How come some wrestlers can keep their old ring names (Samoa

Guys that draw can keep their name.

>>2097608
Nakameme confirmed for a draw.

>>2097597
Guys like Balor and Itami joined just before WWE started giving them leeway and wanted to own everything they could, I think guys like Joe and Nakamura could argue that keeping their name would have benefited WWE more than if they got some stupid WWE name. Prince Devitt probably could have kept his name if he signed later, but Finn Balor is a pretty baller name.

Then Kevin Steen/Owens is probably something to do with past promotions he's been involved with.

>>2097597
Because it used to be a rule that when you join WWE they give you a new name to put their own trademark on it. So if you left the company you couldn't use it and only WWE would profit from it. It was rare that people kept their own names, very rare like when Heyman pulled a lot of strings so that CM Punk could remain CM Punk.

Some people who use their real names like John Cena, their names can't be trademarked because that's their actual name. Sometimes WWE want people to keep their WWE names when they leave the company, like Stone Cold or The Rock (because they're retired wrestlers) and they bring media attention to the company who originally gave them that name.

Now days I think Triple H has figured out that it's silly and pointless changing people's names. So it's much more up to the wrestler, some guys still want to change their names though, as if to give themselves a fresh start in WWE. But really making people change their names before coming to the company is silly and petty on WWE's part. All it does is damage the wrestler when they leave the company, it doesn't profit the WWE at all. This and WWE are the ones looking to GET the attention, so now days, it sounds better on a headline when "SAMOA JOE HAS COME TO WWE NXT!" other than "JOEY SAMOAY HAS JOINED WWE NXT!"

>>2097630
I think I remember reading that Owens had a choice and he wanted to change it. His son being a huge WWE fan, he changed it for sentimental reasons.

>>2097641
I'm not sure that's 100%, I know he chose Owens because of his son and Owen Hart, what with his son also being named after him. Either way KO works. If only he were a monster heel and not a chicken shit heel.

Some change so they can keep their indie name from being trademarked by the WWE in case they ever want to go back. Christian was able to some what keep his name by filing for a trademark.

>>2097630
>Prince Devitt becomes Finn Balor
>Finn Balor turns heel
>Finn Balor becomes Prince Balor with cocky elitist persona

Somebody get Vince away from his cuck porn and get him to book it

>>2097663
They'll fuck it up. They already ruined the Demon King gimmick. And I mean before he got injured.

He chose oney lorcan

>>2097669
What's wrong with how they did DEMON KANG?

>>2097712
They blew their load too quick. Balor needs to be in trouble before he reaches down to do DA DEMUNN KANG. There was none of that. He should have lost the match to Seth then assuming he wasn't injured come back as the demon. Also, the showed him on Raw as the demon, so they just blew the big selling point of Finn on free tv.

Also, Seth wandering around looking for the demon king was retarded as fuck.

>>2097630

Also, KO as first letter make it hell easier to get some good merchandising sold.

>>2097630
Yep, exactly this. They stopped changing guy's names recently. Unimportant guys like oney don't get to keep theirs because their name isn't an established draw like Samoa Joe or nakamura is

>>2097730
I think it was reasonable to do it the way they did it. They were clearly operating under the assumption that their hardcore fans already knew about Finn and THE DEMON KANG because of NXT and they wanted to push Finn as their top babyface immediately and they were doing the match for a new championship at a Big 4 PPV. I can see why they felt like they needed to pull out all the stops, going from Seth beating regular Finn at Summerslam to DEMON KANG coming back and beating Seth at fucking Clash of Champions sounds pretty lame, and at that point, they were probably already planning to do the Raw vs. Smackdown gimmick for Survivor Series.

If he'd debuted on the Raw after Mania like, you know, HE OBVIOUSLY SHOULD HAVE, I'd agree with you, but with the timing of how he was called up and the brand split, I think they did relatively what they should've. And giving it away on TV was a LITTLE suspect, but, hey, it got a pop out of Corpus dead-ass Christi, so it worked, kinda.

>Also, Seth wandering around looking for the demon king was retarded as fuck.
I liked the bit where he spoke to Neville. Besides that, yeah, shit.

>>2097741
>>2097645
KO is good 'cause it gives him some good catchphrases. Both KO Mania and The Kevin Owens show sound better than the alternative, and it works quite well with the Prizefighter gimmick. If only he was still booked like that.

Remember that time he beat John Cena?

>>2097754
Yeah, they just seemed to rush everything. All those times he could have debuted, and he just turns up on Raw because he was drafted. It was such a huge let down.

>>2097750

Oney Lorcan is pretty weird as a ringname, but I don't it's that much worse than Biff Busick.

>>2097608

Even if you're meming, literally this. If your name is going to draw they will use it, if you're a literally who bingohall allstar they will try to rebrand you. If the changed goldberg to goldstein he would be a joke in the E