10 Wrestlers WWE Wished They’d Debuted Differently

Everyone thinks they know the ‘Stone Cold’ story. Debuting in the WWF in January 1996 under the horrible midcard Ringmaster gimmick, Austin would dump it in favour of the ‘Stone Cold’ name two months later, winning King Of The Ring that summer to deliver the legendary Austin 3:16 promo that launched a million t-shirts and catapulted him to the stratosphere. Right?

Wrong. Vince McMahon had been persuaded to hire Austin by Kevin Nash and Jim Ross, but was never sold on him. The ‘Stone Cold’ nickname was a lucky escape: he’d been spitballing names based on infamous hitman ‘the Iceman’ Richard Kuklinski and the WWF had initially offered him Chilli McFreeze, Otto Von Ruthless, Ice Dagger or Fang McFrost. In his first match under that name, Austin didn’t even get an entrance, and was clowned by the referee.

Austin only received the King Of The Ring win because Hunter Hearst Helmsley was being punished. The Austin 3:16 promo didn’t change any minds in the office: he’d carry on playing the midcard heel all summer, and didn’t even make it onto the SummerSlam main card. His loss to Bret Hart at Survivor Series was a number one contenders match; his 1997 Royal Rumble win was booked to lead to a further four-man, not a main event push.

Thing is, although Vince McMahon wasn’t convinced Austin had star quality, Austin excelled at everything they asked him to do and more, and gradually won the boss’ respect.

He and Hart would finally have a proper rematch at WrestleMania 13, ending in a fantastic double turn when a bloody Austin passed out in the Sharpshooter rather than tap out - but it would take another year, and the loss of both Hart (to WCW) and Shawn Michaels (to injury), before Vince would pull the trigger on ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin as the WWF Champion.