Steve Austin Reflects on the Austin 3:16 Era, How Far Vince McMahon Was Willing To Go for Their Feud

During a recent interview with Insight With Chris Van Vliet, WWE Hall of Famer and wrestling legend Stone Cold Steve Austin reflected his historic career and the Austin 3:16 era, including his iconic entrance music, his feud with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, and more. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Steve Austin on Jim Johnston Creating His Iconic WWE Entrance Music

“I remember when I was down in WCW, I had a pretty decent little entrance song. It was pretty rocking for as cocky as Stunning Steve was. Then when I came into WWE, as I was using the Million Dollar Dream as my finish, and I was a Million Dollar Champion, they had this dreamy slow music. I’m like, man, what the f*ck? How do you walk to the ring with any kind of swagger to this? I was lost. Finally, they want to redo my music, because I turned into Stone Cold Steve Austin, and I just hit Jim Johnston with, ‘Hey, man, I like Bulls on Parade from Rage Against the Machine.’ So if he listened to it once, twice, or didn’t listen to it, and he came up with what he came up with, and he put the siren in there and the glass breaking, which wasn’t part of that song. So I’ve always given him just the nth amount of credit, because, man, he made winners. And yeah, God dang if that ain’t one of the best entrance songs, or top three, I don’t know what is.”

Steve Austin on How It Got Decided He Would Work With Vince McMahon

“I don’t remember. I just remember he was interviewing me one time. He was talking about whoever was the President at the time. But I said on the interview, I said, everybody knows you’re the boss, Vince. And I think maybe that was when he woke up and said, Hey, let’s do this. I don’t know. He was the mastermind. I don’t know what he’s doing now, but that was a feud that transcended the wrestling business. And even if you didn’t, even if you weren’t a wrestling fan, per se, you were interested in being entertained. So you put on to see what this motherf*cker from South Texas is terrorizing his boss from New York City. Of course, Vince is from North Carolina, but you know, he’s the guy with all the money, and here’s this guy that he’s trying to give a hard time to and make everything hard for him. He’s outsmarting him, and he’s kicking his ass. At some point in anybody’s life, they’d like to punch their boss in the mouth. When it was time for me to get mine in, I did. When it was time for Vince to get that heat back, he did, to keep feathering the storyline. So it was just, you know, master at creating a storyline and feuding with him as long as we did, and really, it never became boring.”

On How Far Vince Was Willing To Go for Their Storylines

“I’ve always said that Vince will go to any length to further any angle. And obviously, considering himself, he wants to be the leader of the pack and the king of the mountain. So he’ll do anything, sacrificing himself as part of it. I loved it, we were the perfect rivals.”

On the Controversy of Austin 3:16

“I did, yeah. Religious people could consider it as blasphemy. I remember walking through airports, and I would get priests and stuff like that. You could see they were because they were wearing their stuff in the airport, wearing the gimmick, You never wore your gimmick. You don’t wear Austin 3:16 shirts. If anybody wore their T-shirt to the airport, dude, you’re a mark. You can wear the sh*t in the building. But anyway, so I would be signing autographs for preachers and stuff like that and the airports. I said, ‘Man, you ain’t mad about the Austin 3:16?’ [They said] ‘Oh no, Steve, it’s okay. But at the time, could it be construed as [controversial]? Yeah, but certainly it was by some.”

Austin made a one-time return to the ring in 2022 in the main event at WrestleMania 38: Night 1. He defeated Kevin Owens in an impromptu No Holds Barred Match.

Austin had one of the most legendary runs in the history of WWE after a brief stint in ECW, starting as the heel Ringmaster in WWF and being managed by Ted DiBiase, winning the King of the Ring tournament by defeating Jake Roberts, and evolving into the Stone Cold Steve Austin character where he feuded with legends such as Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and others on his way to a Hall of Fame WWE career.