Throughout the years, there have been many iconic t-shirt designs in professional wrestling.
Of all the designs, one of the most iconic of all was Stone Cold Steve Austin’s ‘Austin 3:16’ shirt, which remains a top seller on WWE.com still to this day.
As expected, the shirt made Austin a lot of money, and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has now revealed an insane amount Austin made from the shirt.
Speaking on the Kurt Angle Show, Kurt said that Austin once made $12 million in one year off sales of the shirt alone.
He said:
“In one year, he made $12 million on merchandise and that was the 3:16 shirt. That’s when it came out. $12 million. He told me. I was like, ‘Holy crap.’ He only made two and a half million wrestling.
“Vince McMahon said, ‘I pay you (Angle) to wrestle.’ Vince, I’m not gonna lie to you, he paid me well. I made more than Austin did with wrestling. I didn’t make nearly as much as Austin did with merchandise, but Vince took care of me on the back end with wrestling.
“Merchandise, I made, I’ll give you just roundabout figures, between 700 and 900 grand a year. It wasn’t a lot. It’s a lot of money, don’t get me wrong, but not for being a big star like that. For some reason Vince just told me, ‘Hey, can’t do anything with you in merchandise, so just wrestle.’ I would come up with merchandise ideas and Vince would utilize them, but you know, I didn’t sell like Stone Cold, and I was a heel most of my career too.”
Austin was rumoured for a potential match at this year’s WrestleMania 39 show, but it ultimately didn’t end up happening.
WWE had also reached out to Angle for an appearance at the 2023 WWE Draft, which he declined.
transcription via WrestlingNews.co
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