A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, or in some cases, a martial artist. Ring names were developed as a defense mechanism to keep kayfabe and allow wrestling performers to hide their true identities from the wrestling fanbase, or because their real name is considered unattractive, dull, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projects the wrong image. Since the advent of the Internet, it is now relatively easy to discover the real name of a wrestler when in the past it was far more difficult. Some example of ring names are Richard Fliehr to Ric Flair, Michael Hickenbottom to Shawn Michaels, and Lawrence Pfohl to Lex Luger. A stage name or a screen name is a pseudonym used by performers (such as actors, athletes, comedians, musicians and clowns). ... Professional wrestling is generally any form of performance art in which pro-wrestlers receive payment for participating. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced KAY-fayb; IPA: ) refers to the portrayal of events within the industry as real, that is the portrayal of professional wrestling as not staged or worked. ... A mark is a professional wrestling fan who believes that everything associated with pro wrestling is real, rather than recognizing the existence of kayfabe (that is, it is a work). ... A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to his or her legal name. ... Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), better known by his ring name The Nature Boy Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler currently with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its RAW brand. ... Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. ... Lawrence (Larry) Wendell Pfohl (born June 2, 1958), is an American former professional wrestler, Bodybuider and football player better known by his ring name, Lex Luger, // American Football career Pfohl was a student at Pennsylvania State University, where he played football before transferring to the University of Miami in 1978. ...

In recent years, however, a growing number of wrestling performers have adopted their real name or a variation thereof for their in-ring persona, sometimes modifying the spelling of their real name to better fit their character or gimmick, such as Dave Bautista to simply Batista. Many also use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Some examples for this are "The Rabid Wolverine" Chris Benoit and "The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles. In professional wrestling, a gimmick is slang that refers to a wrestlers on-screen personality. ... David Bautista - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... // A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or things real name (for example, Bob, Rob, Robby, Robbie, Robi, Bobby, Rab, Bert, Bertie, Butch, Bobbers, Bobert, Beto, Bobadito, and Robban (in Sweden), are all short for Robert). ... Christopher Michael Benoit (born May 21, 1967), is a French Canadian professional wrestler, currently wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its SmackDown! brand. ... Allen Jones (born June 2, 1978), better known by his ring name A.J. Styles (also written AJ Styles), is an American professional wrestler. ...

Pro wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. It is generally considered impolite for a fan to address a wrestler by his real name instead of his ring name.

Ring names are often trademarked by the promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer, and it is not uncommon to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout his career, even if his overall persona or gimmick remains similar. (For example, Senshi is a ring name used specifically for his second TNA stint so that he would continue to hold onto his original ring name used elsewhere.) A trademark, trade mark, ™ or ® [1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to uniquely identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to distinguish the business and its products or services from those of other businesses. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Brandon Silvestry, better known by his stage name Low Ki, is an American professional wrestler of Puerto Rican and Italian descent, currently performing for Japans Pro Wrestling NOAH and independent promotions, including Ring Of Honor and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. ... Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded by Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett in May 2002. ...

In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which was due to Hogan being advertised as "The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early on in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character The Incredible Hulk. Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Entertainment, Inc. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and to make a clear distinction between fact and fiction, this article may require cleanup. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...