WWE is constantly doing little things to tweak characters. Whether they add a gimmick, angle, or valet sometimes a Superstar’s true creation unfolds right in front of us. WWE has a recent reputation of shortening names. Vince McMahon apparently likes shorter names because they have more impact (no pun intended).
It could go into the overall marketability of a character. Shorter names look good on merchandise. But if WWE is going to trim someone’s name at least it means they’re doing something with them. Although it could be a last-ditch effort, many Superstars have seen great success after WWE made their name shorter.
It’s happened with many superstars in the past such as Big E Langston, Adrian Neville, Alexander Rusev, Antonio Cesaro, and now according to WWE’s website “The Drifter” Elias Samson is getting the same treatment. In all honesty, that is pretty great company to be in. All of those guys are former WWE champions of some form or fashion, could Elias be getting his name shortened so it looks better on a belt?
WWE already seemed to ax calling Elias “The Drifter” because we can’t remember hearing Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Booker T, or even David Otunga say it on Raw. But now the “Samson” is apparently no more as well and he’s just a one-named musician now. Someday after Elias’ music career takes off when his WWE run has concluded his name might be right up there with the greats. They’ll be Elvis, Cher, Beyonce, Prince, and Elias.
So who wants to walk with Elias now? In all fairness he’s had a much better role on Raw than he ever did in NXT. He was pretty much an enhancement talent by the time his NXT run had concluded and now he’s beating Finn Balor in a no DQ match on Raw. True, he had the help of Bray Wyatt, but a win is a win.
