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AEW star Christian Cage has been around the wrestling industry long enough to have worked with the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Captain Charisma revealed in a recent interview how the Texas Rattlesnake's 'What' catchphrase originated.
Stone Cold was responsible for a number of things becoming popular. Apart from just elevating the wrestling business as a whole, Stone Cold 3:16 became recognizable around the world. The chants of "WHAT" can still be heard during WWE shows today.
While speaking to Shakiel Mahjouri for ET Canada, the former WWE Heavyweight Champion explained his role in creating the iconic catchphrase.
"Steve and I would sometimes just call each other if we were on drives. Just to joke around and make each other laugh and just do ridiculous stuff. We flew into Chicago, but we had a show in Rockford, Illinois that night. It was like an hour-and-a-half drive from Chicago. We decided to stay in Chicago and work out. There was this gym that was downstairs. When you went downstairs, you'd lose your cellphone signal. We were downstairs at the gym. Steve decided to drive on to town. I guess he was bored. He called me and it went straight to my voicemail. He started leaving me this crazy message where he just started asking himself questions and answering them with 'What'," Christian Cage said.
Stone Cold thinks highly of AEW
Earlier this year, Stone Cold spoke highly about AEW. The wrestling icon had plenty of praise for Tony Khan's company as he felt competition was good for the wrestling business.
"Man, I love it. I think it's competition by proxy, just because you know they're [AEW] wrestling. WWE is wrestling, but I don't think they're directly trying to compete, but in essence, they are. So, I love it because it gives more people within the industry jobs, it gives more people a chance to work, and it makes WWE, you know, it forces them to push the envelope rather than just sit back and just push out content. So now you know your competition makes everybody better I'll bottom line and like that, without going into minutiae and details," Stone Cold said.
It can be argued that the Stone Cold-Vince McMahon rivalry played the most important role in helping WWE become the juggernaut it is today. Stone Cold speaking favorably of AEW must mean a lot to everyone involved in the promotion.
