Okay, here’s my take on sharing my experience with “stone cold mick foley shawn michaels,” keeping it real and relatable, just like you asked.
Alright, so I was messing around with some image editing stuff the other day, and the idea of combining Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and Shawn Michaels into one freaky image popped into my head. Don’t ask me why, it just did.
First thing I did, obviously, was grab some decent headshots. Google Images became my best friend for about an hour. I needed pics where they were all facing kinda the same direction and had similar lighting. That was a pain in the butt, let me tell you.
Next up, Photoshop. I’m no pro, but I can fumble my way around. I started with Stone Cold’s head as the base. Figured his bald head would be easiest to mold into whatever monstrosity I was about to create.
- Then, I snagged Foley’s face – specifically, the crazy eyes and that wild grin. I used the lasso tool to cut out the parts I wanted, then carefully layered them over Stone Cold’s face, messing with the opacity and blend modes until it looked…somewhat…natural? Okay, maybe “natural” isn’t the right word. “Less terrifying” is probably more accurate.
- After Foley-izing Stone Cold, it was time for some HBK. I wanted his hair. That luscious, flowing Shawn Michaels mane. Again, lasso tool, layer, blend, repeat. Getting the hair to sit right on Stone Cold’s head without looking totally fake was a real challenge. Spent way too long on that.
The color grading was a disaster at first. Stone Cold is usually all sweaty and red, Foley is just…Foley, and Shawn Michaels back in the day was all about that tan. So I had three different skin tones fighting each other. I played around with curves, levels, and color balance until I got something that wasn’t completely offensive to the eye. It’s still kinda weird, though.
Finally, after way too much tweaking, I had this unholy chimera of three wrestling legends staring back at me from the screen. It was gloriously awful. I showed it to my buddy, and he just stared at me like I’d grown a second head. Mission accomplished, I guess?
The Result: Honestly, it’s a terrible image. But that’s the point, right? It’s a fun, stupid little project. It was a good way to kill an afternoon and mess around with Photoshop. Would I do it again? Probably. I’m thinking maybe The Rock, John Cena, and Hulk Hogan next time. God help me.
So yeah, that’s the story of how I created the wrestling abomination. Don’t expect any masterpieces here, just good old-fashioned digital tomfoolery.
