12 Biggest WWE Storylines Ever (And How You Never Saw Them Coming)

9. Stone Cold Steve Austin Wins The King Of The Ring And Changes EVERYTHING

By 1996, Vince McMahon had spent years looking for his "next Hulk Hogan" without stopping to consider how exactly to make the best of the potential lurking within the rest of his roster. It took this and a wave of happenstance to make it so.

A post-1994 steroid trial resulted in McMahon choosing fellas from the big-and-tall shops rather than his old vascular faves. Out went a flailing Lex Luger at the expense of Yokozuna, whilst the likes of Diesel and Mabel got big pushes as much to do with passing an airport test as a p*ss one. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels propped up the match quality in spite of perceived size issues, but it was a man barely any different in stature to those two that would at long last rocket the organisation back to prominence.

Steve Austin wasn't scheduled to win the King Of The Ring 1996 before Triple H got booted from the spot because of his much-reported farewell to his Kliq friends. Unscheduled winner Austin then dropped an unscheduled "Austin 3:16" line into his celebratory speech playing off unscheduled finalist Jake Roberts' (who dispensed with the freefalling Hunter in the first round) own religious reinvention.

WWE was saved whilst its owner was making other plans.