Stone Cold Steve Ausin delievered his iconic Austin 3:16 promo 21 years ago

Published Jun. 23, 2017 4:16 p.m. ET

Barry Werner

The promo that launched Stone Cold Steve Austin into mega-stardom was delivered on June 23, 1996, at the King of the Ring pay-per-view at Milwaukee’s MECCA Arena.

Austin had finished off Jake Roberts when he stepped up to his throne with Dok Hendrix — a.k.a. Michael Hayes — and unloaded.

And pro wrestling was never the same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjWPoQWdmjg

And here's the transcript:

Dok Hendrix: The fourth prestigious King Of The Ring, Stone Cold Steve Austin, an incredible victory!

Austin: 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 whipped your ass!

Hendrix: Come on, that’s not necessary

Austin: All he’s gotta do is go buy him a cheap bottle of Thunderbird and try to dig back some of that courage he had in his prime.

As the King Of The Ring, I’m serving notice to every one of the WWF superstars. I don’t give a damn what they are, they’re all on the list, and that’s Stone Cold’s list, and I’m fixing to start running through all of ’em.

And as far as this championship match is considered son, I don’t give a damn if it’s Davey Boy Smith or Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin’s time is come, and when I get that shot you’re looking at the next WWF Champion.

And that’s the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so.