4 WWE nicknames and catchphrases that Vince McMahon disliked

#3 The ‘Austin 3:16’ phrase on shirts

Steve Austin shot to WWE superstardom following his memorable “Austin 3:16” promo at King of the Ring 1996, so it was only natural that the company tried to capitalise on his success by selling new memorabilia for one of their top stars.

As it turned out, a plain black shirt with “Austin 3:16” written across the middle ended up becoming the best-selling item in WWE history, but the design of the shirt would have been a lot different if Vince McMahon had his way.

As Bruce Prichard explained on his ‘Something To Wrestle With’ podcast, the WWE owner did not want to see the phrase “Austin 3:16” on the shirt. Instead, he wanted a picture of Austin’s face.

He said (quotes via Still Real To Us):

“[Vince] hated it, absolutely hated it ... Vince felt that the babyface t-shirts should be like pictures of the babyfaces. Cause people wanna support their favourite. My argument was, you’re gonna get more people to buy the shirt if it doesn’t have an image of someone on it […] a dude doesn’t wanna wear another dude on his shirt.”