8 Wrestling Moments EVERYONE Remembers Wrong
4. Steve Austin Was Pushed To The Moon After The "3:16" Promo
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's lightning-in-a-bottle moment at King of the Ring 1996 is one of the best examples of how wrestling folklore can be a complete red herring. It is definitely true that his victory promo is one of the most significant moments in WWE history, but the idea that Steve Austin dominated from that moment on doesn't check out whatsoever.
Around a month after he berated Jake 'The Snake' Roberts about his bible and his psalms, letting him know that Austin 3:16 just whipped his ass and launching a million t-shirt sales, Austin was part of a number one contenders Battle Royal for the WWF World Championship. Ahmed Johnson would win that match to supercede 'The Rattlesnake', and the oversights don't stop there.
The PPV following King of the Ring would surely have been the point where Austin-mania started running wild, right? Wrong. 'Stone Cold' found himself on the SummerSlam '96 pre-show, albeit winning a two-minute squash match against former WWF Champion, Yokozuna. August 1996 also included Austin being knocked out of an Intercontinental Championship tournament in the quarter-finals by Marc Mero, and losing another World Title number one contender's opportunity, this time in a Sudden Death Battle Royal to Goldust.
Things finally started to get going for Steve Austin in the last quarter of the year, and the rest eventually became history, but things took a little while to heat up following the Austin 3:16 promo.