Steve Austin recalls how he made famous 3:16 promo

”Stone Cold” Steve Austin is synonymous with the Attitude Era, single-handedly bringing it to life. On The Steve Austin Show, he revealed his famous 3:16 promo was actually impromptu.

 


 

It is impossible to think nowadays WWE would allow a superstar to speak without a script during a very important segment. But this is exactly what happened to Austin, showing the clear difference in the company now from then.

“I would go on to say, ‘You sit there and you thump your Bible and say your prayers, but that didn’t get you anywhere. You talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16, Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass.’ I would go on to talk about the championship match between Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith as I was wrapping up this promo, I needed to button-up this promo and go home.

I could hear the RF microphone, Vince was doing commentary. I knew I needed to shut the F up and take it home, but I needed a button. So as I’m hearing Vince I’m saying to myself, ‘I need a go home line, I need a go home line.’ That’s when I sh*t: ‘And that’s the bottom line cause Stone Cold said so.’”

“As a heel in 1996 when King Of The Ring — when the only reason that I won King Of The Ring that year is because of the big breaking kayfabe thing that happened in a cage at Madison Square Garden between the Kliq. Triple H was supposed to win King Of The Ring that year, Triple H didn’t.”

“As I was walking across the parking lot in Massachusetts, I hear this voice behind me, ‘Steve, you got a second?’ It was Vince McMahon — ‘Yessir I do,’ He said, ‘Hey man I just wanted to let you know in two weeks, you’re winning King Of The Ring.’ I said, ‘Okay,’ and I carried my bag in the building and worked TV.”

“It was a chance opportunity. I was never designed to win. I was never supposed to win, but when I did win based on the circumstances that happen, working that first match of that pay-per-view with Marc

Mero when he did that flippity-flip thing and busted my mouth and put fourteen stitches in my damn lip, he didn’t I had to go to the hospital in the middle of the pay-per-view, get stitched up, stay in my work gear, came back and got ready to work Jake The Snake Roberts in the final.”

“That’s when Michaels Hayes told me that Jake The Snake cut a religious-based promo on me and that’s when the Austin 3:16 was born.”

It is hard to think Steve Austin might have never been the big star he was, had it not been for Marc Mero kicking him in the face, Jake Roberts using religion in a promo and the Kliq’s MSG Curtain Call. It simply shows how anyone’s career can be impacted by anything in this business.

WWE does not appreciate Steve Austin, who was made organically, as much as they used to. So it seems that we might never get another superstar as big as him.

Harrison Carter
Harrison Carter
Harrison Carter has been a huge pro wrestling fan since 2002, and it's been his first love ever since then. He has years of writing experience for all things pro wrestling. His interests outside of wrestling include films, books and soccer.

Related Articles

Latest Articles

Videos