RIPbossman
Occasional Pre-Show
“Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!”
These are the famous words that Austin spoke during his post match interview with Dok Hendrix when he won King of the Ring in 1996. That promo has become legendary in wrestling history and has been replayed on WWE programming countless times. And it is in fact a great promo. Whenever WWE decides to bring back the KOTR tournament, they talk about past winners and how it was a launching pad for certain wrestlers’ careers. In the case of Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and Booker T, this is true. However, WWE always lists Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of the wrestlers whose career was catapulted by winning this tournament, and it is my belief that that is a very inaccurate statement. The KOTR victory that year did not put Austin on a path towards the main event.
Let’s look at the Raw that took place the night after KOTR 96. Contrary to what WWE wants you to believe, there are no “Austin 3:16” signs in the crowd that night. During the episode they do an advertisement for the encore of King of the Ring set to air on pay per view later that week. During the advertisement they specifically talk about 4 big matches from the show, and Austin is not in any of them, despite having two matches that night and winning KOTR. They don’t show highlights of his Austin 3:16 interview with Dok Hendrix. In fact Austin is only shown in the video once, very briefly, and his name is never mentioned by the narrator. On that Raw Austin did get to main event against Undertaker, but Austin is given a jobber entrance, meaning his entrance is not shown in tv and instead they cut to Austin already in the ring. The match ends with Undertaker holding Austin in position for the Tombstone and Goldust interfering, giving Taker the dq win.
When the KOTR tourney started being held on its self titled pay per view in 1993, each winner until 96 had a very important match at the following Summer Slam 2 months later. Bret Hart won in 93 and wrestled Jerry Lawler, who at the time was treated like a big deal by WWE and had his accomplishments outside the company acknowledged on TV. Owen Hart won in 94 and challenged for the World Championship in part of a double main event. Mabel won in 95 and challenged for the World Championship in the main event. And what was Austin doing that Summer Slam in 96? He wrestled Yokozuna, who had been demoted to the mid card, in a match on the “Free For All” pre show. The King of the Ring winner wasn’t even on the main Summer Slam card.
As far as I can tell, Austin didn’t have any real storylines that summer until after Summer Slam, when he started calling out Bret Hart. Bret had been on hiatus from the active competition since WrestleMania 12 and had been appearing on tv discussing a possible return. This set up a match between Austin and Bret for Survivor Series that year in November. Austin working a program with Bret was something Bret specifically requested, and it was not Vince's idea. From Summer Slam until Survivor Series, Austin still had not had any significant pay per view matches. But that would all change when he and Bret had their first televised match. Austin’s program with Bret Hart is really what put Austin on a path towards the main event. Let’s look at Austin’s pay per view matches and appearances starting with Survivor Series that year.
Survivor Series 96: Austin wrestles Bret in a semi-main event match. Austin loses clean, but it’s a great match. Austin’s image is included on the promotional poster for the pay per view. This was a huge step up from wrestling on the Summer Slam pre show.
December 96 In Your House: Austin wrestles a dark match after the show but makes an appearance during the main event by attacking Bret Hart. It was only a run in, but still, he was a part of the ppv main event.
Royal Rumble 97: Austin wins the Royal Rumble Match in unclean fashion. He was previously eliminated by Bret Hart, but the outside referees did not see it and Austin illegally returned to the match. Because of this, Austin had his WrestleMania World Title shot taken away from him.
February 97 In Your House: Austin competes in the main event in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match against Bret Hart, Vader and Undertaker for the vacant World Title. They were the last 4 wrestlers in the Royal Rumble match. Austin was the first wrestler eliminated, but it was still a huge deal to main event the pay per view.
WrestleMania 13: In a semi-main event match, Austin loses to Bret Hart in their now legendary submission match. During this match there was a double turn, with Austin turning face and Bret turning heel. Austin loses because he passes out, and never submits. At the time it was only the third WWE match to receive a 5 star rating from Dave Meltzer. This match gave Austin more momentum than any other wrestler in WWE, and that momentum would last through his eventual World Title win at the next year’s WrestleMania and wouldn’t start to fade until mid 1999, over two years later.
April 97 In Your House: Austin wrestles Bret in the main event and wins by dq. The pay per view is specially named after Undertaker, the champion, but Austin main events over him.
May 97 In Your House: Austin loses to Undertaker (Champion) in the main event. It looked like Austin had Taker beat when he hit the Stunner and the ref could not make the count in time.
King of the Ring 97: Austin wrestles Shawn Michaels in a semi-main event match. The match ends in double dq.
I think you see at this point Austin was now a main eventer and was on a path to super stardom. He was now regularly main eventing or semi-main eventing pay per views, and it was all thanks to his program with Bret Hart, not his King of the Ring win. Austin’s character was directionless until after Summer Slam when he started calling out Bret, and didn’t have any significant pay per view matches until Survivor Series when he and Bret actually started wrestling. Again, I want to stress that the program with Bret was Bret's idea, not management's.
It is well known that Hunter Hearst Helmsley was the original choice to win King of the Ring in 1996. However, those plans changed when Hunter got punished for his participation in the Kliq Curtain Call incident at Madison Square Garden. Austin was not the original chosen winner for the tourney, and because of this, it is my speculation that they didn’t have any plans for him before hand, and because he wasn’t the original choice, they didn’t care to do much with his character. Behind the scenes, Bret Hart specifically asked to work a program with Austin for when he returned, and that is what put Austin on a path to stardom, not his KOTR win. You could say Vince McMahon would not have allowed Austin to work with Bret had he not been the reigning KOTR, but in my opinion, Bret had enough stroke backstage that he could have worked his return program against any mid carder he wanted as long as they had reasonable enough credibility. Austin had that before KOTR.
I want to add that even if Bret Hart never even wrestled Austin, Austin was so charismatic and such a great talker that he eventually was going to make it big in the wrestling business. A talent as exceptional as Austin wasn’t going to be held down forever, and it was only a matter of time before he caught a big break. He may have caught that break a few years later than he actually did if Bret never asked to work with him, but sooner or later it was going to happen.
Austin’s promo after he won KOTR is legendary. However, a lot of people inaccurately cite the KOTR win as catapulting his career and putting him on a path to stardom. This could not be further from the truth. Going into Summer Slam that year Austin was not getting any of the special treatment that the three previous KOTR winners received. It wasn’t until his program with Bret Hart started that he started regularly main eventing or semi-main eventing pay per views and was truly started rising to the top. It was because of Bret, not his KOTR victory.
These are the famous words that Austin spoke during his post match interview with Dok Hendrix when he won King of the Ring in 1996. That promo has become legendary in wrestling history and has been replayed on WWE programming countless times. And it is in fact a great promo. Whenever WWE decides to bring back the KOTR tournament, they talk about past winners and how it was a launching pad for certain wrestlers’ careers. In the case of Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and Booker T, this is true. However, WWE always lists Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of the wrestlers whose career was catapulted by winning this tournament, and it is my belief that that is a very inaccurate statement. The KOTR victory that year did not put Austin on a path towards the main event.
Let’s look at the Raw that took place the night after KOTR 96. Contrary to what WWE wants you to believe, there are no “Austin 3:16” signs in the crowd that night. During the episode they do an advertisement for the encore of King of the Ring set to air on pay per view later that week. During the advertisement they specifically talk about 4 big matches from the show, and Austin is not in any of them, despite having two matches that night and winning KOTR. They don’t show highlights of his Austin 3:16 interview with Dok Hendrix. In fact Austin is only shown in the video once, very briefly, and his name is never mentioned by the narrator. On that Raw Austin did get to main event against Undertaker, but Austin is given a jobber entrance, meaning his entrance is not shown in tv and instead they cut to Austin already in the ring. The match ends with Undertaker holding Austin in position for the Tombstone and Goldust interfering, giving Taker the dq win.
When the KOTR tourney started being held on its self titled pay per view in 1993, each winner until 96 had a very important match at the following Summer Slam 2 months later. Bret Hart won in 93 and wrestled Jerry Lawler, who at the time was treated like a big deal by WWE and had his accomplishments outside the company acknowledged on TV. Owen Hart won in 94 and challenged for the World Championship in part of a double main event. Mabel won in 95 and challenged for the World Championship in the main event. And what was Austin doing that Summer Slam in 96? He wrestled Yokozuna, who had been demoted to the mid card, in a match on the “Free For All” pre show. The King of the Ring winner wasn’t even on the main Summer Slam card.
As far as I can tell, Austin didn’t have any real storylines that summer until after Summer Slam, when he started calling out Bret Hart. Bret had been on hiatus from the active competition since WrestleMania 12 and had been appearing on tv discussing a possible return. This set up a match between Austin and Bret for Survivor Series that year in November. Austin working a program with Bret was something Bret specifically requested, and it was not Vince's idea. From Summer Slam until Survivor Series, Austin still had not had any significant pay per view matches. But that would all change when he and Bret had their first televised match. Austin’s program with Bret Hart is really what put Austin on a path towards the main event. Let’s look at Austin’s pay per view matches and appearances starting with Survivor Series that year.
Survivor Series 96: Austin wrestles Bret in a semi-main event match. Austin loses clean, but it’s a great match. Austin’s image is included on the promotional poster for the pay per view. This was a huge step up from wrestling on the Summer Slam pre show.
December 96 In Your House: Austin wrestles a dark match after the show but makes an appearance during the main event by attacking Bret Hart. It was only a run in, but still, he was a part of the ppv main event.
Royal Rumble 97: Austin wins the Royal Rumble Match in unclean fashion. He was previously eliminated by Bret Hart, but the outside referees did not see it and Austin illegally returned to the match. Because of this, Austin had his WrestleMania World Title shot taken away from him.
February 97 In Your House: Austin competes in the main event in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match against Bret Hart, Vader and Undertaker for the vacant World Title. They were the last 4 wrestlers in the Royal Rumble match. Austin was the first wrestler eliminated, but it was still a huge deal to main event the pay per view.
WrestleMania 13: In a semi-main event match, Austin loses to Bret Hart in their now legendary submission match. During this match there was a double turn, with Austin turning face and Bret turning heel. Austin loses because he passes out, and never submits. At the time it was only the third WWE match to receive a 5 star rating from Dave Meltzer. This match gave Austin more momentum than any other wrestler in WWE, and that momentum would last through his eventual World Title win at the next year’s WrestleMania and wouldn’t start to fade until mid 1999, over two years later.
April 97 In Your House: Austin wrestles Bret in the main event and wins by dq. The pay per view is specially named after Undertaker, the champion, but Austin main events over him.
May 97 In Your House: Austin loses to Undertaker (Champion) in the main event. It looked like Austin had Taker beat when he hit the Stunner and the ref could not make the count in time.
King of the Ring 97: Austin wrestles Shawn Michaels in a semi-main event match. The match ends in double dq.
I think you see at this point Austin was now a main eventer and was on a path to super stardom. He was now regularly main eventing or semi-main eventing pay per views, and it was all thanks to his program with Bret Hart, not his King of the Ring win. Austin’s character was directionless until after Summer Slam when he started calling out Bret, and didn’t have any significant pay per view matches until Survivor Series when he and Bret actually started wrestling. Again, I want to stress that the program with Bret was Bret's idea, not management's.
It is well known that Hunter Hearst Helmsley was the original choice to win King of the Ring in 1996. However, those plans changed when Hunter got punished for his participation in the Kliq Curtain Call incident at Madison Square Garden. Austin was not the original chosen winner for the tourney, and because of this, it is my speculation that they didn’t have any plans for him before hand, and because he wasn’t the original choice, they didn’t care to do much with his character. Behind the scenes, Bret Hart specifically asked to work a program with Austin for when he returned, and that is what put Austin on a path to stardom, not his KOTR win. You could say Vince McMahon would not have allowed Austin to work with Bret had he not been the reigning KOTR, but in my opinion, Bret had enough stroke backstage that he could have worked his return program against any mid carder he wanted as long as they had reasonable enough credibility. Austin had that before KOTR.
I want to add that even if Bret Hart never even wrestled Austin, Austin was so charismatic and such a great talker that he eventually was going to make it big in the wrestling business. A talent as exceptional as Austin wasn’t going to be held down forever, and it was only a matter of time before he caught a big break. He may have caught that break a few years later than he actually did if Bret never asked to work with him, but sooner or later it was going to happen.
Austin’s promo after he won KOTR is legendary. However, a lot of people inaccurately cite the KOTR win as catapulting his career and putting him on a path to stardom. This could not be further from the truth. Going into Summer Slam that year Austin was not getting any of the special treatment that the three previous KOTR winners received. It wasn’t until his program with Bret Hart started that he started regularly main eventing or semi-main eventing pay per views and was truly started rising to the top. It was because of Bret, not his KOTR victory.
