A very long list could be written outlining all the ways Vince McMahon’s poor creative vision for WWE has often hurt the product over the past decade. One of his most baffling moves was shortening or removing wrestlers’ names, seemingly just for hell. This is how we ended up with well known wrestlers like not shiny Riddle W Austin theory.

There is an article finished on ESPN which examines Austin Theory’s rise in WWE. As part of that discussion, here’s an interesting excerpt on why Triple H wanted to do one of the first things when he took over the creative reins from Vince last summer and it’s the opposite of Vince’s bad habit of dropping first names:

One of Triple H’s first orders of business was to restore some of his on-screen characters’ first names.

“It’s a bit difficult to refer to him as a theory,” said Triple H. And even to me, it was a little embarrassing when it was announced, like ‘Theory!’ It’s weird.”

“Is this Stone Cold Steve Austin coming up? Is he confusing fans? I’m of the opinion that if you don’t know the difference between an Austin theory and a Stone Cold Steve Austin, then there really is a problem, right? So, we’re fixing the wrong end of the problem.”

Many wrestling fans would agree with Triple H that Vince McMahon’s logic is weird and created a lot of problems that need to be fixed.

But now that McMahon is back as CEO of WWE, many fans are worried that it’s only a matter of time until the out-of-touch old man takes his former position as chief referee away from Triple H.

If that’s what happened, then I guess Austin theory will lose his first name again? Let’s hope not.

What do you think Austin Theory’s WWE ring name will be one year from now, Cagesiders?