While in-ring and speaking talent are obviously important factors in determining success in the WWE, so is a name. There's so much in a name. It can inspire confidence or strength (think of Homer Simpson when he became Max Power) or it can stir up emotions of fear in an opponent - The Undertaker, The Boogeyman and Kane. For instance, more people were probably afraid of Mankind than they were Dude Love. The name alone gives an idea of what type of competitor the wrestler might be and their status within the company. Like him or not, Roman Reigns is a pretty bad ass name and if it were attached to someone with more charisma nobody would have a problem with his push.

Names are super important to Vince and creative. They're not just something thrown together last minute. For further evidence, take a look at Apollo, who was previously named Apollo Crews but recently had his last name dropped. This was a decision in which a lot of thinking went into; reports suggest the WWE didn't want him associated with Parkland suspect Nicholas Cruz, while it also follows a trend of creative dropping half of the name of its Superstars (Rowan and Harper, to name a few). Below are 15 Superstars who clearly benefited from not using their real name in the ring.

15 Big Cass (William Morrissey)

Some might believe that Big Cass' real name is Colin Cassidy given that was the moniker he used in FCW and later in NXT before changing it to the more superstar-friendly Big Cass. However, the 30 year old actually has a name that suggests he would probably be from Boston instead of New York - William Morrissey. Before signing a contract with WWE, he competed in Johnny Rodz's World of Unpredictable Wrestling as Big Bill Young, but outside of Bill Goldberg, the name doesn't really ring out success - and Goldberg even dropped the first name. William, meanwhile, is better reserved for an upstanding English gentleman like William Regal.

Big Cass works much better for the large Superstar. He has been sidelined with a knee injury since August but is rumored to be nearing a comeback just before or after WrestleMania; here's hoping he can pick up where he left off as he was on the verge of a monster heel push.

14 Drew Gulak (Drew Gulak)

Everyone else on this list is using an in-ring alias to cover up for the fact that they have a real-life name that wouldn't at all be suitable for a WWE Superstar. However, for whatever reason, Drew Gulak is using his real name. It kind of makes sense given his character has been somewhat of a joke with the whole no-fly zone routine and his affinity for powerpoint presentations. So, given his gimmick, the name actually kind of works, but what stings is he actually had to go through life with that name.

Surprisingly, the 30 year old has actually been using his real name since making his professional wrestling debut with Combat Zone Wrestling in 2005. He's limited given his size and in-ring abilities, but a more menacing name might help his character development moving forward.

13 Titus O'Neil (Thaddeus Bullard)

There might not be a bigger discrepancy in names than Titus O'Neil. While the 40 year old Florida native is far from a dominant Superstar in the WWE, he at the very least has name recognition, while the moniker of Titus itself exudes strength and power. Moreover, it sounds pretty awesome. That's why Apollo and Dana Brooke, and previously Akira Tozawa, have attached their names to his Titus Worldwide brand.

However, outside of the ring, the veteran Superstar goes by the name of Thaddeus Michael Bullard. He still managed to establish himself as a tough dude with that name, playing defensive end with the University of Florida Gators football team. Although, with a name like Thaddeus, it seems appropriate that he served as student body vice president in his senior year.

12 Scott Dawson (David Harwood)

Since debuting on the main roster, The Revival have been less than impressive. The team has heralded as "Top Guys" in NXT, but that hasn't been the case at all on the main roster; they have missed opportunities due to injury, flubbed lines in interviews, and been buried on other occasions. The team is comprised of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, both of whom have great-sounding wrestling names, but less-than-cool real-life names.

For his part, the 33 year old Dawson goes by the name of David Michael Harwood. It's far from the worst-sounding name of all-time, but if you've at all experienced middle and high school, you should know how dangerous a last name like Harwood is. We can only imagine the nicknames he was given growing up and is probably still called to this day by veterans in the locker room.

11 Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra)

Karl Anderson seems like a genuinely cool dude. The Balor Club member and Good Brother might be one of the more under-utilized Superstars in the WWE, although it appears as though he might be used more frequently moving forward due to his allegiance with Finn Balor. Yet, the name Karl Anderson might be holding him back - and that's the name he has been using for most of his career. Karl with a 'K' might be slightly cooler than the name spelled with a 'C,' but name one noteworthy Karl (aside from Karl Malone). You can't.

It could be worse. If the 38 year old North Carolina native went by his real name, we'd be referring to the Good Brothers as Allegra (the name of an allergy medicine) and Gallows. To make matters worse, his first name is Chad. And if you can't name a single cool Karl, there's absolutely no chance you can name an awesome Chad.

10 Finn Balor (Fergal Devitt)

Speaking of the Balor Club, we now come to the leader of the three-man group, Finn Balor, who has been up and down throughout his WWE career, but still seems poised to become a World Champion at some point down the line; he's still in his prime at just 36 years old. There are plenty of reasons why his WWE name sounds awesome and we won't get into all of them as it's not exactly a controversial opinion. We can all agree he has one of the coolest names in the company.

However, outside of the ring, the Irish native goes by Fergal Devitt and has even wrestled under that name (as Prince Devitt) in New Japan Pro Wrestling. While it might sound common to people from Ireland, Fergal doesn't exactly ring out as a tough - or cool - name in North America. Finn works a lot better.

9 AJ Styles (Allen Jones)

For some wrestlers, the name really doesn't matter. For instance, AJ Styles could go by Jim Bob Cooter (who is actually a real person, BTW) and still be regarded as one of the most talented and over wrestlers in the industry. Let's face it, the 40 year old doesn't exactly ooze personality, but he's adored by fans for his impressive in-ring ability and the amount of five-star matches he puts on night-in and night-out.

With that said, AJ Styles is a pretty great name. It just sounds like a name of a champion, which makes him holding the WWE Championship make a lot of sense right now. It's also fun to chant. His real name, Allen Jones, might work under the same chant structure, but it's nowhere near as cool, not to mention extremely generic.

8 Lana (Catherine Perry)

If you don't follow wrestlers outside of the WWE or even watch Total Divas, you might be surprised to learn that Lana isn't actually the Ravishing Russian the company wants you to believe. As good as she plays the character, she's actually an American girl from Florida named C.J. Perry, but it's what the 'C' stands for that is particularly embarrassing, or maybe cool, depending on how you see it.

The 32 year old was actually born as Catherine Joy Perry, which means, if shortened, her name could be Caty Perry - like the I Kissed a Girl pop star, but with slightly different spelling. It's actually quite the ironic coincidence as Lana has said often on Total Divas that she's attracted to women and enjoys kissing them, much to the curiosity of her husband, Rusev.

7 Mojo Rawley (Dean Muhtadi)

If you had to pick which word you think sounds the most Boston what would it be? I mean, which word stresses the Boston accent to the point of hilarity? Words like party, Bacardi, pasta, and basically anything with an accentuated "A" sound works. That's why Mojo Rawley's real name of Dean Muhtadi is so hilariously great, especially when you consider he's best friends with Rob Gronkowski, who could probably retire from football right now and be elected Mayor of Boston.

However, Muhtadi was actually born in Virginia and now resides in Orlando, Florida, as do most WWE Superstars. The Mojo Rawley moniker isn't exactly all that sexy either, but we're guessing the Muhtadi name on the back of his football jersey was the subject of a lot of chirps when he played.

6 Tye Dillinger (Ronald Arneill)

Is there a more perfect name in the WWE than "The Perfect 10" Tye Dillinger? We're not sure what it is, but it just sounds awesome. Despite his inability to move up the card, he has a name that screams main event status - perhaps it's because of famous bank-robber John Dillinger. Regardless, most of us can agree that he should probably be getting more TV time than he has as of late.

Another thing we can agree on is the fact his real name wouldn't at all suffice for a WWE Superstar. That's because the 37 year old's real name is Ronald Arneill, which, like Big Cass' William Morrissey, makes him sound snobbish and uptight. The Canadian grappler previously went by Gavin Spears and Shawn Spears in other promotions, but there's no doubt he'll best be known as Tye Dillinger for the rest of his career.

5 Fandango (Curtis Hussey)

Fandango might not be the most unique name - it's the name of a company, a band, a movie, and album by Herb Albert - but it works. It's a one-word name that is fun to say and easy to remember. It might not scream main event, but you can picture a Superstar with the name Fandango chasing mid-card titles (although he has yet to really do so during his lengthy career in the WWE).

Still, it's a better name than if he went the Drew Gulak route and used his real-life name of Curtis Jonathan Hussey. It wouldn't have been all that of a shock if he did either as the 36 year old Maine native previously wrestled under variations of his name such as Johnny Curtis and Jonathan Curtis. In fact, he didn't adopt the Fandango moniker until 2012 when he made his main roster debut.

4 Rhyno (Terrance Gerin)

A wrestler's real name is even more ridiculous-sounding when he has such an awesome in-ring name, just by comparison alone. Tom Cruise is the perfect movie star name, but if the actor went by his real name of Thomas Mapother IV (Cruise is his middle name), chances are his level of celebrity wouldn't be as significant. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might be the lone exception as that still sounds cool as hell. Conversely, Terrance "Rhyno" Gerin doesn't have the same feel to it. His real middle name is Guido, which makes it even worse.

Terrance Gerin sounds like someone who might run for office rather than run into another human being with a ton of momentum. In fact, he recently ran a campaign to earn the 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, but was handily defeated by Democratic candidate Abdullah Hammoud.

3 Elias (Jeffrey Sciullo)

"WHO WANTS TO WALK WITH JEFFREY SCIULLO?" Yeah, that doesn't work. The breakout star of 2017, Elias Samson, later shortened to just Elias, seemingly came out of nowhere. He wrestled on the independent circuit from 2008 to 2013 as Heavy Metal Jesus and adopted The Drifter gimmick after being signed by NXT in 2014. Back then, he was mostly an enhancement talent to the likes of Baron Corbin and Johnny Gargano.

In fact, he actually lost most of his NXT matches and was a surprise call-up to the WWE, but has gained a ton of momentum with his impressive song-style promos and his improving in-ring work. He has put a fresh spin on the music gimmick and kudos to him for making it work; however, it likely would have stalled from the start if he maintained his real name.

2 TJP (Theodore Perkins)

The WWE loves shortening names. Back in the day, we had "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Doink the Clown, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and multiple other three-syllable names competing, whereas now it's rare to even see a wrestler with a first and last name. As previously mentioned, Apollo Crews and Elias Samson were both shortened to Apollo and Elias respectively. Meanwhile, the first Cruiserweight Championship winner, TJP, had his name shortened from T.J. Perkins as the extra syllable was apparently just too much.

The former TNA and Ring of Honor star first wrestled in WWE back in 2009 for the ECW brand as J.T. Quinn, but the company maintained his real name, in a sense, when he was signed in 2016. Let's just say T.J. Perkins sounds much cooler than Theodore James Perkins.

1 Neville (Benjamin Satterley)

If you've been getting your hopes up about a Neville return to the WWE, you should probably calm your expectations. The King of the Cruiserweights was a dominant force in the division, but walked out allegedly due to the push Enzo Amore was receiving in his favor. Enzo's departure led many to believe that Neville might return, but it seems unlikely, unless he returns at WrestleMania to challenge the winner of the Cruiserweight tournament, which would be a dream scenario.

Since he's still under contract, he isn't permitted to wrestle elsewhere, which means he has been going by his real name of Benjamin Satterley since walking out on the company. Maybe it makes more sense to people from the United Kingdom, but the dude doesn't at all look like a Benjamin, nor is it an intimidating name in the least.