Big E hasn’t forgotten the days when WWE fans knew him as Big E Langston, and he still has jokes about the company chopping his name in half.
During his appearance on Under The Mat, Big E was asked what happened to the “Langston” portion of his original WWE name. He debuted on WWE’s main roster as Big E Langston before the company eventually shortened it to simply Big E. Big E immediately compared his situation to another WWE name change from the same era, when Alexander Rusev became simply Rusev.
“Yeah, it was—you remember that time. It was like, remember Alexander Rusev? Then he was just Rusev.”
Big E then joked that losing Langston did more than shorten what appeared on the screen. According to him, WWE basically severed his connection to his entire wrestling family tree.
“I miss my connection to my family, to the people who, you know, my lineage is—I’m cut off from my lineage.”
WWE shortening Superstar names was hardly unusual during that period. Big E Langston became Big E, Alexander Rusev became Rusev and several other wrestlers saw parts of their names disappear during their runs with the company.
Big E clearly isn’t losing sleep over Langston disappearing, but more than a decade later, he can still get some mileage out of the decision. The shortened Big E name ultimately became the one attached to his biggest accomplishments, including his run with The New Day and his WWE Championship reign.
Do you prefer Big E or Big E Langston, and should WWE have ever dropped the Langston name in the first place? Let us know your thoughts and feedback.
