WWE: Top 25 Stone Cold Steve Austin Moments

4. "Austin 3:16 Says I Just Whooped Your Ass."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx-O9_yp3i8 It's the catchphrase that started it all, and put Stone Cold Steve Austin on the uncharted map that was the pre-Attitude Era. Any true beginning starts with a single untenable moment, giving way to a whole series of events henceforth that forever changes the rules. Steve Austin's time at the 1996 King of the Ring tournament contained that very single untenable moment, and forever shaped his destiny as the Texas Rattlesnake. With a fresh start in the WWF, Stone Cold Steve Austin performed at the 1996 King of the Ring tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, carving his path to the semi-finals. After beating Marc Mero and advancing to face off against Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the finals, Austin's time had officially come. He beat Jake Roberts, becoming the next newly crowned King of the Ring. But Austin's victory wasn't the start of his pivotal career; moreover, it was the exchange of words he had for Jake "The Snake" Roberts after the match had ended while Stone Cold Steve Austin was being crowned as the victor. Roberts, playing the part of a born-again Christian, stumbled away out of the ring while Austin was pulling an interview. Little did Austin know that the words he spoke following Robert's departure would change the foundation of the wrestling world: "The first thing I want to be done is to get that piece of crap out of my ring. Don't just get him out of the ring, get him out of the WWF because I've proved, son, without a shadow of a doubt you ain't got what it takes anymore! You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16....Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!" That short period of time of Austin shooting a promo literally opened up the welcome wagon for the WWE. It became the industry's most famous tagline, selling out t-shirts and other pieces of merchandise. In most people's minds it was the moment that jumpstarted the Attitude Era; in my mind certainly it's what started the Attitude Era. And more importantly: it revealed to the world who Stone Cold Steve Austin was, and that is a tough-as-rocks Texas rebel who looked to rule the business with his persona and attitude alone.