10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin
"Michael "PS" Hayes showed Austin the "Ace Crusher", the weapon of choice for Johnny Ace (aka John Laurinaitis), and suggested a sitdown version of the move - and thus the Stone Cold Stunner was born..."
7. Stone Cold Concerns
You've probably heard the story by now about how WWE creative came up with some truly dumb ideas for Austin's name, once he pitched a new character idea. Austin had watched a documentary on a frightening contract killer named Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski, and thought a character with that sort of cold-bloodedness was the avenue he needed to go down. He suggested the character, only for WWE's "creative services" to suggest horrible names like "Chilly McFreeze", "Ice Dagger" and "Fang McFrost". How's McFrost 3:16 sound to you?
Austin's then-wife Jeannie blurted out the words "stone cold" in regards to the hot tea Austin was drinking, and then she put the words together: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin liked it and thought it sounded great, but remembers worrying that it was too long of a name, that four words may have been excessive. But Austin went with it, relating it to Gerald Brisco, who got the necessary approval for Austin to use the name. So thank you, Jeannie Clark, for brewing tea on that fateful night - you changed professional wrestling forever.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.
