A WWE Superstar's name plays a vital part in making his character relevant among the fans. Mark Calaway wouldn't have enjoyed the same success with the deadman gimmick if he never had the name "The Undertaker." Likewise, choosing a name has to be one of the top priorities for the company before introducing a superstar to the audience.
But sometimes, the creative team gets all innovative and unleashes their inner child while choosing a name for a performer. Quite a few superstars have become laughing stocks after landing with such names. With that said, let's take a look at 10 WWE Superstars who had to work with such terrible in-ring names.
10 The Red Rooster
Being a former NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion, Terry Taylor signed with WWE in 1988. He had a decent debut in a match against Tito Santana in a house show and made his first television appearance teaming with Sam Houston.
He soon acquired Bobby Heenan as his manager, but it's not sure who he angered backstage as he ended up with a new gimmick and with the name The Red Rooster.
He styled his hair like a rooster's comb and strutted around like a rooster. He couldn't survive long with the crazy gimmick and left the promotion in June 1990.
9 Kung Fu Naki
He might not be Chinese, but that didn't stop Vince McMahon from renaming Funaki as Kung Fu Naki. The Japanese superstar competed in WWE's cruiserweight division in the early stages of his career and even had one reign with the Cruiserweight Championship.
In 2008, WWE renamed Funaki as Kung Fu Naki and dressed him up like a martial arts master. He tweaked his moveset to include some martial arts moves, and that's just about everything he did before he got released by WWE, ending his 12-year career with the promotion.
8 Gobbledy Gooker
The WWE Universe has seen countless iconic entrances from their favorite Superstars over the years. But the greatest out of them all hatched out of an egg on the 1990 Survivor Series PPV.
The fans remember the event for The Undertaker's debut, but another character also made its first appearance at the show, and that is The Gobbledy Gooker.
When The Red Rooster left the company in 1990, the curse latched itself on to Hector Guerrero. He not only ended up with the funny Gobbledy Gooker name, but he also dressed up like a turkey and hatched out of a giant egg.
The fans sent out nuclear heat after witnessing the character, leading to WWE taking Gooker out of television.
7 Mr. Ass
Mr. Kennedy? Sounds good, Mr. America? Seems patriotic, But Mr. Ass? What were they even thinking? Billy Gunn must've been really brave to take up the name after already having a great run with DX and The New Age Outlaws.
After Road Dogg accidentally let his words out by saying that soon people will be calling him Mr. Dogg and Gunn as Mr. Ass, the WWE Universe filled the arena with Mr. Ass signs whenever Gunn came out to perform.
Billy Gunn used the name until he dropped it as per the stipulation of a match he lost against the Right to Censor members Steven Richards and Val Venis at No Mercy 2000.
6 Gillberg
The Monday Night Wars was a great time to be a pro-wrestling fan getting to witness WWE and WCW trying to topple each other's product every week.
When WCW had their moments like Madusa throwing the WWE Women's Championship in the trash, live on Nitro and Tony Schiavone spoiling Mankind's WWE Championship victory, WWE had Gillberg.
WWE brought in a superstar as a parody version of WCW legend Goldberg. They gave him the perfect funny name Gillberg who would work most matches as a jobber opposite to the man he was parodying.
5 Tripp Bradshaw
While no one remembers the superstar who played it, but the name became a meme material when WWE introduced the character to mock JBL's unfortunate accident.
JBL tried to help Jerry Lawler after he got attacked by Dolph Ziggler on the January 17, 2017, episode of SmackDown. JBL was on commentary at the moment, and he tripped and fell trying to rush to the King's aid.
When videos of JBL tripping went viral among the fans, WWE introduced indie wrestler Palmer Cruise as Tripp Bradshaw on the following week's episode of 205 Live. In Vince McMahon's words, "That's such good s***."
4 Sexual Chocolate
While the name might sound a little racial, Mark Henry did draw some attention towards himself while portraying the character. The Worlds Strongest Man adopted a ladies' man gimmick back in 1999 and gave himself the nickname Sexual Chocolate.
He started flirting with the divas, including the ever so youthful Mae Young with whom he has a child. Mae Young gave birth to Henry's first child, a hand. At the time, Young was in her mid-70s.
Henry portrayed the character until he got sent back to OVW in 2000 and would later return with a more serious gimmick in 2002, showcasing his strength.
3 T-Bar
When the Retribution faction made their first appearance in WWE, the fans were quite skeptical and pointed out the similarities with Nexus. The fans also identified Dominick Dijakovic as one of the members of the group, and it turned out to be true.
However, WWE twisted things with their names, and Dijakovic ended up with a lackluster name in T-Bar. The WWE Universe is already wondering in what way that Dominick Dijakovic didn't sound like a legitimate name for a rebellious group leader.
While it's still early to pass judgment, the fans are already complaining about the poor choice of names for the new superstars on social media.
2 Slapjack
Dijakovic isn't the only member of retribution who suffered a horrific name change, but his fellow NXT colleague Shane Thorne ended up sporting a Jason mask and an even worse name in Slapjack.
The quote from Rocket Raccoon would be quite apt for this instance. "I just keep imagining you waking up in the morning, looking in the mirror and in all seriousness to yourself saying 'You know what would be a really kick-ass name? Slapjack!'"
Once again, it's too early to pass judgments, but in the meantime, may God forbid you from looking up the meaning of the name in the urban dictionary.
1 Big Dick Johnson
Big Dick Johnson has to be the most cringe-worthy name in WWE history, but, thank goodness, the character made only sporadic appearances and never had an actual match.
Christopher DeJoseph was a backstage writer for WWE from 2004 to 2010. However, it's his alter-ego Big Dick Johnson that caught everyone's attention.
He used to appear on-screen almost near-naked for quite a few comedy segments, and thankfully that's all he did and never laced up a pair of boots to compete inside the ring.