The group started recording "The Great Milenko" in 1996, and Violent J began thinking of a title for the album shortly after. Bruce later came up with the title "The Great Milenko". Bruce also admitted that he had always liked the ring name of professional wrestler Dean Simon ("Dean Malenko"), because he felt that the name Malenko had a "carnival" sound to it. Believing that he had created the name himself, Bruce later realized that he had unwittingly used the nickname of Dean's father, Boris "The Great" Malenko.