Oh, hell yeah! How did Austin 3:16 become a global phenomenon? Celebrating Stone Cold Steve Austin's day!

Stone Cold Steve Austin laid the foundation for one of the most intriguing gimmicks in the 90s in WWE. Some in the wrestling fraternity even consider him to personify the Attitude Era. The multi-time champion's bold persona and witty, straightforward comebacks continue to enamor fans to this day.

In the initial years of his career, he worked with many notable managers, including Percy Pringle (aka Paul Bearer), Dutch Mantell, and Paul Heyman (fka Paul E. Dangerously). In late 1995, Steve Austin officially signed with WWE and competed in his first match on December 18 of that year. A year later, Stone Cold Steve Austin competed in the King of the Ring tournament held on pay-per-view of the same name. This is where the most crucial words in wrestling came into existence.

Following his match against Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, the WWE legend cut a promo inspired by John Chapter 3 Verse 16 from the Bible. This was owing to Roberts having a born-again Christian gimmick, enabling his opponent to give the fiery promo.

Over the years, he would urge fans to chant 'oh hell yeah' after him and ended his promos with 'that's the bottom line 'cause Stone Cold said so,' which enraptured the wrestling world and became an identity of its own.

"The first thing I want to be done is to get that piece of cr*p 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 a**!" (00:10 - 00:46)

The 58-year-old later cited that the promo was not meant for indignation towards religious sentiments. Stone Cold Steve Austin was given liberty with the words and had no script like most stars do nowadays.

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How did Stone Cold Steve Austin get 'The Texas Rattlesnake' nickname?

Steve Austin was initially set to be the anti-hero in WWE, but his portrayal of the audacious character with a no-nonsense attitude soon made him a fan favorite.

He used the name 'Stunning Steve Austin' during his WCW tenure and later 'Superstar Steve Austin' on ECW. However, when he appeared on WWE, he took on 'The Ringmaster' moniker when he allied with Ted DiBiase.

As he grew to prominence, he wanted to change his name and claimed the absurd nicknames WWE came up with to match his gimmick. These included the likes of 'Ice Dagger,' 'Fang McFrost' and 'Otto Von Ruthless.' Amidst his search for a nickname, his then-wife Jennie Clarke approached him with a hot cup of tea, telling him to have it before it became 'stone cold.' This was the origin of his current in-ring name.

However, over time, he collected another unique nickname - 'The Texas Rattlesnake.' This was credited to Jim Ross, who would frantically call out the heel superstars for their antics in the ring. Austin disclosed that the former WWE commentator came up with the name on the spur of the moment on live television.

"I've got to feel it," Ross said. "For whatever reason, your in-ring image, not from a physical standpoint necessarily. Cuz you ain't got rattlers on your a—, so there's no similarities physically. But the mannerisms, the motivation, the mindset, you can't trust this son of a b***. I also said one time later on that 'rattlesnakes don't make good corporate pets!' I felt that through that character because I believed in the character, believed in 'Stone Cold' and how it was evolving." [H/T ComicBook.com]

The WWE Hall of Famer had a habit of interrupting his opponents during promos, chanting 'what' every few seconds. This was later picked up by fans who use it to annoy stars who portray heels.