Details on Stephanie McMahon changing WWE Superstar's name moments before his return

R-Truth recently revealed that Stephanie McMahon came up with his WWE name shortly before he returned.

The 53-time WWE 24/7 Champion initially worked for Vince McMahon’s company under the name K-Kwik between 1999 and 2002. He went on to work for IMPACT Wrestling for five years before returning to WWE in 2008.

Speaking on Notsam Wrestling, R-Truth explained how Stephanie McMahon created the name “R-Truth” after Vince McMahon requested that he return as a different persona:

“Vince wanted to go with R-something, so we had a list of ‘R’ names. There was so many names on there. Steph said, ‘R-Truth?’ and Vince was coming out of his office. He said, ‘R-Truth… I like that. What’s the R for?’ We just laughed and I said, ‘Do it, R-Truth.’ That was it. Easily done, man."

R-Truth added that Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon felt he had matured during his six years away from WWE. As a result, they wanted him to nix his previous name and reinvent himself upon his return.

Stephanie McMahon created R-Truth’s name on the day of his return

.@RonKillings staring at his BABY like...#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/fnO2u0C5hi

— WWE (@WWE) July 27, 2021

After several weeks of vignettes, R-Truth re-debuted on the August 29, 2008 episode of SmackDown with a win over Kenny Dykstra. He also competed in several untelevised matches in the weeks leading up to his on-screen return.

R-Truth recalled that Stephanie McMahon only had a few hours to think of his name before he re-debuted in WWE:

“It was in the spur of the moment because I was gonna debut that night. So it was like, ‘Hey, why don’t you come over here and think of a name? We’re gonna announce you [as] it.’ ‘What, now?’ ‘Yeah.’ Spur of the moment… that’s how it worked."

Stephanie McMahon also had a hand in creating Drew McIntyre’s name before his WWE debut in 2007. The Scot, real name Drew Galloway, was told 10 minutes before his first WWE appearance that his surname would become McIntyre.