Chris Masters Credits Former WWE Star For Coming Up With His 'Masterpiece' Moniker

Debuting on "WWE Raw" during the Ruthless Aggression era, "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters wowed WWE fans with his incredible physique. Drawing a resemblance to a Greek god carved out of stone, Masters had a very fitting entrance which saw him pose and show off his body accompanied by a pyro display behind him. 

While joining "Rewind Recap Relive," Masters spoke on his "Masterpiece" gimmick. It was when Masters was around 20 years old in OVW, WWE's then developmental system, that he was given his persona.

"I'm there for a bit and Matt Morgan comes up with the nickname 'Masterpiece' and it just starts slowly coming — and then I find out that I reminded Vince [McMahon] of Paul Orndorff," Masters revealed before addressing being likened to "The Narcissist" Lex Luger from 1993 in WWE. "I never liked the Lex comparisons 'cause I wasn't trying to be 'The Narcissist'. Perception is reality in wrestling, so I started figuring out, 'Oh, this is the perception of me.'"

Masters was 22 years old when he debuted on "Raw" in February 2005 and a little after a year, he started the "Master Lock Challenge" that lasted two years. He was in the "Raw" vs. "SmackDown" Survivor Series main event, challenged for the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber, and opened WrestleMania 22, challenging for the WWE World Tag Team Championship with Carlito.

"I didn't anticipate being a 'body guy,' so it was kind of like a go with the flow type of thing. I started working out cause I knew I needed to, but not with the anticipation of being a body guy, a Lex Luger or [Ultimate] Warrior archetype wrestler," Masters said. "That's what they were looking at in the wrestling school and it just goes without saying, you should've known if you've grown up on wrestling, you know that the guys were big especially back in the day."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Rewind Recap Relive" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.