10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Dec 23)
Find out who came up with Stone Cold's Smoking Skull title...
During an episode of his podcast this week, Steve Austin once again reaffirmed to listeners that he would never wrestle again. Happy with his lot in life, it's hardly breaking news that Stone Cold won't step foot inside a WWE ring again. Still, that hasn't stopped fans from asking time and time again.
In the same episode, Austin reflected on his time as WWF Heavyweight Champion. Specifically focusing on his second reign with the belt in 1998, the legend told how the infamous 'Smoking Skull' design came about. Find out who suggested the idea in this week's article, one bringing together numerous wrestling-related facts we didn't know previously.
Joining Austin, there are facts about the likes of Bayley, Michael Cole and Ryback. There's also an interesting story about the 2005 Royal Rumble, and what happened around ringside as officials frantically tried to end the pay-per-view properly.
Let's dig into what can be learned this week and look at the facts...
10. Vince McMahon Hated Calling Ryback 'The Big Guy'
Since leaving WWE earlier this year, Ryback has been outspoken about his time in the juggernaut company. Recently, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion joined ex-creative team member Kevin Eck for an interview on PressBoxOnline. In that Q&A session, Ryback disclosed some pretty stunning information about one Vince McMahon.
It turns out that 'The Big Guy' was a Ryback idea, not one created by the WWE writing team. Taking matters into his own hands, the wrestler began using the nickname on television. Behind the scenes, Eck says writers then started putting it into his promos. McMahon was far from impressed by all of this.
Feeling the nickname was silly, Vince repeatedly told Ryback to stop calling himself 'The Big Guy'. In addition, he also said the wrestler should refrain from banging his head and calling opponents 'stupid'. This particularly irked Ryback, more so now that he has seen Chris Jericho make the 'Stupid Idiot' line a popular catchphrase on Raw.
Pretty blatantly, Ryback ignored McMahon and kept calling himself 'The Big Guy'.