How WWE Comes Up With New NXT Superstar Names

WWE will often change up a Superstar’s name upon signing with the company. This has created some very interesting choices from WWE in the past. According to one recently released NXT Superstar, the process is quite hectic.

While speaking to Fightful, Alex Zayne, formerly Ari Sterling in WWE, said that the process of the whole thing was “hectic.” It was also reported that others ha an easier situation than he did.

They compiled a list of possible names, and then needed more names on top of that. Obviously, this was a difficult decision to make and they couldn’t call him “Zayne” because Sami Zayn is already on the roster.

They had him compile a list of preferred names. After he sent a list over, he was told that they needed more names to choose from. After “Ari” was determined, Alex tried to push through “Zayne” but was told they couldn’t do that – not because of main roster star Sami Zayn,

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In the end, “Ari” came from Ari Gold, Jeremy Piven’s character on Entourage. The name Ari Sterling soon came together, but sadly he wouldn’t be able to use it for long until the company released him.

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