"Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass" made his career
Yeah, he was so important that he couldn't get booked on Summerslam. Austin could have came up with that tagline at any point. Just because it happened at the King of the Ring doesn't mean the PPV can take credit for it. Let's look at what KOTR did for it's winners:
- 1993 - Bret was already a former World Champion. He was merely given the KOTR to appease him due to not giving him a second World Title reign.
- 1994 - Owen had already defeated Bret Hart at Wrestlemania. So he could have easily wrestled Bret at Summerslam without KOTR. I'd say the Mania match did far more for Owen than KOTR.
- 1995 - Mabel wasn't even with the company eight months later.
- 1997 - Let's face it, winning KOTR didn't do much for Hunter. It was joining Shawn Michaels to create DX that finally helped make Hunter a somebody.
- 1998 - Shamrock was booked in the same manner he was booked prior to KOTR.
- 1999 - A push that lasted a whole 2 months~! 2 months later, Gunn was back to being in the same position he was at at the start of 1999.
- 2000 - Just another vanity win for Angle. Angle had already won the IC/Euro title. Winning KOTR was just another means for him to look like he had the best rookie year ever.
- 2001 - Edge went from successful tag worker to successful midcarder with his KOTR win. Is it much of a difference? Not really. Edge's series of matches against Kurt Angle did more to add credibility to him than his win over Angle at KOTR '01.
- 2002 - Would things have been any different for Lesnar had he simply won a #1 contender's match at Vengeance to get his title shot against The Rock at Summerslam? I say no.