WWE recently filed trademarks for the ring names “Tristan Angels” and “Dorian Van Dux,” as reported by PWMania.com. “Tristan Angels” has been confirmed as Nathan Cranton’s new ring name, also known as Nathan Angel.
BodySlam+ later revealed that the name “Dorian Van Dux” will be used by Belgian wrestler Mike Derudder, also known as Mike D Vecchio, who signed with WWE last year.
Vecchio took to his Twitter (X) account to confirm that he will indeed be using the name “Dorian Van Dux” and explained the reasoning behind his choice.
He shared a video of himself in a scene reminiscent of the movie “Bloodsport”, specifically taken from “The Last Kumite”, which was inspired by “Bloodsport” and partially funded by its distributors, where Vecchio portrayed a villain.
“Bloodsport” starred fellow Belgian Jean-Claude Van Damme as kickboxer Frank Dux. Dux was loosely based on a real-life Canadian-American who claimed to have participated in secret martial arts tournaments, which may have been exaggerated. Van Damme’s portrayal of a highly fictionalized version of Dux also draws parallels with Oscar Wilde’s character, the ageless Dorian Gray. Thus, the name “Dorian Van Dux” is a tribute to both Dorian Gray and Frank Dux, as well as to Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Vecchio announced his signing with WWE in September and later shared an image of himself under the NXT logo in October. Fans on social media quickly noted the connection to Van Damme, along with the similarity between the initials “DVD” and Rob Van Dam’s “RVD,” the last major star to reference JCVD in his gimmick.
The newly named Dorian Van Dux was ranked 180 in last year’s PWI 500. According to Fightful, it is still unknown when he will make his NXT debut.
