"Stone Cold" Steve Austin Celebrates 3:16 Day by Talking Past and Present Day WWE (Exclusive)

What is the universe trying to pull?

It's a Friday morning and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin joins the virtual chat for an interview with The Takedown on SI and he can't hear me.

Panic sets in. I check wires, settings, tap my microphone, and nothing. On the other end, Austin calmly works on his setup in the old Broken Skull Sessions set. After a few minutes, we're up and running and the conversation rolls on from there.

Crisis averted. No Stunners delivered.

Happy 3:16 Day!

It's 3:16 Day and this year is a special edition of the "Stone Cold" holiday. 2026 marks the 30-year anniversary of the Austin 3:16 promo from King of the Ring 1996 that helped launch him to superstardom. Austin said he doesn't dwell on that promo or moment, but admits it's cool for it to become what it has.

"Almost three decades and it's something for it to still be a thing," Austin said. "You can't give yourself your own nickname and make it something real cool. You just get it bestowed upon you by your friends. So, I didn't declare 3:16 Day as my day, but it just seems to be the case. I'm super proud of that moment and proud to be talking to you 30 years later about something I did way back when on a whim."

That moment changed the industry. From there, Austin became a household name, won the world championship, and feuded with Vince McMahon. McMahon and Austin was a rivalry that defined an era. Stone Cold proudly discussed what it was like working with the owner of the company and said he never felt added pressure because of it.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Vince McMahon | IMAGO / YAY Images

"Vince was green. He'd never wrestled before... For some reason, that guy just had an innate ability to perform and he thrived on the reactions of the people. Because he had such a vast knowledge of some of the greatest heels and some of the greatest babyfaces, I think he drew from that.

"The chemistry between us was so strong that whatever obstacles were there, his greenness or whatever, he really spun up and learned. The patience process, letting moments build, working the crowd, not pandering to the crowd. There's a fine line there. That guy picked up the business really quickly and there was never any nervousness about working with him. I was just always mad that when he came to the ring, he was more jacked up than I was."

Austin reveals why Vince McMahon was a great worker

Austin continued on McMahon's success in the ring and credited his years as an interviewer for helping him progress as fast as he did.

"He was slow and methodical during his heat," Austin said. "If you watched him with his chest puffed out, some of his mannerisms reminded me that he was drawing some inspiration from "Superstar" Billy Graham. He had one of the best bodies. Vince interviewed him several times and worked together with him many times. I always thought maybe there was some "Superstar" influence as far as his (Vince's) ring presentation."

Through the years, Austin has talked in-depth about The Rock, Bret Hart, Vince, and Ric Flair as the best wrestlers in history. He's had high praise for other stars too and opened up on guys like Dustin Rhodes and Kurt Angle like he never has before.

"He was just good, because he was just damn good," Austin said of Rhodes. "And that's just the way it is for some people. The second generation helped him and he just happened to be a great athlete. He's a big guy and just can move like a cat for the size that he was. And he had it up here (in the brain). He knew as a babyface when he needed to shine. He had fire. He sold well because, obviously, his father (Dusty Rhodes) is one of the great sellers of all time.

"You've got to draw some emotion from those people. He was good, because he was damn good. That was just natural talent there. When I came into WWF back in the day, because of our friendship, and we weren't calling each other and hanging out, but we started riding together and they had lit up the Goldust character. He was on fire. He had a ton of heat. Had they just left him in that role, it would have been interesting to see where his career would have gone, but I just always loved the guy."

"Sometimes you have to beat the s**t out of each other"

As for Angle, not only did Austin have immense praise for the gold medalist, but he compared him to the greats in the wrestling business.

"At an intensity level, his matches were on the level of Eddie Guerrero and those guys," Austin said of Angle. He's an elite athlete and he also had an elite mindset to go along with his physical skills. And if you're going to work with Kurt, we laid our stuff in, and I wanted the same from him.

"You just got to beat the s**t out of each other sometimes. Now you're working. You're not trying to hurt anybody, but you want the presentation to be reflective of where you are. We were just of the same mindset to go out there and put on the best match possible. Sometimes we took the physical nature to a high level."

The infamous "Stone Cold" heel turn wasn't successful, but Angle was one of the few guys that could help Austin pull a negative reaction from the crowd.

"As a heel, when it's time to get yours in and just flip that switch, it does not mean rush," Austin said. "It just means (you find) attitude and nastiness and underhandedness to make those people mad and feel for that babyface. In working with Kurt, he was such an All American, red, white, and blue type figure from winning the gold medal at the Olympics. He was a guy that I was able to really do that with successfully."

Take chances like ... Chelsea Green?

Austin admitted he doesn't follow the wrestling business as much as he'd like these days because of different business endeavors like racing and beer. Austin praised the new WWE Unreal program on Netflix, but emphasized the need for current stars to take chances when working.

"You're an idiot when you first join the business," Austin said. "You just are, unless you're Shawn Michaels and you kind of get it from day one. When you're starving and you're making $15 and $20 a night, you realize that you better get good pretty quick and learn how to reach people on an emotional level, so you can start making some money. I think that Chelsea Green does that a lot of time. She's pretty fearless out there. On a creative note, she'll go for it, and it's done well for her."

Another talent that Austin follows closely is his WrestleMania 38 opponent, Kevin Owens. Owens and Austin wrestled in that year's night one main event and it marked Austin's first return match since retiring after WrestleMania 19. Owens had a nice run after that match, but has been sidelined for nearly a year because of a serious neck injury. Unfortunately, Austin has experience in that area.

"I called Kevin a couple of months ago," Austin said. "I think he's got a great doctor, according to him, and I threw out a name that I'd heard good things about. I care about the guy. Love the guy. He's a Hall of Fame talent. I don't know how he banged his neck up, but he took a lot of bumps. He did a lot of stuff.

"It's a rough business, right," Austin said of pro wrestling. "No matter what style you work, you're going to take a bump. And even the most simple bump can be the devastating bump. Although it looks normal, that sets off some chain reaction, or is the straw that breaks the camel's back and there's that injury. So, hey, injuries happen. I stay in touch with him a little bit and I wish him nothing but the best."

Austin says racing is like wrestling

Will Austin ever return to that rough business? He told Chris Van Vliet that he could, but that it would be unlikely. Instead, he's planning on taking over the racing business and is on his own for the first time ever.

"I decided to kind of just do my own thing," Austin said "I like doing my own thing anyway and kind of making the circle a little bit smaller. We've got some great sponsors and we just look forward to making this a good year. Kawasaki came out with a brand new car. It's the Teryx H2. It's a supercharged car, 250 horsepower, which is going to be a lot faster than the car I've raced the previous three seasons.

"It's a lot of excitement. Getting into racing is kind of like going back. You learn by repetition, so you need seat time. It's just like being in the ring. When I used to work in the USWA, it was a weekly territory, so we were in the same towns every single week. That helped you get your job setup. Much the same with racing. Repetition is key."

I'm not sure, but that sounds like a bottom line to me.