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8. Austin 3:16 Says Where's My Royalty Cheque?

Steve Austin made an appearance on Busted Open Radio this week to talk about his 1996 King of the Ring victory and iconic post-win 'Austin 3:16' promo, twenty five years after it happened. 

Stone Cold spoke about the minutia of the night, such as getting busted open by Marc Mero in his first match and going to the hospital, before returning to the building and being informed by Michael Hayes that Jake Roberts had cut a religious promo on him ahead of their final showdown. 

One of the consequences Austin's promo and his boom in popularity was that the former Ringmaster got his first WWE t-shirt, something Austin had been angling for for a while: 

"They didn't really have any merchandising plans for me. And I'd always talk with Jimmy Miranda and say ‘Goddang Jimmy, the office got any ideas for a shirt for me?'. And he'd always say ‘no Steven they don't'. 

Finally when all those 3:16 signs started showing up, it was a thing. And Jimmy came up to me at TV one day and said 'Steven the office finally wants to do a shirt for you. You got any ideas?'. I said 'You goddang right I do. Put Austin 3:16 on the front, carve in Stone Cold on a skull on the back'. We got it cleared. 

Here's something I’ve said before, maybe not everybody knows, Undertaker had to give me clearance to use that skull because Vince thought that might be gimmick infringement. I ran it by Mark, he was cool enough to give me the green light on the skull, thank you Mark. And that shirt was born".

Though glad to have some clobber on the market, the Bionic Redneck was initially dismayed at the paltry royalties he was getting for it, prompting a meeting with Vince McMahon: 

"You know, when I say 'hey here’s the first shirt' and we came out with it, I had a little conversation with Vince. I remember getting a royalty cheque and I was like 'look at that royalty check' and I was looking at all those shirts out there and I was saying 'hey man, this ain't matching up'. 

I went to Vince and had a conversation with him and I increased my percentage. And that's a rare thing. At that point I kind of worked hand in hand with the art department. I'd kick in ideas and they'd shoot me a rendering and I'd say 'no no, like this'.

So I just took it upon myself. And because it was a lot easier for talent to be hands on with merch back in the day. But I saw the value in that shirt and I didn't think the percentages added up. That was a key business move. I never like talking contracts, money with Vince and stuff like that. But that was something I needed to address and I'm glad I did because I increased my merch". 

It always was about the 'bottom line' with him, wasn't it? I mean, those Austin 3:16 t-shirts did generate as much income as some small countries, so it's only fair he got his piece.