Wrestling fans across social media celebrated Saturday (March 16) as “Stone Cold Steve Austin Day” in reference to Austin’s famous “Austin 3:16” promo. WWE decided to get in on the fun by reuploading a clip from a 2017 video gallery they made of various Superstars giving their own performance of Austin’s promo. Only this time they uploaded the one person who has been getting more Austin comparisons than anyone in recent months โ Becky Lynch.
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Lynch’s delivery during the video soundly noticeably similar to her more recent promos in her “The Man” persona.
Becky 3:16 just whooped your a**!
Hear #TheMan @BeckyLynchWWE recreate @steveaustinBSR‘s famous “3:16” speech in honor of #316Day. pic.twitter.com/erCZrNtMd4
โ WWE (@WWE) March 16, 2019
“Don’t just get him out of the ring, get him out of the WWE. Because I proved, son, without a shadow of a doubt you ain’t got (what it takes anymore),” Lynch said.
For those who don’t know, Austin’s promo came at the 1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view event just months after he had changed personas from being The Ringmaster. Austin, who was in full heel mode at the time, cut a promo on Jake “The Snake” Roberts after beating the future WWE Hall of Famer in the final round of the tournament and mocked his Christian faith.
“(You sit there and) you thumb your Bible and you say your prayers, and it didn’t get you anywhere,” Lynch said. “You talk about your (Psalms, you talk about John 3:16, Austin 3:16 says) I just whipped your aโ!”
The promo helped launch Austin into eventually becoming the face of the World Wrestling Federation during the Attitude Era of the late 90s and early 2000s. He went on to feud with Bret Hart later in the year which eventually led to a submission match at WrestleMania 13, turning him babyface in the process. Austin would finally win his first of six world championships a year later at WrestleMania XIV by beating Shawn Michaels thanks to an assist from Mike Tyson.
The comparisons between Austin and Lynch first began back at SummerSlam when Lynch attacked Charlotte Flair after losing to her in a triple threat match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The move was initially portrayed as a heel turn, but most fans continued to cheer Lynch because of her charismatic promos and solid matches. She quickly won the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell and held it up until TLC in December. In January she won the Women’s Royal Rumble match to challenge Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey to a match at WrestleMania 35, but Flair was eventually added in via storyline to make it a triple threat.