Chris Hero Talks His Time With NXT, Daniel Bryan And Cesaro's Success, "Wife Beater" Ring Name

Recently on Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast, Chris Hero, formerly Kassius Ohno in NXT, talked about his first ring name and expressed gratitude for his WWE run.

Hero said that his first ring name was 'The Wife Beater'. Apparently, Hero often wore a 'wife beater' tank top, but he also found the moniker amusing in its irony.

"It was kind of this tongue in cheek thing where I'm this 18 year old kid," Hero explained. "And I had really tattered [wife beaters] and I'm like, 'okay, I'm going to be 'The Wife Beater', so people see the name on a piece of paper and go, 'what is this?' and then I come out and [I'm just a guy in a wife beater], yeah, coming out to Smack My b—h Up by Prodigy. Yeah, what's going on? I don't shave yet."

According to Hero, he was booked for a show in Wisconsin in May of 1999 and women's groups picketed the show because of the 'Wife Beater' name. The story gained some mainstream media attention.

"So they picketed this [show] and then there used to be this show called Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and they brought it up on the show." Hero continued, "they never said my real name because, I guess, nobody ever knew my real name, but there was an episode with Tom Green and they were talking about, like, 'well, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart's not an actual hitman [and] Jake 'The Snake' [Roberts] isn't a snake, so what's wrong with 'The Wife Beater'?' Like, it was a funny little thing."

Hero claimed that he came up with the 'Chris Hero' name on the way to a show when a booker told him to get a new name.

"I got an opportunity to work for an NWA company and [the booker] was just like, 'no, dude. You've got to come up with a new name. Like, I like your stuff in the ring and I'll give you some shows, but we've got to come up with something different. All on the way to the show, I came up with 'Chris Hero'."

During the podcast, Hero spoke quite positively about his stint with NXT. Hero admitted that he came away a better wrestler and he learned a lot from the veterans with WWE.

"I try not to spend too much time on 'would've, should've, could've' or 'what if?' because I had almost two years in FCW and NXT and I came away from there such a better wrestler with so many more anecdotes and just different little things that I can pull up and go, 'yeah, well, this makes sense because of this' because, I always say this in my seminars, I say that there comes a point every year when I'm like, 'alright, I got it. I understand it. I figured it out.' And then, just as soon as that happens, I go, 'oh, I guess I need to figure this out a little bit more' or 'I opened my mind to this' or whatever." Hero added, "I'm very thankful for the time I had there and the little blurbs of knowledge from a Ricky Steamboat, or Dusty Rhodes, or a Perry Saturn, or a Christian, or a Lance Storm, or whatever little stuff we picked up from people passing through, or Big Show even, coming in and dropping some knowledge."

Also, Hero stated that he is happy for his friends who have found success in WWE.

"I'm happy, I'm so, so happy to see my friends succeed. Man, when [Cesaro] threw Big Show out of that [Andre The Giant Memorial] Battle Royal, I lost my mind. And then for [Daniel] Bryan to go on and take it home that night [at WWE WrestleMania 30]. I mean, how could you not be completely ecstatic for all of them?"

In addition to these topics, Hero talked about fanny packs, his professional wrestling seminars, and much more. To check out the show, click here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Source: Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast