NXT announcers have reportedly been asked not to refer to the famous lineage of its newest star, Bron Breakker, the son of legendary WCW and WWE performer Rick Steiner.
On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that the NXT broadcast team was instructed not to mention Rick Steiner's name at all. As you might recall, Breakker made his in-ring WWE debut on the premiere episode of NXT 2.0 -- the revamped version of WWE's developmental brand. The name Steiner was not mentioned at all during the episode, which opened and closed with backstage segments featuring Breakker. Interestingly, the lineages of Brooks Jensenn and Von Wagner (the sons of Bull Buchanan and Wayne Bloom, respectively) were also ignored when they debuted on the same episode as Breakker.
Prior to his debut NXT match, Breakker's Twitter username was changed to "Rex Steiner" which implied that would be his ring name moving forward. The alleged decision to refrain from referencing Breakker's family legacy would also explain why his ring name was changed at the last minute.
We may never know why the decision to ignore Breakker's heritage was made. It could be as simple as WWE wanting the young upstart's talent to speak for itself. WWE is usually very eager to draw attention to the fact that a wrestler is the offspring of another wrestler, but Breakker wouldn't be the first wrestler from a famous family whose background is rarely -- if ever -- acknowledged on WWE programming. For example, Bray Wyatt was never referred to as the son of Mike Rotunda during his WWE tenure.
Breakker (real name Brosnon Rechsteiner) signed with WWE in February of this year. At WrestleMania Backlash on May 16, Breakker portrayed one of the "zombies" in the lumberjack match between Damian Priest and The Miz. In August, he portrayed a security guard during an NXT segment featuring Samoa Joe and Karrion Kross. The segment concluded with Breakker being choked out by Joe.
On this week's NXT episode, Breakker defeated LA Knight in the opening match and then wordlessly challenged the new NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa as the show went off the air.
The 6ft, 230 lb athlete is a former NFL player who was waived by the Baltimore Ravens last year. He's now looking to make a name for himself in sports entertainment. The 24-year-old comes from wrestling royalty, so his arrival in WWE was an inevitability. His father and uncle (Scott Steiner) were one of the most formidable tag teams of the 80s and 90s. The Steiner Brothers won titles with NWA, IWGP, WCW, and WWE.