10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 1996

10. They Really Didn't Capitalise On Austin 3:16

Austin 316
WWE.com

The popular WWE narrative suggests Steve Austin won that 1996 King Of The Ring and then immediately became a big deal. That's not the case. In fact, the immediate aftermath of that tourney win was dire for 'Stone Cold'. He lost to The Undertaker by DQ 24 hours later on the 24 June Raw then didn't appear on the show again until 22 July.

The presentation of him when he did show up was more worrying.

Austin played second fiddle to Goldust's interference against 'Taker, then got bumped down to third because Brian Pillman was busy working his new 'Loose Cannon' gimmick. The outright ignorance of Austin (who had just won the biggest tournament of the year, remember) is stunning to revisit.

It's been noted before that Austin suffered through some stumbling blocks after becoming 'King' and had a useless 'Free For All' scrap with Yokozuna at SummerSlam, but studying his career right before that is similarly startling.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.