Austin 3:16 Is Born

At the end of what I considered to be another pretty boring WWF pay-per-view, "The Ringmaster", or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as he was now being announced as, went over to collect his King Of The Ring crown. That night in June 1996, he beat Marc Mero in the semi-finals, and Jake Roberts in the finals. The show was forgettable, other than for one thing...

In his post fight interview, Austin referenced Jakes new-found religion in legendary style:

The first thing I want 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 proven 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 John. 3:16, Austin 3:16 says: I've just whipped your ass!!

A non-wrestling fan would find nothing special in those words, but fans that saw it live felt the energy and adrenaline that they gave. The kids that watched Hulk Hogan in awe throughout the eighties, were now the defiant teenagers of 1996 and they had just found their finger pointing role model. We no longer wanted the muscled good guys as our faces. We wanted this man to represent how we were feeling towards the world.

We all know where Steve Austin went after that. He was the leader in the war with WCW and one of, if not the most popular and recognisable wrestlers ever.

Someone in titan towers thought it would be a nice idea to put the phrase "Austin 3:16" on a plain black t-shirt... it became the biggest selling t-shirt of all time.