10 Most Notorious Stone Cold Steve Austin Urban Legends

10. The First "Austin 3:16" Promo Was Not Even Planned

Story: Most promos in WWE are planned. In today's WWE they have scripts for nearly every promo with only a few exceptions. Back in 1996 it wasn't as scripted, but wrestlers had to follow guidelines. Austin's breakout promo wasn't scripted, though. It was something he thought of right on the spot. It was pretty incredible when you think about how he spent part of the night at King of the Ring 1996 in the hospital. He had to get stitches after cutting his lip in a match against Marc Mero. He was back in time to beat Jake Roberts to win the tournament and become the King of the Ring. On his way back to the arena, Austin was told about Roberts doing religious promos. That was Jake's gimmick at the time. With no script of any kind in play, Austin did a promo by the KOTR throne where he said "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass" in reference to John 3:16. The crowd popped for his aggressive tone. According to Austin, it was something he thought of on the spot. Nobody told him to say it. He just did it. The next night at Raw, fans started bringing "Austin 3:16" signs and the phenomenon was born. Why People Believe It: It was better than most promos in WWE at the time. It definitely felt like it came from his mind because of the passion with which he spoke. Should We Believe It: Yes we should. Austin could be lying about it just to make himself sound better, but it's also believable that it wasn't part of a script.