{"id":207072,"date":"2025-11-06T22:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T04:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=207072"},"modified":"2025-11-10T11:28:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:28:55","slug":"wwe-rising-stars-fading-stars-oba-femi-bron-breakker-jevon-evans-jacy-jayne-lash-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/11\/06\/wwe-rising-stars-fading-stars-oba-femi-bron-breakker-jevon-evans-jacy-jayne-lash-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE RISING STARS &#038; FADING STARS: Oba Femi, Bron Breakker, Je&#8217;Von Evans, Jacy Jayne, Lash Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1148662837\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>&#8220;What&#8217;s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our names do not define us, quite the contrary. Consider the true story of Robert Lane, who named his two sons Winner and Loser. Winner Lane became a career criminal, spending much of his life between prison and homeless shelters, while Loser Lane graduated college and became a successful detective for the New York Police Department, rising to the rank of Sergeant.<\/p>\n<p>That said, our names can affect who we become. Would Usain Bolt have become a sprinter if his last name did not describe a blast of lightning? Would Thomas Crapper have invented the toilet were he Thomas Smith?<\/p>\n<p>A name can elevate us or doom us. This is why parents put so much thought into naming our children. Thousands of men named Adolph faced ridicule and harassment in the 1930\u2019s before the name disappeared from use. I have often wondered what became of Richard Head, my college biology lab partner, and how his name affected his life.<\/p>\n<p>Professional wrestlers, like other celebrities, can choose their own name to some degree. A good name can help describe a wrestler\u2019s character (e.g., the Undertaker or Steve Austin) or at least sound cooler than one\u2019s given name (e.g., Shawn Michaels vs Shawn Hickenbottom). A bad name can severely hinder a wrestler\u2019s career: neither Bastion Booger nor the Red Rooster were ever going to be world champions, and Dolph Ziggler should have reached greater heights with a better name.<\/p>\n<p>Which young wrestling stars are boosted by a marketable name, and which are held back by a bad one?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2198772272\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Rising Star of the Week: Oba Femi<\/h2>\n<p>Femi\u2019s name is distinctive, simple, yet clean, and reflects the Nigerian roots that help make him unique.<\/p>\n<p>Oba is a West African term meaning king, which describes the character of the man who was known as the \u201cRuler of NXT.\u201d At once it reflects his power and heritage.<\/p>\n<p>Femi is a term form the Nigerian Yoruba language, is often used as a short form of longer names such as Olufemi, which means \u201cGod loves me. On its own, Femi simply means \u201clove me.\u201d What better to describe a main event babyface\u2019s aspirations than to garner the affection of his audience?<\/p>\n<p>Oba Femi is also a great name because it is unique. When Jordynne Grace wrestled Kelani Jordan last week on NXT, it became impossible to tell who Vic Josephs was referring to when talked about \u201cJordan.\u201d Even Sting and Edge are easily confused with musicians who share their names.<\/p>\n<p>Not so Oba. In professional wrestling, there is only one.<\/p>\n<p>The sky\u2019s the limit on the main roster for this talented, charismatic young man. Whatever his success, Femi\u2019s name will only help.<\/p>\n<h3>Runner-up: Je\u2019Von Evans<\/h3>\n<p>Another of NXT\u2019s top prospects, Evans has a name which strikes the right tone. First, like Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart, Je\u2019Von Evans simply sounds like a real name. One might even be surprised to learn that it\u2019s not his given name (Malachi Jeffers).<\/p>\n<p>Second, Je\u2019von is unusual enough to be unique in professional wrestling, but not so rare as to cause confusion. Grounding it with a common surname Evans makes it easier to remember.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2315403080\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Third, Je\u2019von, a creative variation of the Welsh Jevon, easily associates with the African American community, connecting Evans to his heritage as well.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, his nickname \u201cThe Young OG\u201d is derivative of multiple hip hop artists, most notably Ahsa Gangali and Rio Da Yung OG. The epithet connects Evans to popular culture and the younger generation and applies as well to a wrestler as it does to a musician.<\/p>\n<p>With his incredible athleticism and unparalleled bump-taking ability, Evans has the potential to be a main roster main eventer if he can stay healthy and sharpen his mic skills. His name rolls off the tongue and will fit in nicely on a WrestleMania card.<\/p>\n<p>Second Runner up: Thea Hail<\/p>\n<p>Crisp and memorable, Thea Hail is a play on words while still sounding like a legitimate name. Hail\u2019s name is straightforward, easy to remember, but distinctive enough to stand out.<\/p>\n<p>Thea is a Greek name meaning Goddess, and Hail suggests praise (as in \u201chail the champion\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>A three-syllable name is always a bonus, because it\u2019s easy to chant.<\/p>\n<p>The NXT audience was quick to discover this. \u201cThee- ah- Hail! Thee \u2013 ah \u2013 Hail!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Honorable Mention: Arianna Grace, Trick Williams, Tony D\u2019Angelo<\/p>\n<h3>Runner-Up: Bron Breakker<\/h3>\n<p>What the heck? Breakker is in no way a believable last name. Would Steven Austin have been a success if his name were Steve Attakker? Doubtful.<\/p>\n<p>Admitted Bron is a pretty cool sounding name and would be distinctive if he not been paired with Bronson Reed, the only other Bron on the roster.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Bron Breakker does have alliteration going for it, which helps make the name memorable as it has for so many Marvel secret identities (e.g., Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Stephen Strange)<\/p>\n<p>However, Breakker sounds completely made-up and just plain stupid.<\/p>\n<p>Given his family legacy, Bron Steiner would have been more conventional choice. Breakker has said in interviews that he didn\u2019t use the Steiner name because he wanted to \u201ccarve his own path.\u201d Be careful what you wish for.<\/p>\n<p>Husky Harris had the good sense to change his name to Bray Wyatt. My own personal \u201cVision\u201d has Breakker following his example.<\/p>\n<p>If the self-proclaimed Future of WWE meets expectations he will need to rise above his wretched name.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Raw: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/wwe-raw-post-show-11-3-keller-leclair-talk-logan-paul-s-babyface-turn-teaser-dom-rey-epic-exchange-punk-s-celebration-on-site-report--68410125\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cwade Keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE RAW POST-SHOW (11\/3): Keller &amp; LeClair talk Logan Paul's babyface turn teaser, Dom-Rey epic exchange, Punk's celebration, on-site report\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=68410125&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Fading Star of the Week: Lash Legend<\/h2>\n<p>Legend\u2019s size, strength, and charisma will all go a long way in setting her up for main roster success.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s going to need all of those traits to overcome the disadvantage of a dumb name.<\/p>\n<p>The surname Legend is unusual but not totally unbelievable. Singer John Legend has set some precedent, although his real name is John Stephens. A last name of Legend sounds cool, contemporary, and suggests greatness. Meta-four was a fitting faction for Legend, whose name is nothing if not metaphor.<\/p>\n<p>A first name of Lash is similarly very rare but not completely without precedent. Some might recall Lash Larue, a film actor from the 1950\u2019s whose real name was Alfred.<\/p>\n<p>Coupling a barely credible first name with a barely credible first name is just too much. Lash Legend sounds completely phony.<\/p>\n<p>Plus 5 points for alliteration, minus fifty points for implausibility.<\/p>\n<h3>Runner-Up: Jacy Jayne<\/h3>\n<p>Similarly, Jayne capitalizes on alliteration, but sounds contrived. The story behind her name is somewhat bizarre.<\/p>\n<p>In 2018 Jayne was wrestling under the name Avery Taylor in American Combat Wrestling. At that time another wrestler Lacey Lane was finding success in Crash Lucha Libre. Lane would come to NXT later that year and wrestled under the name Lacey Lane for several months before changing her name to Kayden Carter.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly afterwards, Taylor debuted in NXT where she took the name Jacey Jayne. Its not clear if this was an homage to Lacey Lane or simply imitation, but Jayne\u2019s new name created some confusion in NXT.<\/p>\n<p>The confusion multiplied this year when Carter was released from WWE and debuted in AEW under her former name Lacey Lane. Ironically, a number of fans online accused her of ripping of Jacy Jayne\u2019s name. Lane responded, calling these fans \u2018idiots\u2019 on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>October would see Lacy Lane wrestling for the TBS title, and Jacy Jayne wrestling for the NXT title. In the event that Jayne moves to AEW, we could see them wrestle one another.<\/p>\n<p>I expect Tony Chiavone to have a field day announcing that one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dishonorable Mention:<\/strong> Lexis King, Alba Fyre, &amp; Izzi Dame.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-560101488\"><div id=\"pwtor-951658931\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>&#8220;What&#8217;s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.&#8221; -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Our names do not define us, quite the contrary. Consider the true <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/11\/06\/wwe-rising-stars-fading-stars-oba-femi-bron-breakker-jevon-evans-jacy-jayne-lash-legend\/\" title=\"WWE RISING STARS &#038; FADING STARS: Oba Femi, Bron Breakker, Je&#8217;Von Evans, Jacy Jayne, Lash Legend\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,52,4309,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-opnionandanalysis","category-rising-star-fading-star","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-06-at-10.45.32-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207074,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207072\/revisions\/207074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}