Tucker On Why He Thinks WWE Shortens Wrestler Names

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Tucker, who was released from WWE earlier this year, spoke about why he thinks the company shortens wrestler names. He had been called ‘Tucker Knight’ in NXT before his name was shortened when he arrived on the main roster. Here are highlights:

On getting called to the main roster: “I mean, we were up and we were doing our thing. Like, ‘Hey, you’re Heavy Machinery, do your thing’. For us, we’re always focused on getting over with the crowd. That’s what we’re about. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s where our mental energy and focus is going. While Heavy Machinery is Heavy Machinery together, that’s the conversations we’re having in cars, in planes, wherever we are. That’s what we were about, and I’m pretty happy with at least what we were able to accomplish when we were given the opportunity to accomplish it.”

On losing his last name: “I wish they wouldn’t have, but it is what it is I guess. What the boss says goes. That wasn’t a hill I was going to die on, I’ll just say that. I just said, ‘Okay. No problem. Thank you.’”

On why WWE shortens names: “I honestly think it has to do with how long it takes the announcer to say like, ‘Otis Dozovic! Tucker Knight! Heavy Machinery!’ I think that’s too long. I think that’s one of the reasons anyways. I have no idea. That’s pure speculation on my part.”

On the end of Heavy Machinery: “Obviously I understood that Heavy Machinery as I knew it was in jeopardy. Even if we’re not having discussions about that and we’re not talking about it, like in my mind I know. I’ve watched. I pay attention to the way things go. In the context of Heavy Machinery and us continuing to be successful as a tag team, this is probably not a good thing for us. But at the same time, I genuinely love Otis,” Tucker said. “I don’t want to try and steer it back in [the tag team] direction so hard that it messes up his thing. This has been his dream since he was a kid. And I love him. I would never want to mess that up. It was kind of tough for me in some regards because obviously I want Heavy Machinery to continue in the way that it was going, but at the same time I don’t want to deprive one of my best friends of what could ultimately be a really, really big opportunity for his career and his life.”