Road Dogg Shares His Complicated History With The Armstrong Name

WWE Hall of Famer and current Senior Vice President of Live Events, Brian "Road Dogg" James, certainly knows how he came to have a career in professional wrestling. His father was Hall of Famer "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, and he has three brothers — one of whom is former WWE referee Scott Armstrong — who have all forged careers in the industry. 

This past week on his "Oh...You Didn't Know" podcast, James explained why he moved away from the Armstrong name as the years went on.

"I feel I'm torn about that still too, to be quite honest with you," he said. "I was proud of being Brian Armstrong, 100 percent. But that's not who they wanted up there."

With USWA in Memphis, he went by the ring name Jesse James Armstrong and kept hold of Jesse James from there. "It just wasn't meant to be. It wasn't written in that way," said Road Dogg. "Road Dogg" was able to make a new name for himself over the years as a member of D-Generation X, ultimately becoming a WWE Hall of Famer in the process. An Intercontinental and Hardcore Champion, James, who was one-half of the New Age Outlaws, was a six-time Tag Team Champion in WWE as well.

He remains proud of his name to this day, and prouder still that he was able to forge his own path, in a way. "Look, no question about it, I got into this business because my last name was Armstrong," James continued. "Now, I think I made something of myself in this industry not under the name Armstrong. So I'm proud of that too."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Oh... You Didn't Know" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.