“Stone Cold” Steve Austin will forever be one of the baddest MFers in wrestling history, as well as a fan favorite when it comes to being a media personality.
From Austin 3:16, to the iconic double beer chug, to the “WHAT,” to the “CAN I GET A HAIL YEAH?,” the whole nine yards, the guy was absolutely electric to watch.
Not to mention, the guy played some badass roles in movies like The Longest Yard, and even hosted his own reality TV shows like Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, and Straight Up Steve Austin.
But, how did Steve Austin end up becoming, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin?
He explained where the iconic name originated from, in an interview with A&E:
“I was living in a log cabin on 10 acres right outside of Georgia in Douglasville, and I was over there in my log cabin, and I was drinking some beer, and that’s when they had that special on HBO about Richard Kuklinski, ‘The Iceman.’
Well Richard Kuklinski was a hitman, you know, for the mob. He’s cold-blooded. He’s remorseless. I was glued to the set. When you’re sitting there watching it, and you’ve got a couple of beers flowing, and it’s like, ‘Man, this–this could be something.’
And I pitched that and that was when all the ideas started flowing. And my wife at the time made me a cup of hot tea, and she goes, ‘Drink your tea before it gets stone cold,’ and she looks at me, she goes, ‘That’s your name, Stone Cold Steve Austin.’
You know, I’m not a rocket scientist, but when she said that name, I knew that was the one. And I said, ‘Okay, this is a good name.’ And I wanted to be from Victoria, Texas, because, you know I just thought it had a good ring to it, a good sound.”
He then weighed in on how he got the signature bald-headed, goatee look:
“But okay who is this guy? Who and what is ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin? I got me some black boots made. I always thought black was badass and menacing from Darth Vader, Oakland Raiders type stuff, and it fit my persona.
I remember one time we were in Pittsburgh and we were about to work Mellon Arena, and there I was with that buzz haircut and, you know, I looked in the mirror and I said, ‘Man, what are you doing?’
So I buzzed it all off with a razor, and that’s when I started messing with the mustache and it finally turned into a goatee.
So I start–once I got that goatee down, you know, that’s when things started getting a little bit more menacing and picked up the visual that I needed.”
So there you have it.
That’s how the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin we all know and love today came to be.
