Steve Austin recently explained why he decided to ditch the ear piercings he used to sport towards the beginning of his run as Stone Cold.

Stone Cold Steve Austin is one of the most iconic figures in the history of professional wrestling. During the mid to late 90s, Austin took WWE by the scruff of the neck and dragged it into the Attitude Era, thus helping the company eventually overcome WCW and drive them out of business. Without him who knows what the professional wrestling landscape would look like today.

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It all began when he cut that famous promo following his 1996 King Of The Ring win during which he brought up the phrase "Austin 3:16." From there on in, the rest was history. Austin had a simple look but one we remember to this day. Bald head, goatee, black trunks, and black boots. Initially though, Stone Cold had a little something else, ear piercings.

Go back to those early Austin 3:16 days and you'll notice that Stone Cold has piercings in his ears. Then one day they were gone. On a recent Steve Austin Show, he and his guest Ken Anderson were discussing wrestlers having tattoos and piercings and Stone Cold revealed why he decided to ditch the studs he would sport in his ears. Apparently, at one time, he had five studs in one ear. He wrestled soon after having them done and after sitting in a headlock, they got infected. That was the point he decided to ditch them altogether.

The conversation between him and Anderson started when Anderson described a time where he had to miss a wrestling show because of a tattoo he got. It was on his back, and he didn't realize how painful it would actually be. He thought he would still be able to wrestle but said after having it done the thought of having to take a bump on it was more than he could bear.

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When you see footage of Stone Cold 20 years ago, and he has his ears pierced it seems extremely out of place considering the character he was playing. While talking about it on his podcast though, it seems like something he did off of his own back and not a character tweak that WWE wanted to instigate. Fresh tattoos and piercings aren't things that have a place inside a wrestling ring though and are a breeding ground for infections.