If you go back and watch almost any Bret Hart match when Vince was on commentary, you will lose count how many times he says ‘The Hitman’ Bret Hart (yes he always said it wrong and was the only person who consistently did so). I noticed it a lot in Yokozuna matches too. There’s moments where Vince will say Yoko’s name in full like 4 times in 10 seconds, several times a match. There’s definitely other examples, but for some reason those stuck out the most to me.

So it’s nothing new at all, and never hurt them in any way, there’s plenty of fans still nostalgic for the new gen era. At the end of the day it probably ties all in to branding and name recognition