King of the Ring (1996)
The 1996 King of the Ring was the fourth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) that featured the 10th King of the Ring tournament. The event took place on June 23, 1996, from the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
| King of the Ring | |||
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Promotional poster featuring The Ultimate Warrior | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation | ||
| Date | June 23, 1996 | ||
| City | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | ||
| Venue | MECCA Arena | ||
| Attendance | 8,762 | ||
| Tagline(s) | To Battle Is Honor... ...To Win Is Hell! | ||
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| King of the Ring event chronology | |||
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| King of the Ring tournament chronology | |||
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The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF Championship. Shawn Michaels defeated British Bulldog to retain the title, with Mr. Perfect serving as the special guest enforcer. The undercard featured the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, which was won by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Other matches on the undercard included a WWF Intercontinental Championship match between champion Goldust and challenger Ahmed Johnson, Mankind versus The Undertaker, The Ultimate Warrior versus Jerry "The King" Lawler, and a WWF Tag Team Championship match between champions The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) and challengers The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn).
Austin's victory speech after winning the 1996 King of the Ring tournament gave rise to the "Austin 3:16" tag line, which would go on to become one of the most popular catchphrases in the history of professional wrestling and the event has been cited by WWE as the starting point of the Attitude Era.