Those Times Wrestlers Dodged Career-Killing Bullets
5. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin Was Nearly Fang McFrost
Joining Mick Foley as an eventual icon of the business who avoided a scenario that would have resulted in them being anything but, Steve Austin before he was 'Stone Cold' was also rather close to a naming disaster.
You see, as WWE were looking to alter his gimmick from that of a 'Ringmaster' to something else, a collection of, let's say, fascinating names were suggested.
As Austin would also note during a Hot Ones interview (at 2:50 in the clip below), it's completely true that the company offered him the career-killing names of Otto von Ruthless, Chilly McFreeze, and Fang McFrost in response to the wrestler pitching the idea of becoming a villain inspired by Richard Kuklinski - a real-life, ruthless serial killer, a.k.a. The Iceman.
WWE being WWE, they heard "Iceman" and set about suggesting names that focused on temperature.
A perplexed Austin swerved each and every one of those dodgy titles, thankfully, before landing on his legendary nickname after being handed a cup of tea by his wife and being told to drink it before it became "stone cold." (via ProWrestlingStories)