Report: Why WWE Changed an NXT Superstar's Name Right Before Their Debut

09/16/2021 01:40 pm EDT

WWE's NXT 2.0 saw the in-ring debuts of a number of new stars from the WWE Performance Center this past Tuesday. But few made a bigger impact on the show than Bron Breakker, real name Bronson Rechsteiner son of tag team legend Rick Steiner. Breakker won the show-opening match against LA Knight, then came face-to-face with the newly-crowned NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa in the show's closing moments. But for as good as he looked in as he looked, fans were just as distracted by Breakker not getting to use the Steiner family name. Prior to his debut, Breakker had been wrestling under the name Rex Steiner. 

Dave Meltzer explained on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE officials reportedly don't want anyone mentioning the name Rick Steiner on TV, and the closest anyone got was when Vic Josephy used Rick's old "dog-faced gremlin" nickname to describe Breakker. Meanwhile, PWInsider had a source the name change was likely made so WWE could own the trademark. How do you feel about WWE changing Steiner's name? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments!

This week's NXT was the first episode in the brand's reboot, complete with a new setup inside the WWE Performance Center and focus on new potential stars. Nick Khan explained the direction the show would be taking during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani.

"We are doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, who is really one of the architects of the original NXT. What we found — it's part of why we did the tryout yesterday — what we want to make sure is easy for folks who want to be WWE Superstars, is figuring out how to become WWE Superstars," Khan said.

"In terms of an NXT re-brand, look for it in the next couple of weeks. It's going to have a whole new look, it's going to have a whole new feel — and we believe — because of a lot of the indie wrestlers, if you will, have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and Raw now. We don't want to just keep doing that same thing, we want to look elsewhere for great, young talent," he continued.

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