Jim Ross Details Why Vince McMahon Likes Having Wrestlers With One Name In WWE
Early in Bobby Lashley's WWE career, Vince McMahon decided to remove his first name and just call him Lashley. This is typical of the WWE as of late, as they've done the same thing with stars like Andrade, Elias, Murphy and Otis.
During the latest episode of the Grilling JR Podcast covering Bobby Lashley's career, Jim Ross talked about Vince McMahon choosing to eliminate parts of wrestlers names. Ross said Vince wants the names of his stars to be memorable and entertaining.
"It's a showbiz thing, simple as that," Ross said. "Vince wants to be Walt Disney. He wants to be an entertainment mogul, making movies, making T.V. shows, producing pay per views, all the things WWE has done as a publicly traded company."
"It's like Cher, always one name stars. Bono – there's a zillion of them, one name. The theory is that it's easier to remember one name for a person than two names for a person. I don't agree with it. Now you've seen it's come full circle and he's being called Bobby Lashley, but at that time and to this day, look at all the people on the roster that have one name."
Ross mentioned how Bobby Lashley worked with top workers like JBL, Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton throughout his early run with the WWE as a way to make him more seasoned and experienced. Ross compared that to today with someone like Randy Orton, who any superstar can benefit from being in the ring with in the WWE. Ross believes Orton is the best worker in the WWE right now.
"You get better [when you're in the ring with Orton]," Ross said. "Your athletic juices really start flowing when you see somebody you're in the ring with that's really good. When you're on the same team with Randy Orton, for example, who still is phenomenal – maybe the best worker in the world right now and certainly in WWE, AJ Styles there as well, it makes you work harder when you have that competitive spirit."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.