Note: TNA question 6 will appear on Monday or Tuesday at www.Pulsewrestling.com.
7. Who thought "The Pope" D'angelo Dinero was a good idea? Seriously, worst name ever
“One of the few bright lights of TNA, can't believe you asked this question.” - Homicidal
This one I figured should be taken care of right away. The complaint isn’t with Dinero at all, but rather his name.
“I disagree. It's not great, but it's no Jethro Holliday, Braden Walker, or Gavin Spears. I remember that Burke came up with the character while he was in WWE and not doing anything, and I'm sure TNA just fired up the "random wrestler name generator" to fill in the blanks.” – Brad Curran
“I read Elijah Burke came up with the name himself. If he didn't, I know for certain that he created that gimmick along with the accessories that goes with it. I actually like his gimmick and think he has connected with the audience. He gets a lot of pops from the crowd, but could be because Suicide has gotten X-Pac heat lately.” – Ben
Who the blame goes to doesn’t make it any better or worse of an idea. Dusty wanted to be the “Common Man” with polka dots. It was still stupid. Jethro Holliday for a giant hick isn’t so bad. A lot of people suggested Braden Walker, but the name wasn’t the issue- how out of shape and poor he looked was. Gavin Spears is pretty bad. Definitely on the same level as Dinero. Let’s address him being “over” now.
“People cheering for him, even though he is a heel, suggests to me he is well over!” - Rex
That suggests to me TNA is booking the gimmick poorly. Heels are not meant to get cheered. Attacking Suicide is supposed to get heat on Dinero. Heels don’t draw money or ratings by being cheered, but by doing dastardly things and getting booed. Sure, he can be turned, but that’s a reward for doing his initial job of being a heel, which he did poorly. If Suicide is really getting X-Pac heat (a term referring to heat that an audience member gets when fans just want them to go away) then Dinero needs to be separated from him post-haste so we can see what he can do with a normal face opponent. This is a bit off the subject; let’s get back to the name.
“What about Dolph Ziggler? I mean I love Ziggler to death, but that name is horrendous. My only problem with Dinero's name is that he's African American and the name sounds Hispanic, so it doesn't quite fit.” - G
“Dinero has the gimmick of a street preacher. I think the name is supposed to be a play on Creflo Dollar. Dollar... Dinero...” - CCC
And we have a winner. Ziggler is the only name as bad as or worse than D’Angelo Dinero. Let’s go through the faults with the name. First, it’s only partially alliterative. Names are made alliterative for on main reason- to help fans remember them (see also, Peter Park, Bruce Banner, Hulk Hogan, etc). D’Angelo Dinero fits, until you realize that he’s referred to constantly as “The Pope” which not only counters the earlier alliteration, but means his name is used so rarely that the alliteration is useless. D’Angelo is a name that would never go with Dinero in real life, so the name actually has a false ring to it. Dinero is a Hispanic last name, while D’Angelo is either African American or Italian. Sure, these names happen in real life from time to time, but when you’re making a wrestling name, the false ring to it without sounding cool makes for a poor name. Of course, this is a reference to Creflo Dollar, the street preacher, as CCC points out, however, it’s the Spanish word for dollar! Why not use an Italian name or a different English synonym for dollar, such as cash or money? The name is also long for a successful 3-part wrestler name, as well. Look at successful wrestling names and almost all are short- Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Harley Race, Terry Funk, Kurt Angle- the list goes on and on. Usually, a nickname is attached to these like “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan or “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Dinero passes none of these “successful wrestling name” benchmarks and, as such, his name is a failure. At least even the terrible Dolph Ziggler name is catchy.
Comments
I still think Braden Walker's a pretty awful name and much worse than D'Angelo Dinero. Ziggler I don't mind because having a goofy name fits his character. The larger problem is that WWE and TNA can't/won't let guys use perfectly good actual names (for copyright reasons, but still) and won't let two people go by Lance or Shawn (someone might get confused!). The anxiety over what they'll wind up calling Danielson really highlights this.
I don't know why he wasn't just plain old Elijah Burke. It's his real name, after all; the WWE doesn't own it. The only interesting thing about the name D'Angelo Dinero is that it's probably not the character's real name, either. Street Preachers and scam artists would typically use a pseudonym, so they can always go away from this when they feel like it.
Jethro Holliday? Also bad. Dolph Ziggler got his name over just through sheer repetition. Plus, you ever start to think that we routinely talk about a wrestler who's only name is "Big Show"? Kind of silly when you look from the point of view of a new fan.
Also, calling Christopher Daniels simply "Daniels" bothers me. What's catchy about that name? Letting him be "Christopher Daniels" at least made him seem like a person.
I don't get why they didn't let Burke (or Trevor Murdoch, for that matter; most of his appeal for promoters has to be that he's Dick Murdoch's son!) keep their names, other than maybe it lets TNA feel like they aren't taking WWE's sloppy seconds. It's a totally new guy, not a WWE retread! I also don't get just calling Daniels Daniels.
Big Show I don't mind because it started out as his nickname, and people just went with that instead of calling him "Big Show" Paul Wight. And it's at least more punchy than just calling him "the Giant."
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