Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch Reveal How WWE Gave Them Their Ring Names

When Seth Rollins signed with WWE back in 2010, he had to kiss his indie name “Tyler Black” goodbye—and come up with a new identity that the company could legally own. Turns out, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes played a massive role in naming one of the top stars in the game today.

Rollins told the story on Going Deeper, sharing how he presented a list of first and last names to Rhodes after WWE made it clear they wanted full ownership of his character.

“I made a list when I got hired to WWE in 2010… I had to come up with a new name. I was Tyler Black before that… I took it into the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. And he went through them. He had his little glasses and he's looking at them and he's saying them all out loud… He liked Seth because he spoke with a lisp and it was funny for him to say. He’s like, ‘That’s it, baby. Seth Rollins! I see it now on a marquee—WrestleMania, Seth Rollins! That’s it, that’s it! We done, you got it, baby, go do your thing.’”

Meanwhile, Becky Lynch didn’t have such a glamorous naming process. While her real name is Rebecca Quinn, WWE’s creative control left her with very few options—and no real input.

“Well, unlike Colby over here, I was way more often on the chopping block. So I came up with names that I thought were super cool and then they kept saying no, no, no. And then eventually they just got like a combination of Becky and an Irish name and Lynch was one of the ones that they approved… I didn’t feel like I could push back. So I was just like, okay.”

Despite having little say in what fans would end up chanting for the rest of their careers, both Rollins and Lynch turned those names into global brands. But behind the curtain, it was anything but glamorous. From legal departments to lists read through by legends, even the name you walk to the ring with can come down to a random moment of timing, power, and persuasion.

Rollins may have gotten his name from a wrestling legend, while Lynch had hers picked through a checklist—but both ended up as WrestleMania headliners. The WWE name game isn’t as simple as picking something cool and running with it. For Seth Rollins, it was a Dusty Rhodes anointing. For Becky Lynch, it was bureaucracy. But both turned their assigned identities into championship-level legacies—proof that it’s not the name that makes the wrestler, but what they do with it.

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