The name Stone Cold Steve Austin is well known. There are many people who have felt the wrath of the "Stunner," and will say that it isn't a pretty feeling the next morning.
One of those people is Triple H.
I do, however, find it rather intriguing that Stone Cold would not be anything without the help of Triple H and the Kliq. Still don't know what I am talking about? Let's go way back to 1996 when the Austin Era began without realization of it.
Backstage, Bill Banks was running a AOL chat session. In the early 1990s AOL was in works with WWF and the superstars would do "interviews" with the fans after their matches. This particular night, WWF stars Diesel and Razor Ramon signed with WCW, so the announcement had been made to all of Madison Square Garden that this would be their final appearance on WWF Television.
Earlier in the night, Triple H (then Hunter Hearst Helmsley) defeated Razor Ramon (Hall). In the main event, Shawn Michaels defeated Diesel (Nash) inside a steel cage. It was after the main event that "The Kliq" broke an unwritten cardinal rule in wrestling by going outside of the storylines.
Shawn helped Nash to his feet and the two hugged and posed for fans. A few moments later they were joined by Hall and Hunter. "The Kliq" was giving a curtain call to the fans without management's permission.
The fans loved it—but the reaction backstage was far different. Jim Cornette yelling backstage, obviously irate that no one was stopping them. Vince and Shane McMahon were watching from behind the entrance curtain. Shane wanted to go out and stop it himself but Vince kept a cool head about it.
There had to be repercussions from the incident, but Hall and Nash were gone and Michaels was one of the top stars in the company. So, the punishment was handed out to Triple H, who for the next several months was relegated to losing every match.
The reason I write all this is for one reason—prior to the "Kliq" incident, Triple H was slated to win the upcoming King of the Ring Pay-Per-View tournament, considering a stepping-stone to a top spot in the WWF. However, those plans were scrapped. As a result, Steve Austin was picked instead to win the tournament that June. Austin finally had his opportunity and he certainly made the most of it.
After beating Jake Roberts in the finals, Austin was interviewed by Dok Hendrix on the live Pay-Per-View, an interview that officially marked the birth of "Austin 3:16" in professional wrestling.
"Jake Roberts—you can thump your bible all you want, but Austin 3:16 says I just kicked your ass!"
The "Stone Cold" phenomenon snowballed from there. At SummerSlam two months later in Cleveland, Ohio, Austin was scheduled to face Yokozuna on the pre-show for the Pay-Per-View. Bill Banks was standing out in the audience with Vince Russo watching fans fill the arena and we both noticed many of them brought "Austin 3:16" posters. Russo turned to Bill and said "You see that? He's about to become the biggest thing in this business."
The rest was history…
4 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Michael Null 9 months ago
I never even connected the curtian call to Austin and the Kinf Of The Ring.. I knew HHH was up for a push but never realized that would have been it..makes you wonder what if hhh would have got the push .. would we have Austin 3:16 or even the attidue era?
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Ryan 9 months ago
I'm sorry but this is just one of those incidents where, while it seems connected, it's not. Austin was getting over like crazy in 96/97 and it was only a matter of time before he was going to sky-rocket. The King of the Ring didn't make him. It helped launch his catch phrase, but he was still over like hell.
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Stephan Johnson 9 months ago
I am not saying that it is coincidence. I am simply stating that HHH's punishment led to the success of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
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Ryan 9 months ago
And I think you're confusing yourself. That statement "HHH's punishment led to the success of Stone Cold Steve Austin" implies that Austin only got the push because management was punishing Hunter. That's not the case. As I said, Austin was getting over before the KOTR and whether he won it or not, he was in all likelihood going to be as big as he was anyway. It helped in the creation of "Austin 3:16" but if that was something that Steve had in his head for a little bit, it was going to come out one way or another.
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