10 Most Influential Moments That Were Precursors To The WWE Attitude Era
5. Austin 3:16
Speaking of the 1996 King Of The Ring, the biggest moment of the night came when tournament winner Stone Cold Steve Austin gave his victory speech alongside Dok Hendrix during Austin's would-be coronation.
In response to having just soundly defeated the Bible-thumping Jake 'The Snake' Roberts in the tournament finals, Stone Cold summed up his thoughts on the born-again wrestler:
"Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16...Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!"
Austin continued:
"Steve Austin's time has come and when I got the shot you're looking at the next WWF Champion. And that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so"
With just one promo, the King Of The Ring winner coined two phrases that would go on to become legendary in wrestling lore. With one interview, Austin immediately captured the attention of every wrestling fan watching.
While Austin's meteoric rise to the top of the pro-wrestling industry didn't come as quickly as WWE would have you believe, The Rattlesnake was gaining momentum each and every week, leading to his WrestleMania 13 Submission Match against Bret Hart.
The imagery of that match alone would be featured on WWE programming for the next decade and it helped firmly supplant Austin as the official flag-bearer of the Attitude Era.