10 Wrestlers Who Saved Their Careers By Turning Down Gimmicks

While you could technically argue that it was merely a name and not an actual gimmick itself that was being pitched to the eventual WWE titan, you have to imagine that if the star that would go on to be known as 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin had been burdened with one of these lacklustre monikers that explosive character would've been dead upon arrival.

Fresh off of kissing goodbye to both The Ringmaster gimmick and his golden locks, Austin had decided on a new cold-blooded killer direction, in a similar vein to The Ice Man Richard Kuklinski. Clearly latching onto the wrong part of his pitch, the office responded with a list of potential names for this new character going forward, with the infamous likes of Otto von Ruthless, Ice Dagger, and Fang McFrost all appearing on the faxed pages sent to The Texas Rattlesnake.

Needless to say, Austin wasn't feeling any of those. However, as luck would have it, the star's English wife telling him to finish his cup of tea before it went "stone cold" would eventually birth arguably the most well-known moniker and gimmick the industry has ever seen.