When Stone Cold Steve Austin
gave his instantly memeable ‘Austin 3:16’ speech in 1996, he kicked off what was to become known as The Attitude Era of WWF, the golden age of modern wrestling. The speech, which includes the immortal line, “Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!”, became a selling point for the new regime. The storylines were ratcheted up, but the whole franchise relied on the same things being repeated again and again: Stone Cold would use the Austin 3:16 line, The Rock would call someone a jabroni, the same moves would happen over and over. The wrestlers essentially became the first real-life memes.
When critics try to pan Salt Bae they do not realise that he is a wrestler in a city of boxers. When they say that his steak isn’t as good as *insert steakhouse here*, or criticise his sourcing, or complain that gold leaf tastes like nothing, they sound like the nerds who would watch
The Rock People’s Elbowing a pantsless Vince McMahon and conspiratorially whisper “it’s fake, you know”. Salt Bae knows precisely what his audience wants and is giving it to them many times over – the drama of his entrance, the pause to allow everyone to whip out their phones, the ‘Wow’ growled after a burger is cut in two.