The internet wrestling community – often referred to with either pride or disgust as the IWC – took a few hours out of the debate of the week – “Was Omega vs. Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11 Really A 6 Star Match and If Not, Why Are You So Dumb?” – when it was revealed that two internet indie darlings who recently signed with NXT, Tommy End and Big Damo, had been given new WWE names. And of course, the fanatic fans who had followed both from their European indie adventures were outraged. But are they really that bad?
Welcome back… #KassiusOhno @WWENXT pic.twitter.com/9FUjNfZgDf
— Triple H (@TripleH) January 6, 2017
Perhaps it’s partially due to the fact that days previous, it was ultimately revealed that Chris Hero had indeed returned to NXT as previously rumoured but had done so under the groaner of a name Kassius Ohno, rather than the iconic name that Chris Spradlin had built for the past 16 years. Despite Hero’s apparent okay with it (he’d likely been aware of the name reversion prior to re-signing and was apparently okay with the request), the IWC was baffled why they’d bring in someone of Hero’s stature – especially after having one of the best years of his career – and returned him to a failed gimmick. While it’s an odd choice, the jury’s still out on what NXT and Hero’s plans are with the gimmick. But he went straight for NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura upon his arrival, so at least we know he’s not going to start at the bottom and work his way back up.
Big Damo – Killian Dain
Big Damo has already made his NXT debut, a few weeks back, when he began to come out and assist Sanity in some of their matches, following the mysterious disappearance of Sawyer Fulton from the faction (he’s injured). The announcers even referred to him as Big Damo at the time, so it seemed that the veteran of ICW and WCPW was getting to keep his name. But then today on Twitter, Damo revealed that “The Beast of Belfast” would now be known as Killian Dain.
https://twitter.com/KillianDain/status/818204568832057346
The new name has a far more bad-ass imagery than Big Damo did, that’s for sure. But a lot of long time fans of indie wrestlers are often gutted when they change their previous monikers when they join the marquee lights of WWE. But in a jovial reply to a friend on Twitter, Damo himself joked that it may have a passing homage to a favourite film of his.
https://twitter.com/KillianDain/status/818180857831813121
Tommy End – Aleister Black
This one caused the biggest commotion. You could see the logic with Damo at least. Unless you were a die hard of ICW, Revolution Pro or brief runs in Evolve or WCPW, you probably have no clue who Damo is. But Tommy End is a bigger deal. End has been an iconic staple of the European indie circuits, dominating Britain in ICW, Progress, Rev Pro, and Ireland’s Over The Top (OTT), not to mention his sheer command over Germany’s top promotion, wXw, where he is a former wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion, 2-time World Lightweight Champion, and 2-time World Tag Team Champion. In North America, he’d made a name for himself competing in CZW, Evolve and PWG, where he’d taken part in prior editions of BOLA. But he announced today that his new NXT name would be Aleister Black.
https://twitter.com/WWEAleister/status/817944827551764481
This was followed an hour later with the following cryptic tweet:
https://twitter.com/WWEAleister/status/817960198090485760
In a move of sheer brilliance, End used the change of his name to advance the same character he’d portrayed for nearly 15 years. He insinuated that his body was merely a vessel, that it was a conduit for demonic possession and that Tommy End was not finished with the body. And now the body served host to a new demon named Aleister Black, an obvious homage to the 20th century UK occultist and practitioner of the Black Arts, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947).
Why It’s Not That Big A Deal
Let’s be honest. Yes, it’s odd that Tommy End (and to a lesser degree, Big Damo) had to change his name, yet other indie stars of comparable stature, like Johnny Gargano, Rich Swann, Drew Gulak or Cedric Alexander, got to keep their names, yet they had to change theirs. But perhaps they were given the option and decided to take the change. Sometimes wrestlers get tied to a name they’d picked when they were 16 or 17 years old and after 10 years or so, they’d like a more serious moniker. And the WWE lets the talent choose their new names – Sami Zayn picked his, as recounted in a funny story about Dusty Rhodes, Ember Moon chose hers (she was known as Athena on the indies) due to her video game love, Kevin Steen chose Owens as a tribute to his son. Hero thought Kassius Ohno had bankability based on the KO abbreviation (which Kevin Owens proved right) and Aleister Black is clearly something from Tommy End’s head. So if the talent is okay with the name change, then why are we so upset by it?
And sure, some will point to such stars as AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode or Shinsuke Nakamura as ones who got to keep their names, but let’s be honest. Styles, Joe and Roode had TNA leverage. While no one in WWE takes TNA seriously as a threat, they at least got more viewership than Progress, IWC or wXw. They are names that have more drawing power in North America than Tommy End or Big Damo. And hey, everyone cried when Prince Devitt became Finn Balor, but years removed, let’s be honest: Finn Balor is a way cooler name than Prince Devitt.
Ultimately, this isn’t going to convince anyone to like or hate the new names. As fans who follow the indie circuit with hope and passion, it’s often a Catch-22 when one of our favourites signs with WWE or NXT. On one hand, we’re excited for the person, as they are (in most cases) getting hefty pay raises, a stable schedule of events, and the opportunity to expand their own personal brand on a far grander scale than any other promotion on Earth could. But you always worry that they’ll have to check a little bit of their soul, or at least their skill set, when they sign on the dotted line. Somehow, a changing of the name seems the most public way of seeing that happen.
But just like how we all cheer Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, and Sami Zayn, we will one day cheer Kassius Ohno, Aleister Black and Killian Dain. Because ultimately, it’s not the name that wins over a crowd, it’s the performer beneath that name. And these three were signed for that very reason alone. Amidst the public dissent, several indie wrestlers tweeted their support of the name changes.
https://twitter.com/DonovanDijak/status/818230953587908610
Since the day I met him, I've been a @tommyend guy. Now I'm an #AleisterBlack guy. Best wishes, my friend.
— “Brutal” Bob Evans (@brutalbobevans) January 8, 2017
So before we get too upset now, let’s give them a chance to fill in the new names and show us that no matter what names the ring announcer introduces them as, that us fans will still cheer the worker in the ring. We at least owe them all that.
