10 Things You Don’t Know About WWE In 1996
1996 - the definition of a transitional year for WWE.
As we have seen from previous installments, sometimes the biggest stories in WWF/E happen off screen rather than on screen. Last time, in 1995, we learned that Buddy Landell was supposed to be bigger than Steve Austin, there was more to the Shawn Michaels nightclub beating than was reported, and Triple H debuted with a Diamond Cutter finisher. Moving on to the next installment of this series, we take a look at 1996. 1996 was a year of transition for the WWF. While their rival WCW would begin their ratings domination over WWF with the introduction of the nWo, the WWF quietly planted the seeds that would soon become the Attitude Era. While Bret Hart, who represented the old guard of the previous couple years, was on an extended hiatus following Wrestlemania, 1996 brought about Austin 3:16, the first championship reign of Shawn Michaels, and the debut of the guy who would be known as The Rock. Thats what happened on television. But what are some of the juicy trivia nuggets that this year bore? The top 10 will be ranked in order from Yeah, I probably already knew that to Wow, really? As always, big thanks goes to the historians over at TheHistoryOfWWE for the research.