Ari Daivari Confirms Tony Khan's Inspiration For His AEW Character

"Hug it out." It is a phrase that haunts the corners of any elder millennial's memory, first uttered on the hit HBO program "Entourage," by its "so bad he's good" high-powered talent agent Ari Gold. According to AEW's Ari Daivari, "Entourage's" influence lives on.

AEW wrestler and Trustbuster's head honcho Ari Daivari was on a recent "AEW Unrestricted" episode and explained his new name.

"My real name is Ariya Daivari, and it's kinda cool that I got to wrestle in WWE under my real name," Daivari said of his five years in WWE, "and they wanted to capitalize on any buzz anyone had from the Cruiserweight Classic, so they said, 'everybody gets to keep their names,' which was pretty unprecedented because while I was there guys are getting their names changed and stuff like that."

Daivari said he expected a change to be made to his name while watching folks like Pete Dunne and WALTER suddenly undergo drastic name changes, but no change was made until he signed with AEW.

"That was just a small detail that Tony liked," Daivari explained. "I know he's a big fan of the show 'Entourage,' and he's a big fan of Ari Gold. 'Ariya, Ari, that's kinda cool.'"

Daivari was also open to changing his name simply for branding purposes.

"As much as I loved using my real name in professional wrestling, it gets butchered all the time," Daivari confessed. "Ring announcers, commentary, on my debut on 'Raw' Michael Cole f**ked up my name. So Ari seems to be a lot easier for people."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "AEW Unrestricted" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.