When professional wrestler Alex Zayne inked a deal with WWE in late 2020, he -- like many before him -- had to choose a new name to wrestle under, ultimately settling on the moniker of Ari Sterling. Zayne, who is no longer employed by WWE, having been released earlier this year, has now described what it's like to pick a new name to use in the big dub.
While speaking with Fightful Select, Zayne (real name Alex Brandenburg) described the process of picking his WWE name as "hectic." Zayne also apparently had a more difficult time picking a new name than some of his colleagues. The main issue was that WWE did not him to use the name "Zayne," so as to avoid confusion with current main roster superstar Sami Zayn (real name Rami Sebei).
According to Zayne, WWE had him compile a list of preferred names, which he then sent to the company for approval. After Zayne submitted his list of names, however, WWE told him that it needed even more possible names to choose from. Zayne decided to use the first name "Ari," which he borrowed from Ari Gold, Jeremy Piven's character on Entourage. He tried to get the company to let him keep the last name "Zayne," to no avail, soon adopting the name of "Ari Sterling."
For the longest time, just about every prominent independent wrestler who signed with WWE had to change their name, with one major exception being CM Punk. Bryan Danielson became Daniel Bryan, Tyler Black became Seth Rollins, Jon Moxley became Dean Ambrose, Claudio Castagnoli became Antonio Cesaro and so on and so forth. More recently, however, the company has let certain incoming wrestlers keep their established names, such as AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Booby Roode and Samoa Joe.
A native of Kentucky, the 34-year-old Alex Zayne has over 15 years of experience in the world of professional wrestling, having made his in-ring debut back in 2005. Over the course of his career, Zayne has performed for a number of independent promotions, most notably Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Ring of Honor (ROH).
Zayne signed a developmental contract with WWE late last year, having joined the WWE Performance Center's December 2020 recruiting class. Zayne first appeared on WWE television earlier this year, debuting as Ari Sterling on the Friday, May 7 episode of 205 Live. Zayne wouldn't be going by Ari Sterling for long, however, as he was one of many developmental talents released by WWE on Friday, Aug. 6 amid the restructuring of the NXT developmental brand. Sterling's Aug. 6 release was rather surprising, seeing as how he was booked to compete in a match on 205 Live that very same night.
Shortly after news of his WWE release broke, Sterling changed his name back to Alex Zayne on social media. Less than a week later, it was announced that Zayne would be returning to GCW for its Highest in the Room event on Friday, Sept. 17. This timing makes sense, as the non-compete clause in Zayne's WWE contract likely would have expired on or around Sept. 5. (WWE's developmental talents only have 30-day non-compete clauses in their contracts, as opposed to the 90-day non-compete clauses given to wrestlers on the main roster.)
Zayne also made a surprise appearance at ROH's Death Before Dishonor XVIII pay-per-view, winning the 16-man Honor Rumble match to earn a shot at the ROH World Championship. "Ring of Honor reached out to me shortly after my [WWE] release," Zayne said on the Hot Tag Hooligans Wrestling Podcast Show. "Very thankfully, because I worked with them a little bit... A few months later is when I started talking with WWE and working on the paperwork there. [ROH and I] pretty much picked up right where we left off. It kind of felt like my debut."
GCW and ROH don't appear to be the only places Zayne plans to wrestle post-WWE, mind you. Today, Fightful Select reported that the former Ari Sterling was recently spotted at TV tapings for Impact Wrestling. That being said, it remains to be seen if Zayne has any plans to actually sign a deal with Impact.
Source: Fightful Select, via Ringside News