Knock knock… Chris Harris wasn’t too surprised that WWE ended up changing his name, but he still feels like it was a disappointing move.
During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Chris Harris spoke about having his name changed from to Braden Walker in WWE.
“It was unfortunate that they would do that but I can’t say that I was surprised. Going in there, they just want to erase your past, which is unfortunate because you try so hard to build up a reputation for yourself and not that they would ever talk about TNA, but they don’t want them to talk about you like you are a rookie. Going in there, I tried to keep a positive attitude. The Wildcat is gone, I’m going to be a whole new character. They gave me the name, and a lot of people have trashed that for years, but it wasn’t a surprise. They gave me the name, if I was still able to be myself, I could take any name that they throw at me. I could make Braden Walker work if they had given me an opportunity. There was no preparation and no thought behind it. I think I was doomed from the start.”
Harris enjoyed a six-year run in TNA Wrestling before leaving the company, signing with WWE in January 2008. He ultimately made his television debut as Walker on the July 8 episode of ECW, highlighted by the infamous “knock, knock joke” promo. Walker’s run in the company would not last long, however, as he worked one more match before he was released on August 7, 2008.
Harris spoke about never being given a fair opportunity while in WWE, noting that he didn’t really have any plans or an opportunity to be himself.
“I was there for close to a year, and I just from the get-go, I just saw different things. When I first went, people were excited to see me and they didn’t want news getting out, it felt like a big deal. ‘We’ve got plans for you.’ Things like that. I felt like maybe I made the right decision. But within weeks, I was seeing that there was no background to this and no thought and I was just going to be one of the ones that are just thrown out there, and I was. I was just thrown out there, there was no story or background to Braden Walker anything like that.
“I had generic music, gear, name, there was no reason for people to get behind me. I still feel like I could have made that work if they let me wrestle, but they were even taking that away from me. Seconds and minutes before I went out, I had a producer change my match. ‘You can’t do this and you can’t do that, so why don’t you try…’ You’re messing with me man, I couldn’t go out and be myself in the ring. It was very unfortunate and I felt like I could make it work, but the opportunity was never presented to me.”
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