 5 wrestlers and the reason behind their nicknames:

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#5. Triple H - The Game

Triple H has always professed to be a student of the game with the game referring to the business of professional wrestling. That's just one aspect of the now-iconic nickname though. During an interview with JR, Trips coined the term for himself and this was the moment he moved on from mid-carder to main event star. You can see the interview above.

Another tidbit of information is that the nickname was originally supposed to go to Owen Hart but after his tragic death, Hunter adopted it as a way of honouring his fallen friend.

#4. Chris Jericho - Y2J

Do all of you remember 18 years ago when the new millennium was right around the corner? Everyone was excited to move into the year 2000 and Chris Jericho used the opportunity to coin a new nickname for himself as he prepared for his WWE debut.

Taking advantage of the Y2K craze of the time, Jericho called himself Y2J when he jumped ship from WCW to Vince McMahon's promotion. It was an ingenious move to take advantage of a cultural phenomenon and the fact that he is still called Y2J today just proves what a great decision this was.

#3. Bret Hart - The Excellence of Execution/ The Best There is, the Best There Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be

Bret Hart's two nicknames just described him perfectly. The first was The Excellence of Execution. This becomes self-explanatory to anyone who ever watched one of his matches. He was the very best of smaller technical wrestlers. As the WWE started pushing smaller wrestlers, Hart's in-ring excellence came to the fore.

His other nickname, The Best There is, the Best There Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be goes back to his days as a heel when he pushed this arrogance of being the greatest of all-time to the point where he was convinced there would never be anyone as good as him even after he retired.

#2. Ric Flair - The Nature Boy

Ric Flair actually earned the nickname The Nature Boy. He didn't just pick it up out of nowhere because it sounded cool. He faced off against the original Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers, and beat him for the honour to be called by the iconic moniker when he was coming up as the next big thing in professional wrestling.

The Nature Boy refers to someone so perfect that he could only be a work of mother nature. Buddy Rogers embodied that in the early days of professional wrestling but that title very much belongs to the 16-time World Champion.

#1. Mark Henry - The World's Strongest Man

Well, this one seems pretty obvious, right? Why else would Mark Henry be called The World's Strongest Man if he wasn't actually the strongest person in the world? Well, that's because the WWE loves to exaggerate things. The Big Show is very much not the World's Largest Athlete.

But, with Henry, things are very much legit. Before signing with the WWE, he held a number of records pertaining to weight lifting and even won the first-ever Strongman Competition to win the right to be called the strongest man in the world.