Why doesn't Michael McGillicutty wrestle under the name Joe Henning
 

Is he ashamed of his daddy?

What gives. Just wasting it away here, folks. Unless he's gonna reveal it later. I dunno

I think they mentioned he was the son of Mr. Perfect on NXT when he debuted but not since then. If he gets over I would say he will almost certainly be repackaged with his real name because his current name is terrible. Possibly they did not want to have to deal with a bunch of second generation stars all at once and did this to get him over in a different way.

Also his name is Hennig so that would be another reason.

Because WWE fix what isnt broke.

It's not that he's ashamed.

It's just that he fell victim to this....

http://www.thewrestlingfan.com/twfnamegenerator.html

they didn't want to deal with a bunch of people adding the extra N to his last name

I believe it was because the WWE wants to keep all their newer stars from using their real names so they can own the rights to their ring names and that way if they end up with another promotion they can't use their WWE names to make money and what have you. I mean it would make sense if you take a look at a few of the previous examples of guys who jumped ship.

Elijiah Burke--> Deangelo Dinero
Mr. Kennedy--> Mr. Anderson
Victoria--> Tara

Granted I think Henning's current WWE name is fucking stupid, I can see the reason for not calling him Joe Henning. Same goes for why they don't call Husky Harris by his Rotunda given name.

Ermaximus makes the most sense.

Or call him "Perfect" Joe Hennig.

Although I agree with Ermaximus... I also think they want to stay away from anything "taboo" (ie, a wrestler who died of an overdose like Curt Henning). So the name change was just one more step away from anything not PG

maybe because most dont know his dads name was henning and knew him as mr.perfect hence the whack name change same with rotunda with his dad mainly known as the irs man

Wouldn't it make more sense to change his name if he fails to get over?

Yes.

I don't think Joe Perfect would be a horrible name.

I thought McGuillicutty is his mom's maiden name or something, and he wanted to be "his own man"...could be totally wrong here, but I thought I heard that before.

Errrrrrrrr, Elijah Burke IS his real name. No idea why he changed it to a stage name after getting exposure under his real name with WWE.
That's the name I gave him when I booked him as part of Armchair Warfare. Playing off the "Average Joe"/Mr Perfect thing.

Also, it's unbelievable how many people have spelled it "Henning" despite the misspelling being mention in this very thread.

Ok, nvm..I have no idea.

Jr. Perfect.

EDIT: That was in reference to a post that seems to have been deleted.

That is what he should be going by and my unofficial name for him. Hell, even Curt Hennig Jr. would have been fine with me.

Why doesn't he?

Because WWE doesn't want him to.

/thread

because the WWE would rather give him a fake name they can trademark so after they future endevour him he has to start all over with a retarded gimmick the dipshits at TNA give him

SOCCER LEGS is absolutely correct.

Possibly. But it seems like they're trying to establish second generation guys without having to book them as "the son of" whomever. If he does start to get over on his own that's when you make the change so you don't have to rely on that relationship. He's his own man that way.

i believe they said curt henning wasw his dad last night on raw or last friday on smackdown

Still fell into the "WE OWN YOUR FUCKING NAME, SO TOUGH SHIT" clause of the WWE. Again, this is why someone like Matt Sydal or Bryan Danielson gets signed to a contract under weak-ass names.

I do it intentionally, with an asterisk. Henning* is a pretty feisable way for Joe to get around the owning of the name barrier. Hell, Perfect himself used both spellings.

Personally I wouldn't have been able to resist calling him Master Perfect.

Same goes with Harris, I'd have called him IRSjnr.

He said it himself in a cheesy promo video for the 'Stand up for WWE' campaign on Raw last week.

I think if they weren't so fresh off the Legacy angle when he debuted, they would've let him wrestle as Joe Hennig/Joe Perfect/whatever. The "I'm so-and-so's son, so I'm a big deal" gimmick was kind of played out.

It's a clusterfuck of a name, but like others said, it's easily fixable in an angle later on (just have him say he needs to "be himself" or something like that).

Yes they did this past Monday night as a part of the "Stand Up for the WWE" thing... They have mentioned this several times since he has been in the company.... I am sure it is a trademark thing...

Wait, wait, wait. WWE can't own Elijah Burke's real name, cos, well, it's his real name.

That's the very reason that Joe Hennig isn't using "Joe Hennig" because they can't trademark it. You seem to be counter-arguing your own point. I'll put it down to using Burke as a bad example.

Y did Punk keep his indy name then.

...I have no idea.

Maybe he doesn't want to live under the shadow of his dad, be compared to him, or have people say "He accomplished this because he is Curt Henning's son". He wants to pave his own way, make his own mark.

He acknowledged being Curt Henning's son in his NXT Season 2 introduction:

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Until he is in TNA jobbing to a heroin addict...

There was an interview he did where he pretty much just said that he wanted/Agreed to a name change because WWE had done nothing with "Elijah Burke".

was Elijah kept down because he had that botchfest match with CM Punk?

I don't mean he can't use his birth name in everyday life, smarty-pants. I meant business-wise, it falls under the "marketable image" thing. It's kind of like when they instituted the non-compete clause so people couldn't go elsewhere with the rub they got from WWE and help another company out. That's my Joe Henning* argument... if he starts using his real name with his real spelling as his stage name, and then he won't be able to go somewhere like TNA if he gets future endeavored or leaves and use the name WWE will still be making money off of for t-shirts and audio/video usage where they don't have to blank out commentary on 24/7 when an "Oh, my God, we can't use that name" comes up.

Never said it was a "Perfect" argument, but I don't see it as one that counters itself. They're admittedly trying to move to the company owned marketable trademark, but they haven't drawn a line and said "anyone on this side of it has to change their name, sorry." There are people who come in with what they got, and then there's guys who get their name changed multiple times like the man now known as Wade Barrett.

Admittedly, I don't know the ins and outs of how they sign guys. The total name-change has come up A LOT more than it used to even a couple of years ago. I mean, Kaval has been in developmental for quite some time before being called up, and his name was changed pretty much day one. Punk strolls in fresh off the indy circuit minus a major image change aside from the non-blonding. (Also, I don't think CM Punk would care about image rights... do you really see this guy "losing his smile" and leaving Stamford or becoming future endeavored?)

Maybe they get paid less if they decide to keep what they rolled with. Some of it might have to do with tenure and when their contracts were written up. Maybe it might even have to do with some performers being savvy business people as opposed to others having the "I'll do whatever, I made it to WWE" mentality and signing anything. I think it was Mysterio (whose name is slightly different than it used to be by using the "RhYno Y", by the way) said something before about them trying to draw up contracts that greatly advantage them and not so much you, and that being the nature of the beast, and with his history and marketability he has put himself in a lot more of a position to bargain than someone just coming into the company. Maybe anymore the name is part of the power struggle deal.

Rey Mysterio was the way WCW used it on one of their Nitro posters, so it kinda just stuck, and he used it from then on. Prior to that it was Misterio