Name changes aren’t overly uncommon when a wrestler ends up making their debut in WWE, but it is quite odd to happen after they’ve already established themselves in the company. Over the course of the last week, three SmackDown Live superstars have had their names changed , and two of them have been on the main roster for years. The third was just recently called up, but her name change may be the most confusing one of all.
For weeks, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were being built up for their return to SmackDown Live , and it was obvious they were going to be a tag team again. After a few vignettes aired, it was soon revealed that they would be given the new team name of the “Bludgeon Brothers.”
Essentially, this was a way to distance them away from The Wyatt Family completely, but there has since been more.
Not only did Luke Harper and Erick Rowan receive a new team name and new ring attire, but Sportskeeda noticed that they had their individual names changed as well. It’s been proven that WWE appears to love giving superstars just one name, and that is what has now been done with both former members of The Wyatt Family.
When looking at the Superstar page on the official website for WWE , the profiles of the Bludgeon Brothers simply read “Harper” and “Rowan.”
This is the exact same type of thing that has happened to superstars such as Big Langston (now Big E), Antonio Cesaro (now Cesaro), Alexander Rusev (now Rusev), and Adrian Neville (now Neville). Of course, Charlotte Flair had her last name added to her ring name after she had been on the main roster for a while.
Speaking of the women’s division on SmackDown , it was recently invaded by three superstars from NXT who decided to make a big debut on the main roster. Last week on SmackDown , chaos came about due to the explosive arrivals of Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan.
Ruby Riot has her name listed as such on the recap of last week’s episode , but her name has already had it changed, but not as drastically as Harper and Rowan. If you check out her profile on WWE’s website, she has had her last named altered a bit and she will now be known as “Ruby Riott.”
Yes, she had an extra “t” added to her last name.
It’s not always clear why WWE does the things they do, but when they change a superstar’s name, it is usually so they can own the copyright for it. All three of these SmackDown Live superstars are sing names that they didn’t have until getting to NXT and WWE. Either way, the company felt it necessary to make some changes and switch it up a bit.
