Ranking All 19 WWE King Of The Ring Winners

2. ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin (1996)

King Of The Ring Winners Bret Hart Brock Lesnar Kurt Angle
WWE.com

When you talk about career-altering moments, you have to mention 1996’s King of the Ring tournament.

That year, Hunter Hearst Helmsley was reportedly slated to win the tourney, but his spot was abandoned due to the Curtain Call incident. The slot was given to eventual winner “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who would launch himself into the next level via KOTR.

Austin defeated Bible-thumping Jake “The Snake” Roberts and delivered his famed “Austin 3:16” quote, which would launch a million T-shirt sales. Now, WWE would have you believe that this seminal moment immediately transformed Austin into a world champion, which isn’t true.

However, Stone Cold’s KOTR win certainly provided a huge boost to his career, as he had recently ditched the “Ringmaster” moniker and moved on to the persona that would redefine Steve Austin.

While he didn’t become an overnight sensation, Stone Cold did parlay his King of the Ring win into a feud with Bret Hart, which is what would really launch Austin into the stratosphere.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.