How Steve Austin Made Millions By Owning His Own Merch

Jim Ross knows a thing or two about royalty checks—and according to him, nobody worked the WWE merch game like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

During a recent episode of Grilling JR, Ross opened up about WWE’s royalty structure in light of Mark Mero sharing his 2019 payout. But when the topic turned to Austin, JR made it clear: the Texas Rattlesnake didn’t just get lucky—he built a merchandising empire with his own two hands.

While other superstars were content to wear a shirt to the ring and call it a day, Austin was obsessively involved with his branding, especially his legendary “Austin 3:16” designs.

“That’s how you make money in pro wrestling. You get a product hot, you promote it,” Ross explained. “You know, Austin did all of his own designs. Austin 3:16s and all that stuff. So, that was all his creation.”

Ross added that the company originally had terrible ideas for Austin’s name, and that the Hall of Famer’s resistance to WWE’s suggestions paid off—literally.

“Did you ever look at the names that he was suggested to have when he came in? … That’s just stupid. It’s hokey.”

But it wasn’t just branding smarts that made Austin a merch king. It was his hustle.

“Nobody knows you better than you,” JR said. “Austin—he didn’t like the company’s ideas more often than not. But he knew what he thought. He knew what he could sell and what his fanbase would buy. He kept up with that stuff better than everybody else. He spent more time on it than any other talent.”

Ross revealed that Austin’s attention to detail turned into serious dollars. “He made a ton of money on his royalties,” JR said, adding that keeping talent happy often came down to giving them more control and more of the pie.

In a business where most wrestlers left money on the table, Steve Austin built his fortune by betting on himself—and cashing in hard. Now in today’s guaranteed-contract world, JR admitted the game may have changed, but Austin’s strategy is still something younger wrestlers could learn from.

If you were a wrestler, would you rather have full creative control over your merch or just take the check and let WWE handle it? Drop your thoughts in the comments below—we wanna hear from you.

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