The speech changed the landscape of promos and wrestling forever

The speech that changed the wrestling landscape and the importance of King of the Ring tournament.

WWE plans to bring King of the Ring back, and while this is a reason to excite the fans, nothing comes closer to when King of the Ring helped superstars elevate careers. 2006 served as the year for King Booker, and he is the last King of the Ring winner that made some sense out of the character and the tournament.

It may astound you, but the only King of the Ring winner after Booker T to become champion is Sheamus, who won the tournament in 2010. Wade Barrett never got an opportunity for the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. King Corbin went into obscurity as a King that he had to lose his crown to another challenger.

One may argue that he retired Kurt Angle and had a good run as a heel, but did it land him in the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship picture? The answer is a clear no. William Regal may be the best NXT General Manager. The next winner of the King of the Ring tournament after Booker T didn’t rise to stardom, and that’s what makes the journey of this tournament all the more problematic after Booker T.

It’s a given that you can hardly remember King of the Ring winners except those that got repeatedly talked about, and they are a handful. People may remember Bret Hart from 92-93 and Randy Savage from 87, but who revolutionized this tournament and changed the business forever? It’s one man and one man only, and he is Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

A formal pay-per-view where the new King of the Ring delivered a speech synonymous with his character and annoyed some people. The only reason it caught controversy back in the day was his use of the word ‘John 3:16,’ but it was about Jake The Snake Roberts character. John 3:16 is a famous verse, and Jake talked about Bible all along during those days. He had a record of going to Churches, and there was news back in the day that he used to thump his Bible.

It instigated Stone Cold, a believer of the Holy Bible, and he decided to use this in his promo. It created a stir around the world, but the promo shot Stone Cold to fame. There were rumors that Triple H was the planned winner of this tournament, but the MSG curtain call incident took that opportunity away from The King of Kings.

This promo introduced a ruthless approach in promos and started an era that is remembered, cherished, and watched by fans to this day. Austin also talked about this promo came into being. He explained why Bible was a part of the promo. If we connect the dots, we understand how this iconic speech came into being and why it is the most revered speech in all sports entertainment.
Stone Cold touched on various parameters during this promo, and he gave the fans something to cheer about after the main event or the finals or the King of the Ring tournament came to a close.

The world was talking about his promo, his style, and Vince loved it because he wanted to make the event grander, and Austin just did it. The speech is reminisced and mimicked by superstars to this day, and that speaks volumes about how Stone Cold impacted the superstars we see in the ring today.

It does leave just one thing, and one thing only to end this article, and that’s to praise this promo till the end of eternity for its sheer brilliance, delivery, and punches. The famous line from Michael Hayes is the perfect ending to this promo ‘Obviously, Anything but humble’, and that’s the bottom line because Stone Cold said so.

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