Two of the WWE Performance Center's brightest young stars have reportedly been given new names, so it's time to bid farewell to Kay Lee Ray and Kacy Catanzaro (the names, not the people to whom the names belong).
According to PWInsider, Kacy Catanzaro will now be known as Katana Chance, while Kay Lee Ray will go Alba Fyre moving forward.
Kacy Lee Ray/Alba Fyre is a former NXT UK Women's Champion who was moved from NXT UK to NXT 2.0 late last year and debuted at TakeOver 36.
Kacy Catanzaro/Katana Chance is a former American Ninja Warrior competitor who signed with WWE in 2018. Recently, Catanzaro has been working alongside Kayden Carter as one half of a tag team.
RELATED: Kay Lee Ray Needs To Be The Face Of The NXT Women's Division
KLR and Catanzaro's name changes come just a few days after WWE began billing Legado del Fantasma member Raul Mendoza as Cruz Del Toro. Meanwhile, on the main roster, former NXT star Austin Theory has had his name shortened to just "Theory." As we covered, the artist formerly known as Pete Dunne was renamed Butch after being called up to SmackDown, and Raquel Gonzalez's last name changed to Rodriguez then she followed Dunne to the blue brand.
Then there's the Walter/Gunther debacle, but the less said about that the better -- although it's worth pointing out that Gunther's associate Marcel Barthel was recently renamed also.
Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE boss Vince McMahon recently sent out a memo stating he doesn't want talent using their real names on programming any longer. Though it's highly unlikely that main roster stars such as AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura will be forced to change their names, you can expect some younger talent to undergo changes to their ring names if they're currently using an element of their real name.
