Glacier Says Midway Games Threatened To Sue WCW Over His Resemblance To Sub-Zero

Glacier's career was nearly cut short by the very nature of his origins.

"Obviously it was, 'Let's capitalize off the popularity of Mortal Kombat,'" Glacier explained on "The False Finish." He said that not only was the game selling well, but the Mortal Kombat movie had just come out. "It was just like this was a big thing and the way I've always heard it is TBS thought it would be great." 

Glacier said that wrestling tends to pull from things that are popular and the WCW character was directly inspired by Sub-Zero.

"I started off ... my first outfit was [black and blue] like Sub-Zero, so much so that my career was almost very short-lived," Glacier said. Not long after his debut, Midway Games was threatening to sue him and WCW for the approximation of their character. Glacier was the one to come up with the idea of changing the character's attire so as not to infringe on Midway's intellectual property. 

"Let's go more with an all-blue look, with some silver," Glacier recounted, saying he tried to get as far away from Sub-Zero's look as possible. The company was in a bind as numerous resources went into training Glacier and coming up with the character.

"There was so much pressure on me," Glacier said of his debut. He also realized that the New World Order debuted before he could have his debut, which changed the landscape of wrestling characters irrevocably. Glacier ultimately debuted against Ray Traylor (better known as Big Boss Man) and was grateful that he had such a seasoned dance partner for his debut. 

The match went off without a hitch, Glacier and WCW President Eric Bischoff were happy, but he didn't wrestle for another two months because of the lawsuit.