LA Knight Now a Manager & Name Changes Galore

So since our last post WALTER is now GUNTHER, but that's far from the only name change as there's a lot to cover & one wrestler now reduced to a manager so let's cover all the madness that is going on in Vince's head recently

Several months ago Elias burned his guitar and was supposed to be repackaged as a different gimmick. There were reports that Vince didn't like it because he looked too much like Randy Savage in the trunks that they scrapped it, a photo was used as when he was confirmed into 2K22 he does bear some resemblance to Macho Man appearance wise in the face at least.

 

Well they apparently they found a way around that as 'his brother' Ezekiel debuted and it's clearly Elias only he shaved off his beard

WALTER/GUNTER arrived on Smackdown and he was joined by his longtime ally the former Marcel Barthel is now Ludwig Kaiser. Well apparently Kaiser was the backup name they had, originally they were going to call him Ludwig Beck, but after the stuff with Gunther Stark someone there finally grew a brain and decided to check if there was any negative aspects that might come back to bite them & yeah turns out there was as Beck was a Nazi general. You know WWE would save themselves a lot of trouble & potential headaches if they stopped trying to own everybody's name and just let them keep the names that they're known for, just saying.

Raquel Gonzalez is now Raquel Rodriguez

Rok-C is now Roxanne Perez

Raul Mendoza has been wrestling on NXT under his real name since 2016. He’s been a prominent member of Santos Escobar’s Legado Del Fantasma faction for the last two years. Yet for some reason, WWE just recently decided to change his name to Cruz Del Toro.

Austin Theory is now just Theory as both he & Vince hate the name Austin for some reason, I think they may be 'stone cold' to the name

In recent months, several WWE stars have been given name changes such as Walter to Gunther and Raquel Gonzalez to Raquel Rodriquez. Dave Meltzer wrote that “the actual story behind this is all the talent got a memo and Vince McMahon decreed he doesn’t want anyone new using their real names anymore, nor names they’ve used before on the indie scene.”

Meltzer added that the memo will only apply to newer stars and there will be exceptions such as Gable Steveson.

In regards to Austin Theory becoming Theory, Meltzer noted that the change wasn’t because of Steve Austin but rather due to Theory’s real name being Austin White.

Kacy Catanzaro is now Katana Chance

Kay Lee Ray is now Alba Fyre

It was recently reported that a pitch was made for LA Knight to potentially be a manager on the main roster because of his mic skills.
LA Knight ended up working as a manager for Mace in a dark match prior to the April 15h 2022 edition of WWE Smackdown. LA Knight was wearing a suit and Mace had a new look.
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This seems like such a waste, I mean I get it Eli Drake can talk, but he's also damn good in the ring too, so it's always the same with Vince. One step forward, two steps back.

This may rank up there with some of the worst names in history:

The initial footage of the former Eli Drake announcing his Knight Model Management agency didn’t include the full introduction of his first client, however. Some high quality video of the entire segment has leaked online, and it includes Knight giving said client a new name. Brennan “Dio Maddin” Williams is no longer RETRIBUTION’s MACE. Now he’s KMM’s FACE.
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FACE? We're seriously going to call this guy Face? Does that sound like a potential main event name to you. 'Who are you defending your belt against?' 'Face' 'Yes that's what I asked who are you facing?' 'Face' 'That's what I asked' 'No I mean my opponent's name IS Face' WTF?