Madusa Explains Why She Changed Her Name Upon Arrival In WWF

Wrestling fans will frequently be up in arms whenever their favorite superstars undergo a name change, but some performers welcome the change for a variety of reasons. Stars like Pete Dunne, WALTER, and Mia Yim have all discussed how they embraced becoming Butch, GUNTHER, and Michin, respectively, in WWE. More recently, Nikki and Brie Bella decided to adopt their maiden names moving forward now that they have parted ways with WWE. 

But long before the current crop of talent was put in positions to adopt new personas as they started new chapters in their careers, Madusa imposed that challenge upon herself in the early '90s.

While promoting her new book "The Woman Who Would Be King: The Madusa Story" on "Busted Open Radio," host David LaGreca shared his frustration that Vince McMahon changed the trailblazer's name when she debuted in WWF in 1992. However, the legendary Women's Champion set the record straight with the host by revealing that it was her decision to operate under a different moniker.

"When we did finally speak, Vince and I, we knew that we had to come up with a name," she said. "He really liked Madusa and I told him over the phone, 'No, I don't really want to use that. I worked so hard for that and I just didn't want to use it.' And it went silent. Before I was hired, I thought I was fired. I thought for sure that was the end. But sure enough, he said that we'll come up with another name."

When it came to refreshing her designation ahead of her run in WWE, Madusa had an interesting thought process. 

"[Vince] basically let me choose the name and I was thinking way ahead," she said. "I don't know how or why the capacity of my brain thinks this way, but it does. Back then, there were phonebooks and I was thinking that I need to be in the front so I'm always in the beginning of every book and magazine. And I knew that I wanted to be a champion. I know this sounds crazy, but Alundra Blayze Champion. ABC. And he loved it. Something very different. The name Blayze stuck more than anything."

Though she was happy to go by this name throughout her time in WWE, Blayze reverted back to Madusa once she moved on to WCW. However, when she started to hear rumblings that McMahon was gearing up to purchase his primary competitor in 2001, the wrestler-turned-monster truck driver left Ted Turner's company before anyone else could lay claim to her intellectual property. Thanks to the trademark, she left and took her name with her so it couldn't be controlled by anyone but her.

Despite being ridiculed for it at the time, Madusa wanted to have agency over the brand that she built up prior to joining WWE. She said that trademarking her name was "the smartest decision" she could have made back then and emphasized that talent today needs to understand the importance of filing a trademark.