WWE fans resisted Pete Dunne’s name change to Butch at first. That one-word name grew on people eventually, but it appears more changes are coming for the former NXT UK Champion.
Changes Coming For Butch
The Brawling Brutes stable, consisting of Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch, are no more. The faction quietly broke up, as Butch made mention of that fact during a promo with Tyler Bate a couple of weeks ago.
Now, Sean Ross Sapp reports on Fightful Select that Butch is in for a presentation change. Those hints were already dropped on SmackDown.
It was noted that, during that pre-produced vignette on Smackdown where Butch revealed that the Brawling Brutes broke up, he said he had to make a name for himself. Now, a change back to Pete Dunne is being discussed.
Fightful has confirmed that a change back to Pete Dunne has long been discussed, with one source in WWE telling Corey Brennan “it’s exactly what it looks like.”
Backstage Reaction To Butch’s Initial Name Change
The report further noted that when “Butch’s name was changed from Dunne, it got some of the heaviest pushback in recent WWE memory.” Fans did not love the name change at first, either.
One source reportedly brought up Bushwhacker Butch as they said, “It wasn’t even that it was a bad name. The name was okay, it was fine. But there was already a Butch. An actual wrestler named Butch already in our Hall of Fame.”
WWE has changed Superstar names for one reason or another throughout the years, for any number of reasons. While Butch did have a good run on the WWE main roster, it appears that Vince McMahon change to Pete Dunne’s character may get swapped back by Triple H.
That segment with Butch and Tyler Bate also represented a big change in WWE’s production after Kevin Dunn’s exit. The company is going through many changes on several levels at this point.
UPDATE: Pete Dunne Returns
Pete Dunne returned this week on SmackDown, under that name, He received a massive pop as he came out to team with Tyler Bate. The team took on Pretty Deadly, and his change back to the Dunne name received a great reaction.