WWE Storylines That Made A Wrestler Change Their Name

Following his WWE return at Money in the Bank 2025, the popular R-Truth began working under the name of Ron Killings once again, with his ongoing storyline leading to a change. This gives us a good opportunity to take a look at why R-Truth’s name changed, in addition to exploring some of the other instances across WWE history where a storyline warranted a name change for a wrestler.

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While keeping things fresh is always necessary in wrestling, these wrestlers didn’t need to change their name after landing on something iconic.

We will take a look at moments that directly led to a name change, rather than simply someone getting repackaged with a new gimmick or returning under a new name after a period of time away from WWE.

R-Truth To Ron Killings

R-Truth’s Final WWE Run Will Be As Ron Killings

It was revealed that R-Truth was being let go from WWE after the expiration of his deal, leading to a huge backlash from the WWE audience who were hijacking shows and asking for his comeback. WWE gave in and brought R-Truth back within a week, but this time he decided to do things on his terms. Truth dropped the comedy and told the fans that the truth had set him free.

He then declared that he would be known as Ron Killings, and he wanted respect put on his name. The direction from him to drop the R-Truth name, drop the gimmick, and drop the comedy allowed him to appear more serious and legit in an instant, using his real name to become the most authentic version of himself that has perhaps ever been seen in WWE.

Baron Corbin To Happy Corbin

Broke Corbin Won Big And Became Rich

In 2021, Baron Corbin went broke and lost everything, becoming a run-down version of himself that fans were finding very entertaining. Down on his luck, homeless, and wearing the same clothes every week, Corbin struck luck in Vegas and became rich once again – he was so happy that he renamed himself to ‘Happy Corbin’.

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From there, he wrestled as Happy Corbin for a little while, hamming up this new persona and name change. He would eventually drop the ‘Happy’ stuff and become just Baron Corbin once again, but this was definitely an example of a storyline reason for a name change within WWE.

Chad Gable To Shorty G

Gable Changed His Name To Be Empowering

Chad Gable was building up some decent momentum, having an impressive King of the Ring performance in 2019. He feuded with Baron Corbin at the time, who constantly made jibes and jokes at Gable’s height, making light of the fact that he was shorter.

Gable decided to take this in his stride and embrace the bullying, calling himself the demeaning name of ‘Shorty G’ to… prove a point? It was a very baffling decision and one that didn’t really make much storyline sense, especially since his ring gear became laughable bad too, with a big ‘G’ in the middle of a sports vest. Thankfully, the decision was eventually made for him to stop being Shorty G, and instead return to the Chad Gable name. This will forever go down as one of the worst name changes in WWE history.

Piper Niven To Doudrop

Eva Marie Gave Her A New Name

During her time in NXT UK, the previously known ‘Viper’ became Piper Niven. It was a downgrade, but the name grew on fans. Eventually, WWE called her up to the main roster, siding her with Eva Marie. The narcissistic heel Marie would pretend to not know her name, and despite Niven’s attempts to reveal her name, Marie told her that she was instead called ‘Doudrop’.

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This was intended to make Marie seem unlikable and Niven more likable, which was working for a little while until WWE released Marie. WWE decided to keep the Doudrop name for a little while longer despite the storyline ending, until she eventually became Piper Niven once again.