Some names are forged in fire. Others are born in bars, strip clubs, or high school group chats. For former WWE Superstar Indi Hartwell, it came from a dog and a street—and yeah, she used the porn star method.
You heard that right.
On a recent episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Hartwell peeled back the curtain on her origin story. Not the tragic, cape-flapping kind. The kind where a name becomes a brand, and the brand gets copyrighted.
“I used the porn star method,” she said, laughing. “Do you know who Iggy Azalea is? Before I started wrestling, I was a big fan. That’s how she got her name—your pet’s name plus your street name. My friend’s dog was named Indi, and her street was Hartwell. We were just joking around. Years later, the promoter asked me what name I wanted to use, and I just said, ‘Indi Hartwell.’ It sounded right. There weren’t any other ‘Indis’ in the business. Plus, it tied into indie wrestling. It worked too well.”
Serendipity, folks. Sometimes fate hands you a stage name that just hits.
The Art of Owning Your Name
Fast forward to late 2024—WWE cuts Hartwell loose in one of its sweeping releases. But unlike many who’ve had to leave their TV name behind in Stamford’s vaults, Hartwell walked out with her brand intact.
How?
“I just asked,” she said. “That’s really it. When I started, I was wrestling under my real name at live events. Then I had a dark match and said, ‘Can I be Indi Hartwell?’ Road Dogg was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll ask.’ And they let me. From there, I was on TV, had an action figure, made it into the game. When NXT 2.0 came around, they pushed everyone to either change their names or sell them the rights. I sold mine. But when I got released, I just called and asked for it back. We worked it out. I got the rights to my own name again. I was lucky.”
Let’s pause there. This is the kind of wrestling industry story that gets glossed over. A young woman walks into the biggest sports entertainment company on Earth, makes a name for herself—literally—and then has to buy it back just to keep using it after they cut her.
And you wonder why the indies are stacked with talent who look like stars but go by names that sound like rejected Xbox Live handles.
From WWE to TNA: The Knockout Chapter
Now, Hartwell’s not just sitting on the shelf waiting for her next action figure. She’s officially signed with TNA Wrestling, making her Knockouts Division debut at the Rebellion pay-per-view earlier this year. Still Indi Hartwell. Still swinging.
And that matters. In a business where identity is currency and your name might as well be tattooed on your merch, keeping that alias is a power move.
It started as a joke. A dog. A street. A teenage game of What Would Your Porn Star Name Be. But Indi Hartwell took that accidental branding masterstroke and ran with it. Past NXT. Past layoffs. Past the machine.
She’s still here. Still Indi.
Last modified: May 14, 2025
