WWE Wrestlers Who Were Caught Bizarrely Faking Their Accent
Professional wrestling is one of the rare mediums where the performers involved can choose to be whoever they desire to be. If they want to be an evil plumber, they can be. If they want to call themselves "The Ultimate Killing Machine," nothing would stop them, and if they wanted to be billed from a location they have never even been to, that's perfectly fine as well.
It's the latter of these options that can become something of a problem, because with an exotic location comes the applicable accent. Many wrestlers over the years have had to speak with strange, and sometimes comical, accents over the years with varying degrees of success.\
Some accents will stay with a character throughout one's career, while others will get dropped without any notice, reason, or explanation, with some of WWE's top stars having to speak in a way that their own loved ones would surely never recognize. Here are some of those accents that didn't last in WWE.
Rusev
During his time in WWE, Rusev achieved a fair bit of success. He won the United States Championship on three separate occasions, he discovered that everyday was 'Rusev Day' which the fans enjoyed significantly in 2018, and was often considered by fans one of the most underrated performers on the WWE roster. However, due to the fact that he is originally from Bulgaria (even though he was billed from Russia for a while), he had to speak with an exaggerated Eastern European accent whenever he wasn't partnered up with his manager/real-life wife Lana.
This was no bother for the "Bulgarian Brute" given his upbringing, but given he has lived in the United States since the mid-2000s, that accent isn't exactly an accurate representation of how Rusev speaks. A prime example of this was when he debuted as Miro in AEW in 2020.
Still billed from Bulgaria, Miro spoke with his normal American speaking voice when he cut his first promo, immediately dropping the accent since so many people knew it was fake in WWE. His Bulgarian accent has made a slight comeback in AEW during his run as "The Redeemer," but it is nowhere near as harsh as what it was in WWE, though fans can tell that his native tongue is bubbling under the surface, waiting to come out whenever he gets angry.
Alexa Bliss
This entry might be considered cheating, as the accent never made it to air, but it's so strange to hear Alexa Bliss talk in such a way that it has to be included. The five-time WWE Women's Champion is taking time away from the company at the time of writing, following the birth of her first child in November 2023.
When Bliss returns, she will more than likely return to the "Five Feet of Fury" gimmick she had during her time on top of the women's division. However, there is a slim chance she might return with the lesser known southern accent that she attempted during her early days in "WWE NXT."
When someone joins WWE with little to no prior experience, one of the things they are tasked with is creating a character. Bliss would portray a variety of characters during her time in WWE, but there was a time where she not only spoke with a southern accent, but was the love interest of AEW star Dax Harwood. A video was posted on Vimeo in 2013 of Harwood, then known as Scott Dawson, sweet talking Bliss, his kayfabe girlfriend. Bliss tried to match Dawson's North Carolina accent when she asked him if she could accompany him to the ring, which Dawson was very happy to agree to. Of course, that character never made it out of the Performance Center, and Bliss debuted on "NXT" TV as a glitter fairy in 2014.
Yokozuna
Modern wrestling fans will know the Anoa'i family well thanks to people like The Rock, Roman Reigns, and The Usos, as well as WWE legends from the past like Rikishi and Umaga. However, one member of the family didn't get the chance to showcase their Samoan roots onscreen, the late great Yokozuna.
With his name literally being a reference to the highest rank in the sport of Sumo, Yokozuna portrayed a sumo wrestler when he made his debut in 1992. The very non-Japanese Yokozuna was managed by actual Japanese manager Mr. Fuji, who acted as his mouthpiece, but that didn't stop the big man from saying a few words.
In his early days with the company, despite having a mouthpiece in the form of Fuji, Yokozuna would cut short, but menacing promos that primarily revolved around being anti-American. These promos would, of course, come equipped with a Japanese accent, which went over as well as you can imagine. When WWE realized the promos weren't working, Yokozuna became a silent killer-type character, with Fuji saying everything that needed to be said. Yokozuna would continue to be silent when Jim Cornette was his manager as a part of Camp Cornette in 1995, but that partnership was sporadic at best due to the big man's increasing health issues that lead to his WWE release in 1998, and his eventual passing in 2000.
Bubba Ray Dudley
For those who ever wondered where the name Bubba came from for the man known today as Bully Ray, look no further than his legendary run in ECW and his early days in WWE. As a member of The Dudley Boyz in ECW, Bully Ray was named Buh Buh Ray due to the fact he had a severe stutter and wouldn't be able to say his own name until someone hit him.
This was canonically due to being both inbred thanks to the Dudley family history, and a hillbilly, which also resulted in him speaking with a southern American accent. However, this was eventually dropped when he and D-Von turned heel and dominated the ECW tag team division.
In 1999, The Dudley Boyz were signed by WWE, and upon his arrival, Buh Buh Ray Dudley reverted to speaking with a stutter and southern accent. The stutter was quickly dropped as the newly named Bubba Ray Dudley became the main mouthpiece for the duo, but his southern accent stuck around a little while longer. Once Bubba and D-Von traded their famous tye dye aesthetic for camouflage gear, the southern accent faded away, and by the time they were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Bubba Ray spoke with his normal New York accent. It's safe to say episodes of Busted Open Radio would sound very different if Buh Buh Ray was speaking.
Razor Ramon
He was one of the most famous characters of the New Generation era, but one of Razor Ramon's most memorable traits was his Cuban accent. The Ramon character was originally designed to be a lot like the Tony Montana character from the movie 'Scarface,' who also spoke with a thick Cuban accent.
Scott Hall, a man who was born and raised in Maryland, perfected the accent to such a degree that he had a number of fans in the '90s believing that he really sounded like that. Then he went to WCW, and that all changed.
When Hall jumped to WCW in 1996, his Cuban accent didn't jump with him. His accent actually latched on to a man named Rick Bognar, who would portray the fake Razor Ramon after Hall left the company. Hall went by his real name, as did his best friend Kevin Nash, who alongside Hulk Hogan would form one of the most famous groups in the history of wrestling, the NWO. When Hall eventually returned to WWE in 2002 as part of the NWO, his Cuban accent was nowhere to be found as he stuck with his regular voice and real name, which he would continue to do until the end of his career.
Luke Harper
The late Jon Huber had a wild ride as Luke Harper in WWE. He was a member of The Wyatt Family, and won the Intercontinental Championship and multiple Tag Team Championships before leaving the company in 2019.
Many people knew what Harper sounded like before he joined WWE, as he was originally from Rochester, New York, but Vince McMahon envisioned him being from the deep south because the concept of someone who looked like Harper talking with a New York accent didn't make sense to him. This led to Harper attempting to speak with an accent that he was not only not comfortable with, but was not very good at.
Any attempt at the accent would fail, and Harper would eventually use his regular accent whenever he got the chance to speak. This angered McMahon and Harper would have little to no promos in his final years with WWE, despite pitching several characters that would allow him to speak on a more regular basis. As Brodie Lee, he would cut a number of promos during his time in AEW as the leader of The Dark Order before his untimely passing in December 2020.
Drew McIntyre
To the rest of the world, the Scottish accent is one of the most difficult to understand. While there are different accents within Scotland itself, just listen to someone from Edinburgh speak to someone from Glasgow.
So when Drew McIntyre debuted in WWE in 2009, he spoke with such an exaggerated Scottish accent that even Mel Gibson in Braveheart would have trouble understanding him. As did the fans, who would consistently chant 'What?' at McIntyre during his early years in the company due to not being able to connect with him verbally.
When McIntyre returned to WWE in 2017, his voice was deeper, his beard was thicker, and his accent was vastly different. He was still Scottish at the end of the day, but he toned down his accent significantly in order for his promos to land better. McIntyre even stated this in an interview, where he admitted he had to change his accent because he was sick of the fans chanting 'What?' at him during his promos. McIntyre speaks in his much more natural accent to this day, which still seemingly confuses some in WWE, as he was repeatedly billed a as "hometown boy" during his match with Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle, which took place in Wales, not Scotland.
Triple H
Before he was the head of WWE creative, before he was "The King of Kings," and before he was crotch-chopping with Shawn Michaels as part of D-Generation X, Triple H had the bold distinction of having not one, but two accents that were interesting to say the least.
Following a stint on the independent circuit as "Terra Ryzing," Triple H would sign a one-year deal with WCW. While he may have debuted under his Terra Ryzing name, he would quickly adopt the gimmick of Jean Paul Levesque, who hailed from France. Despite having a French name, the real Paul Levesque is in fact not French, resulting in his attempt at a French accent turning out awful.
Triple H would leave WCW and his French accent behind in 1995 to join WWE, where he became known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the "Connecticut Blueblood." While he didn't have to keep his French accent thanks to the fact WWE acknowledged he is from Connecticut, his gimmick as a "Blueblood" meant he would have to speak with an exaggerated posh accent that made him sound half-American and half-English. Helmsley would have some success with the gimmick during WWE's New Generation era, but would drop that accent when he formed DX with Shawn Michaels, Chyna, and Rick Rude in 1997, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Carmella
Billed as "The Princess of Staten Island," Carmella debuted on an episode of "WWE NXT" in 2014 as a former hairdresser who had lost her job thanks to Enzo Amore and Big Cass. Carmella landed on the gimmick of the "Staten Island Princess" when she decided that her original gimmick of a young girl from Boston, Massachusetts would be too similar to Sasha Banks, despite the fact Carmella is originally from Spencer, Massachusetts.
After watching enough "Mob Wives" and "Real Housewives of New Jersey" to shake a stick at, she would arrive in "NXT" having as much of a New York accent as Enzo and Cass, who she ended up managing. However, once the 2016 brand split happened and Carmella was separated from Enzo and Cass, she would still claim to be "The Staten Island Princess," despite the fact she sounded like someone who was not from Staten Island.
Her accent was phased out over time, to the point where when she became the first-ever Miss Money In The Bank in 2017, her accent had completely vanished. While there was no real reason for this onscreen, Carmella did become a full-time cast member on "Total Divas" when she moved up to the main roster, where she would regularly speak in her normal, and very much not New York accent.
Lana
As "The Ravishing Russian," Lana acted as Rusev's manager/social ambassador during his time in "WWE NXT" and on the main roster. Both Lana and her real-life husband became fan favorites, with their entrance at WrestleMania 31 still being talked about to this day (especially by Rusev/Miro for what they did inside that tank).
Even though she is originally from Florida, Lana fooled a lot of people into thinking she actually was from Moscow due to how convincing she was in her role, but after a while, that accent started to fade away. Lana would eventually cut promos in her normal voice, something she found rather difficult to begin with as she was so used to speaking with a Russian accent.
While there were a number of storylines involving her real-life husband which didn't need her to be Russian, a rumored reason for her dropping the accent was due to her regular appearances on "Total Divas." This was down to fans already knowing what Lana sounded like out of character (much like what happened to Carmella), and knowing WWE couldn't fool their fans any longer, she once again became American.
Kofi Kingston
Following his big victory over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston took the WWE Championship to Ghana, as he was the first-ever African-born wrestler to win the richest prize in wrestling. During his trip to his homeland, he visited local villages, school children, and the country's esteemed president, representing the country his was born in proudly. Why is all this relevant? Because up until 2009, WWE made people believe he was from Jamaica.
Kingston's gimmick as a Jamaican-born wrestler actually began before his time in WWE, as he used the character on the indies, but when he debuted on the ECW brand in 2008, he was billed as the first-ever Jamaican to wrestle for WWE. Billed from Kingston, the future WWE Champion would talk about walking on beaches and swimming in the sea off the coast of his adopted home, complete with an authentic Jamaican accent that was actually convincing to people who didn't know his background.
However, the accent slowly faded away, and by the end of 2009, he spoke with his normal speaking voice. This was something that Triple H was more than happy to point out in the lead-up to that year's Survivor Series, as when Kingston took to the microphone to inspire his teammates, "The Game" asked him "aren't you supposed to be Jamaican? What happened to your accent?" The accent never returned, and Kingston has gone on to achieve almost everything there is to achieve in WWE.