Taya Valkyrie Found WWE Renaming NXT Star 'Confusing'

When wrestlers join WWE, it's likely the company will change their name. This long-standing strategy allows WWE to own its wrestlers' names and characters, though it often upsets and confuses fans. Independent wrestling star Taya Valkyrie recently revealed on "Comedy Store Wrestling" that the process can also throw performers for a loop. Take WWE's "Doudrop." The Scottish wrestler made a name for herself on the independent circuit as "Viper," before WWE changed her name to "Piper Niven" for "WWE NXT," and then again repackaged her as "Doudrop."

"I thought the name was confusing," Valkyrie said. "But I mean, look at a lot of the other names people have had over time — there's all sorts of weird stuff going on." Valkyrie said Doudrop "was being so positive about it" and because wrestlers often dream of being in WWE, "you're under this pressure" and "you're just going to take whatever it is and roll with it. "That's kind of what you have to do when you're there," she said. Valkyrie similarly had to change her name when she briefly joined WWE in 2021.

She said the company gave her a "generic" list of first and last names to help inspire an idea, and after two weeks she came up with "Franky Monet" –— the first name being a reference to a character in the movie "Stigmata" and the last being a reference to the French painter Claude Monet. "I was almost named 'Paris' at one point," she laughed. "I fought so hard to keep Taya Valkyrie," the AAA Reina de Reinas Champion added. "But at the end of the day, I get it. I've been on all these other TV shows with that name, the name is on merchandise and action figures, so it's almost like they need [you] to start again."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Comedy Store Wrestling and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.