Biography

Chad Slivenski is a semi-retired American 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 Smokey 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 intentionally 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.