Stone Cold Steve Austin is a wrestling legend. Arguably the most well known and popular wrestler, not only of his generation but ever. His portrayal of the anti-hero during WWE’s attitude era lives on long in the memory of all wrestling fans.

The story of the Austin 3:16 promo at the king of the ring tournament is one of those magical moments in history resulting from a series of events happening at just the right moment in time.

Talking during a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Steve Austin spoke at length about the night that 3:16 was born. Even now, the depth of his legacy as a result of that one promo astounds him.

“Who would’ve figured it would’ve lasted that long? I watched that promo about ten times last night, just so I could kind of take myself back to where I was. But so many things had to happen for that promo to even happen. That incident had to happen at the Garden where the guys hugged because Triple H was supposed to win that King of the Ring. Vince tells me I’m going to win.”

“I go in and wrestle Marc Mero, who’s a wonderful human being, get along really good with him. I was fortunate enough that he kicked me in the mouth. If he’d never kicked me in the mouth, this never would’ve happened. They haul me to the hospital, I get fourteen stitches, come back. Michael P.S. Hayes is right there at the ambulance, telling me ‘hey, Jake just cut a religious promo on you.’ So thank you Jake for cutting a religious promo, thank you Michael P.S. Hayes for telling me that.”

A career is not defined by a single moment. However, a legend is often born as a result of one. For Stone Cold Steve Austin, that moment came at King of the Ring in 1996.

A series of events led to an off the cuff, unscripted promo. Something that would never happen in modern-day WWE. Creating a groundswell that still surges today.

“It was almost like it was predestined for that promo to happen. And if none of those events had happened or happened out of order, that promo would’ve never happened. Maybe I’d have still been a big star, but that promo gave me two tag lines, 3:16 and ‘because Stone Cold said so’, at one night at an event I was never supposed to win. So I’m entirely grateful for all the pieces and people that fell in place for this to happen.”

Stone Cold Steve Austin grew into his legend. Sadly, we may never see another character quite like him in WWE. Not because what he did was so special it could never be repeated, but because the creative control is too tight to give wrestlers room to grow their character naturally.