'Stone Cold' Out On Bail

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, one of the best-known characters in professional wrestling, surrendered to law enforcement officials in Texas Tuesday on a charge of beating his wife.

He posted $5,000 bond and was released pending future legal action, according to Bexar County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino.

Austin, 36, a Texas native whose real name is Steve Williams, turned himself in after an arrest warrant was issued charging him with assault causing bodily injury on a spouse.

"Nothing happened," Williams, 37, said as he left the Bexar County Courthouse, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Police were called to Austin's home in San Antonio home at 4 a.m. on June 15 by his wife, Debra Williams, who told police the World Wrestling Entertainment star beat her on the head, back and legs, then fled.

The officer who responded to their San Antonio home found Mrs. Williams in front of the house, crying.

The officer noted seeing "a large noticeable welt" just below her right eye.

The wrestler left the house before police arrived but later spoke to the responding officer by phone.

The Police Department forwarded the case to the Bexar County district attorney's office, which pursued the case and presented it to the judge this week.

The Williamses married last year in Las Vegas. It is the wrestler's third marriage.

Williams, 42, is a former beauty queen also affiliated with WWE.

In June, officials at World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. said Williams, who had been their featured television attraction, had failed to show up as scheduled at two events and "is no longer an active member of WWE's talent roster."