Chad Slivenski (born September 15, 1972) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, known by his ringname Chad Bowman, who competed in East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions during the 1990s and 2000s. Early in his career, Slivenski spent time in regional promotions such as the United States Wrestling Association and Smoky Mountain Wrestling before their close in the mid-1990s, and made occasional appearances as a preliminary wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment.
Slivenski also wrestles under the name "Stone Cold" Chad Austin, an in-ring persona he originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling, and continued in other Philadelphia-based "hardcore" wrestling promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling and IWA Mid-South. While in ECW, Austin was subject to a real-life "shoot" when New Jack allegedly broke his leg with a steel chair. In later shoot interviews, New Jack has credited Austin for inadvertently inspiring his 187 finishing move, a top rope dive onto an opponent with a steel chair, which he had first used to injure him.
A mainstay of the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF) and Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), he and kayfabe brother Chip Bowman were members of the "heel" stable Total Quality Management with MCW Heavyweight Champion "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero and MCW Tag Team Champions Cueball Carmichael & Dino Devine from 2000 until their breakup in 2002. He and Devine later began teaming together as The Slackers and won both the MEWF and MCW Tag Team titles.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1991–1993) Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, Chad Slivenski trained under Don Owens and made his wrestling debut on September 11, 1991. He spent two years on the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic "indy circuit", as well as stints in the United States Wrestling Association and Smokey Mountain Wrestling, prior to joining Tod Gordon and Eastern Championship Wrestling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in late 1993.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993–1996) Slivenski made his ECW debut as Chad Austin on its third major show, the two-day NWA Bloodfest, at the ECW Arena on October 1, 1993. On both nights, he wrestled The Bad Breed (Ian and Axl Rotten) with Todd Shaw and Don E. Allen respectively, as well as losing to Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. These matches were later broadcast on the first episodes of ECW Hardcore TV during the next few weeks.Loverro, Thom. The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. (pg. 43, 61, 64, 69, 84, 100) On November 14, 1993, Austin was the sole survivor of a six-man elimination tag team match with Watsumi the Rising Sun and Joe College against the American Ninja, Johnny Paradise and The Comet at Kenwood High School in Essex, Maryland.
Slivenski was part of two other memorable Hardcore TV moments that year. On December 13, he was scheduled to face Mr. Hughes but the lights unexpectedly went out, and when they came back on again, the entire ECW locker room was engaged in a brawl in the ring. A week later, Slivenski was brought out by Terry Funk as a mock Sabu impersonator and attacked by Funk. When Sabu's then manager Paul E. Dangerously confronted Funk, he was chased off. In front of a sold-out crowd at the ECW Arena, Slivenski scored an upset victory over Pitbull #1 in his ECW debut at Holiday Hell 1993 on December 26, 1993. When his opponent continued attacking him after the match, The Sandman came to his rescue. This match aired on Hardcore TV three days later.
Slivenski continued to be a regular at the ECW Arena during the next year. On February 5, 1994, he lost to 911 in the opening match of ECW's The Night the Line Was Crossed. In the first half of 1994, he also faced The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge), Johnny Hotbody, The Sandman, Hack Meyers and Shane Douglas. On April 9, he challenged Ricky Blues at the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation's Kenwood Khaos in Essex.
That summer, he appeared on three major ECW shows. On June 24, his match against Don E. Allen at Hostile City Showdown 1994 ended in a no-contest when 911 interfered and incapacitated both men with a chokeslam. A month later at Heat Wave 1994, Slivenski was disqualified in his match against ECW Television Champion Mikey Whipwreck as well as their rematch in Wildwood, New Jersey a week later. Five days later in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, he teamed with Rockin' Rebel and Jason Knight in a six-man tag team match to defeat Don E. Allen, Dino Sendoff and Hack Meyers. On August 13, he defeated "Ironman" Tommy Cairo at Hardcore Heaven 1994. He also wrestled Mr. Hughes, Sabu, Damien Stone, Steve Richards, Rockin' Rebel and Chris Benoit on Hardcore TV over the summer.
On November 22, he and Hack Meyers lost to Stevie Richards and JT Smith in a tag team match and, the following week, wrestled Shane Douglas for the ECW Heavyweight Championship. On December 24, 1994, Slivenski participated in a battle royal at the ECW Arena. He was the event's first entrant and, upon entering the ring, announced he was quitting ECW and had bought a house in Atlanta claiming he was soon heading to World Championship Wrestling adding that "ECW was small time". Upon hearing this, everyone in the battle royal immediately entered the ring to go after Slivenski and threw him out. Led by Shane Douglas, the wrestlers forced him to say "ECW is number one!" in the house microphone.Williams, Scott E. Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW. Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing L.L.C., 2006. (pg. 41-42) This resulted in Tod Gordon coming out and ordering everyone to the back, with the exception of Axl Rotten and Pitbull #2, and reenter the ring under Royal Rumble-style rules. The event was later included as part of ECW Extreme Warfare, Vol. 1.
On January 7, 1995, Slivenski lost to JT Smith at the ECW Arena and to The Tazmaniac at the Big Apple Dinner Theater in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania on February 24. The following night at ECW's Return of the Funker, he and Joel Hartgood lost to The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2) in front of 1,150 fans.
At Hardcore Heaven 1995, a tag team match between himself and The Broad Street Bully against Dino Sendoff and Don E. Allen ended in a no contest when 911, as he did the previous year, entered the ring and choke slammed all four men. He and Don E. Allen also lost to Dances with Dudley & Dudley Dudley at Gangsta's Paradise on August 16. Slivenski also defeated Raven for the MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship on October 1, 1995. He lost the title to Corporal Punishment on November 12, and after it was declared vacant the next month, lost to Devon Storm in a match to determine the new champion.
On April 1, 1996, Slivenski was involved in a real-life "shoot" with New Jack when he took part in a tag team "double tables" match with The Blue Meanie against The Gangstas at an April Fool's Day television taping for ECW Hardcore TV. Slivenski had replaced Meanie's original partner, Stevie Richards, who had suffered a cracked orbital bone during an altercation with Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas. According to New Jack, as with the Mass Transit incident, he "didn't like his attitude" and had particularly taken offense when Slivenski approached him to discuss the match beforehand. At the end of the match, New Jack dove off the top rope with a steel chair and onto Slivenski injuring his face. Afterwards, he took the chair and hit him five times breaking his leg as well. He later began using the move, referred to as the 187, as his finisher and has credited Slivenski, albeit sarcastically, for its creation.
Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation and the Independent circuit (1996–1999) Leaving ECW shortly after this incident, Slivenski began competing in the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF). A month before his run-in with New Jack, he had wrestled Steve Corino in Baltimore. His injuries caused him to miss a year of ringtime before eventually returning to the ring in early 1997. In one of his first matches back, he was scheduled to headline a National Wrestling League show in Boonsboro, Maryland with Devon Storm on April 22, 1997, but the match was cancelled when Storm was unable to appear. A year later, he lost to The Cat Burglar in a 3 Way Dance with Steve Corino for the MEWF Light Heavyweight Championship on September 18, 1998. On October 1, 1999, he wrestled Jake Daniels for The Bad Crew's Hardway Wrestling in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.Daniels, Jake, and Chad Austin, perf. EWF - October 1, 1999 - Bethlehem, PA. Prod. Hardway Wrestling. 1999. SmartMarkVideo.com. VHS. He also wrestled for Atlantic Terror Championship Wrestling and Cueball Carmichael's Independent Pro Wrestling Alliance.
Maryland Championship Wrestling (2000–2003) In early 2000, Slivenski started wrestling for Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW). On January 19, 2000, he teamed with "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero in a match for the then vacant MCW Tag Team Championship and lost to The Holy Rollers (Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers) in a 3 Way Dance with The Badstreet Boys (Joey Matthews & Christian York) in Glen Burnie, Maryland. On April 14, he became the MCW Cruiserweight Champion in Annapolis by defeating Adam Flash and Quinn Nash in an elimination match. Around this time, he and kayfabe brother Chip Bowman joined Cicero's "heel" stable Total Quality Management with MCW Tag Team Champions Cueball Carmichael & Dino Devine. Two weeks later, he and Chip joined Cicero in a 6-man tag team match against King Kong Bundy and The Ghetto Mafia (2-Dope & Sydeswype) in Lusby, Maryland on April 29.
Over the next seven months, Slivenski successfully defended his title against Mikey Whipreck, Qenaan Creed and Black Dragon. He also defeated former champion Adam Flash at a special MCW show near Ocean City, Maryland on June 10 and Ronnie Zukko at the 2000 Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup on July 19. That summer, he and Qenaan Creed became involved in a 3-month feud over the title. At an October 28 show in Glen Burnie, Creed was briefly awarded the title after using a chain brought by Slivenski to pin the champion. When the referee spotted the chain, it was assumed it belonged to Creed and he was disqualified. A local disc jockey who had been invited to the event, and had been attacked by Total Quality Management earlier in the show, informed the referee what had taken place and the decision was again reversed giving Creed the win via disqualification but not the belt. He finally lost the title to Creed a month later in Odenton. On December 6, 2000, he and Chip Bowman took on Qenaan Creed and Kelly Bell in Glen Burnie.
During the next year, Slivenski cut down on his ring schedule to recuperate from an injury. On July 28, 2001, Slivenski lost to Julio Dinero in Bel Air, Maryland. At the end of the year, he and Dino Devine lost to Van Hammer & The Cowboy, a local WZBH disc jockey, in Laurel on December 16, 2001.
On January 30, 2002, he appeared with Total Quality Management in their final match together in front of an estimated 1,200 fans at an MCW Rage TV taping in Glen Burnie. He had been scheduled to take part in a 6-man tag team match with Dino Divine and Kelly Bell against Jimmy Cicero and The Badstreet Boys (Joey Matthews & Christian York) but was replaced by ex-member Cueball Carmichael. Slivenski's team lost when Carmichael was pinned and, according to the pre-match stipulations, TQM was forced to disband.