Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time2011

Steve Austin:
[about changing his WWE gimmick] I went home and I was drinking a few beers at the house, and I was watching this special on HBO about Richard Kuklinski; he was called the Ice Man. The Ice Man was a hitman for hire for the Chicago mob. Totally remorseless, just a ruthless individual, guy didn't give a sh*t about anything. He was very cold, no emotion about him, and I said "Man, this guy... there's something about this guy that's really got my gears going." So I pitched my idea to the office, and they said "Okay, Steve, we'll think about it." And they faxed me three pages of the worst names I'd seen in the history of my life. And, um, the three names that I'll never forget, based on this cold-blooded, ruthless individual, were Otto von Ruthless, Ice Dagger, and Fang McFrost. And man, it don't get more suck-ass than that. And so I'm thinking "You kidding me? These creative geniuses are, you know, these are the guys that make superstars?" And, um, 'cause you know, back in the day, you just think "If you go to WWE, soon as you walk in the door, they'll put a gimmick on you and they'll make you a star." No, that's not the case. Sometimes it can be the case, but it ain't all... always the case. I mean, it's a crapshoot at best. So anyway, I'm sitting there frustrated and you know, my wife at the time, Jeannie, who was from England, uh, makes me a cup of hot tea, and she sets that, uh, hot tea on the table and she goes "Ah, don't worry about it. You'll think of something." She goes "Go ahead and drink your tea before it gets stone cold." She goes "That's your name, Stone Cold Steve Austin."