Ring name

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.