The Religion of Wrestling
Displays of Religion in the WWE & Associated Companies
"AUSTIN 3:16 SAYS I JUST WHIPPED YO' ASS"
In order to understand the religious connotations of Stone Cold Steve Austin, a little back story is necesscary.
In 1996, Steve Austin was feuding with Jake Roberts. Jake had previously been known to the WWE as "The Snake," a creepy, almost evil character that carried a large snake named Alvin into the ring with him. Jake took a break from the business for a while and came back no longer as "The Snake" but just as Jake Roberts, playing the character of a preacher. Jake's gimmick change was symbolic of his own transformation from a tumultous lifestyle to one of regulation and religion, having found God while on his break from the business (Madison 2015).
While cutting a promo during the feud with Jake playing his hyper-Christian gimmick, Austin turned Jake's own beloved scripture against him. "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 ass!"
Austin 3:16 isn't written anywhere, and Steve's beer-drinking redneck gimmick was in no way religious. Yet somehow, this famous allusion became his most successful marketing endeavour ever, becoming a popular decal on t-shirts and other merchandise. Austin 3:16 was successful in this way because it was a comparison to a Bible verse that is almost universally known. Any church-goer can easily rattle off that John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son that whoever believed in Him may never die but have eternal life." People relate easily to what they know. They knew this well. It is also important to note that Austin was hugely a part of a period of time in the WWE referred to as the "Attitude Era," a time in which no behaviour was off-limits in the ring. Society had begun to deviate from the goodie-two-shoes trend with the onset of grunge. Austin's careless bastardization of a Bible verse was insanely popular with fans who loved the edge and attitude of the new age in both society and the world of the WWE.
The feud between Jake Roberts and Steve Austin is also inherently symbolic to Roberts himself. Having turned from a life of alcohol abuse and turmoil, Jake in his new pastoral character is in conflict with Stone Cold Steve Austin; a man who's entire gimmick is beer-drinking. Jake's feud with Steve Austin is inocuously a feud with his former self, simply embodied by Stone Cold.