8 Seriously Underrated Stone Cold Steve Austin WWE Matches

The 1996 King of the Ring is, of course, most famous for eventual winner Steve Austin's iconic 'Austin 3:16' promo, which many point to as the moment Ausitn broke through the glass ceiling and became a bonafide superstar. Of course, Austin had to actually wrestle matches on the night before he could get there and kicked off the show against Marc Mero in a semi-final showing.

Mero isn't exactly fondly-remembered as an exceptional in-ring performer, but he could deliver an exciting match on his day, as he proved here against a motivated Austin.

They went back to their technical routes here, building things patiently with holds and counter holds, before Austin picked up the tempo with a Thesz Press out of nowhere. From there, Austin became more vicious, wearing his opponent down with elbow strikes and borderline-illegal tactics, while Owen Hart cheered him on on commentary.

Marvellous Marc rallied, taking it to Austin and scoring near falls with a rollup and a missile dropkick. His somersault plancha was nothing to sniff at, but it couldn't keep the tenacious Rattlesnake down: a stun gun and a Stone Cold Stunner saw him advance to the finals. He may have been a finalist, but Austin did have to go to the hospital to get treatment for damage suffered during this exciting opening match.

He made it back to the arena just in time to drop Jake Roberts and make history on the microphone.