King of the Ring (1996)

King of the Ring
Promotional poster featuring The Ultimate Warrior
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	June 23, 1996
City	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Venue	MECCA Arena
Attendance	8,762
Tagline(s)	To Battle Is Honor... ...To Win Is Hell!
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous In Your House 8: Beware of Dog Next → In Your House 9: International Incident
King of the Ring event chronology
← Previous 1995 Next → 1997
King of the Ring tournament chronology
← Previous 1995 Next → 1997

The 1996 King of the Ring was the fourth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) that featured the 10th King of the Ring tournament. The event took place on June 23, 1996, from the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The main event was a standard wrestling match for the WWF Championship. Shawn Michaels defeated British Bulldog to retain the title, with Mr. Perfect serving as the special guest enforcer. The undercard featured the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, which was won by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Other matches on the undercard included a WWF Intercontinental Championship match between champion Goldust and challenger Ahmed Johnson, Mankind versus The Undertaker, The Ultimate Warrior versus Jerry "The King" Lawler, and a WWF Tag Team Championship match between champions The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) and challengers The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn).

Austin's victory speech after winning the 1996 King of the Ring tournament gave rise to the "Austin 3:16" tag line, which would go on to become one of the most popular catchphrases in the history of professional wrestling and the event has been cited by WWE as the starting point of the Attitude Era.^[1]