7 best careers of wrestlers after winning King of the Ring

#1 Stone Cold Steve Austin - 1996

And Austin 3:16 was born

Now you could actually easily argue that the likes of Brock Lesnar, Edge or Bret Hart or just about everyone on this list actually had a better post-King of The Ring career than Steve Austin. At least in terms of championships and longevity.

But at the end of the day, Stone Cold Steve Austin is probably the greatest of all time. It was Austin who almost single-handedly turned WWE around in the ratings war against WCW. While WWE did have help along the way from The Rock and D-Generation X, if it wasn't for Steve Austin, we might be watching Nitro today instead of RAW.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, who as mentioned wasn't even the original 1996 planned winner, would defeat Jake Roberts in the tournament finals. He then gave the most memorable promo in WWE history where he proclaimed ''Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!''.

Over the course of the next year, WWE slowly pushed Austin up the card. By the time it was all said and done, Austin was a six-time WWE Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a four-time Tag Team Champion, won three Royal Rumbles, headlined three WrestleMania's and had the best ever wrestling storyline with Vince McMahon. Austin would also have some of wrestling's other best ever feuds with The Rock, Bret Hart, Triple H, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle and more.

Austin retired from the ring at WrestleMania XIX in 2003 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2009.

Were there any other exemplary post-KOTR careers? Head on down to our comments section!