Various: Austin 3:16 Anniversary, AAA MSG Event Update, Indies

WWE Did You Know – Steve Austin’s “Austin 3:16: Anniversary

In a “WWE Did You Know” type fact, Saturday was the 22nd anniversary of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s iconic “Austin 3:16” promo.

Austin defeated Jake “The Snake” Roberts in the finals of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament and during the post-match celebrations, verbally lashed at Roberts for being both a washed up wrestler and a changed man due to religion. This promo is considered the starting point of Austin’s rise as a mega star in WWE during the Monday night wars.

The first thing I want to be done is to get that piece of crap out of my ring. Don’t just get him out of the ring—get him out of the WWF. Because I proved, son, without a shadow of a doubt, you ain’t got what it takes any more. 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!!!

All he’s gotta do is go buy him a cheap bottle of Thunderbird and try to get back some of that courage he had in his prime.

Update on AAA’s Madison Square Garden Plans

As noted before, both ROH and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) were reported to be planning to hold events in Madison Square Garden in 2018 and 2019. ROH originally planned to hold next year’s Supercard of Honor event at the Garden prior to WWE’s involvement with the venue to get the event cancelled.

In an update to AAA’s Madison Square Garden plans, Source: PWInsider‘s Mike Johnson reported that the company currently has two dates booked at the venue with one scheduled for September 16th and the other at an unknown date later this year as a backup. Johnson also reported AAA officials are currently considering the idea of holding this event in 2019 instead in order to give them more time and to maximize the impact of running an event at the Garden.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

PROGRESS announced they will be holding a tour in the United States from August 4th to August 12th with six shows scheduled. Travis Banks, Zack Gibson, James Drake, Jinny, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, TK Cooper, WALTER, Flash Morgan Webster, Mark Haskins, Jimmy Havoc, Mark Andrews, Eddie Dennis, Jack Sexsmith, Chris Brookes, Kid Lykos, and Toni Storm were all announced to be making appearances during this tour.

NJPW held a two day event over the weekend in Yokohama, Japan celebrating the 30th anniversary of Minoru Suzuki professional wrestling debut. The card for Saturday’s event featured a singles match of Minoru Suzuki versus Kazuchika Okada held outdoors and went to a 30-minute time limit draw.