Let's take a trip back to about the year 1994. "Stunning" Steve Austin was nearing the end of his wrestling career in WCW. Steve had a nagging elbow injury, which kept him out of the ring for almost a year. During his three year tenure in WCW he was quite successful, capturing the US Title, TV Title and Tag Titles with the late, great Brian Pillman.
Eric Bischoff became executive vice president of WCW and let Austin know (over the phone) that he had been released from his contract. They felt it was too difficult to market his simplistic style and ring presence. It was also getting far too expensive to pay him for as long as they had due to his injury. According to Austin himself, he felt very angry that he was fired over the phone even though he lived within driving distance from the WCW home office in Atlanta. Austin knew that business was business, but the way he had to leave WCW made him very bitter towards the company.
On we go to the WWF, circa late 1995. The Million Dollar Man, Ted Dibiase begins his search for the new Million Dollar Champion. Several weeks go by and Dibiase produces The Ringmaster, who he claims is the greatest ring presence in the history of pro-wrestling. Austin fought long and hard, but simply couldn't get overwith the crowd. He began to be stuck in pointless feuds and even jobbing to wrestlers like Savio Vega! Just as Dibiase was preparing to leave the WWF for greener pastures in WCW, Austin went through a gimmic change. He shaved whatever hair that was left on his head, and started calling himself "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin was being billed as a cold, calculating wrestler that didn't express emotion at all. Dibiase's last appearance was when Austin and Savio had a "Carribean Strap Match". If Austin lost, Dibiase had to leave the WWF. And of course, he did. The loss didn't cause Austin to lose any credibility with the fans, or with the front office since he was soon pushed into the WWF King Of The Ring Tournament of 1996.
You must remember that we saw the "Cliq Farewell" at Madison Square Garden earlier that year. If you don't remember, the entire Cliq (Razor, Diesel, Michaels, and HHH) got together in the ring for one final bow to the crowd since Diesel (Kevin Nash) and Razor (Scott Hall) were leaving for WCW. Their actions broke all current storylines and was extremely frowned upon by the WWF office. However, Michaels was the World Champ at the time and could not be punished. HHH was a mere midcarder and so took the brunt of the backlash. He found himself jobbing and missing out on title opportunities as well as his "promised" win at KotR.
So, the ball was passed to Steve Austin. And he ran with it. He beat Marc Mero and the newly reborn Christian Jake Roberts that night to become the 1996 King Of The Ring. When it came time for Austin's coronation speech, he had these words to say:
Dok Hendrix: "Alright ladies and gentlemen, the fourth prestigious King of the Ring, Stone Cold Steve Austin, an incredible victory!"
Steve Austin: "The first thing I want to be done is to get that piece of crap out of my ring! Don't just get him out of the ring, get him out of the WWF, because I've proved, son, without a shadow of a doubt, you ain't got what it takes anymore! You sit there and you thump your bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16 ... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"
With that single line, Austin began to accumulate a fan following. "Austin 3:16" became a mainstay in his interviews after the KotR and it caught on like wildfire. Austin began adding different catchphrases in his interviews and changed almost his entire ring presence. The emotionless Stone Cold was gone and was replaced with swearing, middle fingers and "cans of whoop ass".
Click here for the previous "Remember When?".
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