It is safe to say that one of the iconic finishing moves in professional wrestling history is Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Stunner. But did you know that The Stunner is not a Steve Austin original move? Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mickey Whipwreck shares the truth while speaking on the Wrestling Shoot Interviews podcast.
“Half and Half. Half and half. So, the Whipper Snapper, the one I did, was off the middle rope. Which seemed like a good idea at the time. Looking back, not so much. But, I got the Stunner from Jimmy Garvin. He came to… He was gone from WCW for a while and then he came back on a random pay-per-view. I think against Johnny B Bad. He had been a pilot at that point. He shaved his head.
“And he came randomly out of fucking nowhere, and he did a move to Johnny B Bad, the Stunner. And he called it the 9-1-1. I said, ‘Ooh, think, I’m going to steal that. I think I’m gonna use that.’ And so that’s where it came from. That was the origins of the Stunner for me. So whenever you look up… If you look up whenever Jimmy Garvin wrestled Johnny B Bad with a shaved head, he did the 9-1-1. So I started using it.
“Well, Steve started using the Stunner at a reference, at a suggestion from Michael Hayes. I don’t know if it is like the Ace Crusher he was getting it from or whatever. Or he saw Jimmy do it to Johnny B Bad or whatever fuck it was. So either way you look at this, The Stunner, The Whipper Snapper, can all be credited to the Free Birds,” Whipwreck said.
Which version was your favorite move?
