NXT Star Gets Name Change

Another week, another new ring name. But this time, it seems like the wrestler himself had a say in the name change.

Brennan Williams from NXT, underwent a name change recently and will be called “Dio Madden” from now on. If you think the new name is just random and meaningless – it isn’t. The “Dio” is actually a direct reference to the popular Japanese anime show JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure‘s antagonist “Dio Brando”.

Welcome to Maddintown.

— Dio Maddin (Brennan Williams) (@GREATBLACKOTAKU) June 19, 2019

Williams is known as a huge anime/games nerd by his fans and this is surely a great way to connect with them as they are delighted by the name change. Even his Twitter username is “GREATBLACKOTAKU”, otaku being a word for an anime super-fan, basically. He has also appeared multiple times on Xavier Woods’ YouTube channel, UpUpDownDown.

In another interesting tidbit, Williams showed his finisher on Twitter which is named after his love for the cult-classic anime show from the mid-90s called Neon Genesis Evangelion. The show is trending in pop culture right now because it was recently picked up by Netflix to be on their streaming platform. Fans of the show are celebrating as a new generation will be discovering the much-loved series for the first time.

William has been part of NXT for almost three years now when he joined the development brand in August of 2016, and has been appearing on NXT house shows from time to time. He was a former football player was drafted by the Houston Texans of the National Football League in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He was released and was subsequently signed by Jacksonville Jaguars but released shortly. The New England Patriots signed Williams to their practice squad in late 2015 but waived him two days later. After being released by the Patriots, he received wrestling training by Booker T and debuted in 2016 with the Hall of Famer’s promotion, Reality of Wrestling.