5 wrestlers who have used the Stone Cold Stunner

Kevin Owens recently returned to the WWE and promptly delivered a Stone Cold Stunner to WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. While Owens has used the Stunner in the past, he seems to be emphasizing it as his finishing move rather than the Pop-up powerbomb for the past few weeks.

The Stunner has always been greeted with raucous reactions ever since Stone Cold Steve Austin made it the most famous finishing maneuver in all of wrestling. While WWE used to discourage its wrestlers from using the move as it is inexplicably associated with Stone Cold, that stance seems to have been relaxed as it has been over 15 years since the rattlesnake retired.

Wrestlers in other promotions have had no problem in using the Stunner now and then. This list takes a look at five wrestlers who have used the stunner other than Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kevin Owens.

#1 Mikey Whipreck

Mikey Whipreck (left) did have a one-off WWE appearance at ECW: One night stand

Mikey Whipreck was portrayed as the ultimate underdog who would never quit. An ECW original, Whipreck was part of the ECW ring crew before impressing Paul Heyman enough to earn a spot on the roster.

The rowdy ECW fans soon warmed up to the 'Never say die' spirit of Whipreck and in one of the greatest crowd-pleasing storylines in ECW, he became the ECW World Heavyweight Champion after beating the Sandman in a ladder match.

Whipreck's finishing move was the 'Whipper Snapper' - a three quarter facelock jawbreaker which impressed a certain Steve Austin who challenged Whipreck for the World Title at November to Dismember PPV in 1995. Austin was unsuccessful at the PPV, but he took note of Whipreck's finisher and when he eventually made his way to WWE, he adopted it as his own - renaming it the 'Stone Cold Stunner'.

Whipreck has quite a few records in wrestling - being the youngest World Champion of a major promotion at 22 years old and being an ECW triple crown champion. But his greatest achievement might be that he was the inspiration for the most popular move in wrestling history.

#2 Jim Ross

Jim Ross has used the Stunner in the past.

This is a bit of a stretch as Jim Ross has wrestled only a handful of variety matches, but he did use the Stunner as part of a major angle on WWE TV in 2003. Ross and Jerry Lawler were feuding with Jonathan Coachman and Al Snow for the RAW announcer's post with authority figures Stone Cold and Eric Bischoff in favor of Ross and Coach respectively.

In an effort to build an angle around the now-retired Stone Cold, Ross - who was portrayed as Austin's best friend - took on the Coach in a 1x1 match on RAW to end the feud and finally decide who would announce on RAW.

A bumbling match would follow and it would end with Ross delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Coach to win the match. The crowd was actually into the match and cheered like crazy when Ross delivered the move.

#3 Disco Inferno

Disco Inferno is a tenured WCW performer

Glenn Gilberti aka Disco Inferno had a stint in the mid-card of WCW for six years where he portrayed a disco dancer character. The gimmick would see him dance on his way to the ring and between matches.

A WCW Television, Tag team and Cruiserweight champion, Inferno was detested by the fans and became a butt of jokes during his WCW career, with being booked as part of teams known as 'The Dancing fools' and 'The Boogie Knights'. The highlight of his career as a stint with the nWo Wolfpack but it is safe to say that the credibility of the nWo did not go up when the 'Dancing fool' joined them.

He was also part of the WCW booking committee later and is alleged to have come up with ideas such as shooting a segment in an empty locker room with the caption 'The invisible man: coming soon'. Another proposed idea, conceived in part jest, was a Martian invasion angle which would start with antennas coming out of lead announcer Mike Tenay's head. He even had a stint at TNA this year when he lost a 5 on 5 tag team match and was forced to wear a turkey suit as a result.

In the midst of all of these questionable decisions, it is surprising to note that he shared the same finishing move as Austin. Known as the Chartbuster in WCW, Inferno's stunner never really made waves in the wrestling industry.

#4 Velvet Sky

Velvet Sky (right) with Angelina Love as part of the Beautiful People

Velvet Sky was at the forefront of the often forgotten Women's revolution in TNA in 2007. Teaming up with Angelina Love, Sky created the popular faction 'The Beautiful People' which dominated the TNA women's division for years. The faction expanded to include Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich and was miles ahead of the Divas roster in WWE at the time.

Sky was highly decorated in TNA, winning the TNA Women's title and the Women's tag team titles on two occasions each. She also had a run in the main event as the partner of then TNA World Champion Chris Sabin.

While Sky prominently used a Spike DDT as her finisher, she did pull out the Stunner as her signature move during the later years of her career. She used it against former partner Love as part of their feud in TNA and later against numerous other wrestlers in the independent scene.

#5 Willie Mack

The current NWA National Heavyweight Champion, Willie Mack has been using the Stone Cold Stunner as his finisher for some time now. A former champion in Lucha Underground, Mack has been turning heads for some time with his unique look and move set. Mack is a seasoned competitor, having also wrestled in PWG and Impact and having had matches with the likes of Samoa Joe, X-Pac and even Jake Roberts over the years.

Mack also uses a variation called the Running Stunner - it does not involve the kick to the gut with which Austin sets up the Stunner and Mack shoots off the rope to deliver the stunner. While he normally delivers the normal Stunner, the variation makes it even more appealing.

Mack was once signed to a developmental deal with the WWE and it can be safely assumed that had he remained there, he would not have used the Stunner as his finisher.

Edited by Kishan Prasad