Following his dismissal from WCW and a brief but memorable run in ECW, Steve Austin made his way to the WWF in late 1995. Vince wasn't crazy about Austin, who was a solid but unspectacular worker, but Kevin Nash and Jim Ross convinced the boss that he was worth hiring. Vince showed his lack of interest by saddling Austin with the boring moniker of 'The Ringmaster'. Austin knew the gimmick sucked, and asked his superiors for a change. He wanted to do a character based on the ruthless contract killer Richard Kuklinski, who was known as the 'Iceman'. So the WWF writers came back with a list of winning monikers for Austin. These included Chilly McFreeze, Fang McFrost, The Ice Dagger and Baron Von Ruthless. They all sucked. Either the WWF were so inept that they thought these would actually be good gimmicks or, more likely, it was a rib on Austin. If it was a rib, it was a disrespectful one. Austin was ambitious and had a vision for his character. To be treated as a joke was a slap in the face.
