Ring name

[2] Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan, Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels, Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper, Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock, Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho, and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk.

A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or a variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick, such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus, Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage.

In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names (The Undertaker, Mr.

One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure.

After debuting in WWE as the "Connecticut Blueblood" Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H. A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous, such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan.

His new attitude was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white.

Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years.