The REAL Reason For WWE's 'Stone Cold' Beer Bash
That historic angle was more tactical than you might think...
Those who lived through it will never forget Steve Austin's 'Beer Bash' angle on the 22 March 1999 edition of Raw.
That timeless moment, during which Vince McMahon hilariously tried to swim his way out of the alcoholic tide, is often lauded as one of the best in the flagship show's long history. It was in-keeping with Austin's beer-drinking, rebellious character too, but Bruce Prichard revealed on his 'Something To Wrestle With' podcast why WWE really booked it.
They wanted some sponsorship dollars.
Yep, the current WWE Executive Director admitted that McMahon was mainly interested in pushing the stunt so higher-ups at Coors Lite would be impressed and want to work with the federation. This was the promotion's way of saying, 'Hey, look at all the cool stuff we could do with your brand'.
Vince identified beer companies like Coors and Budweiser as potential gold mines, and he very much wanted them to advertise on WWE programming. Specifically, McMahon hoped Coors would want to cut a deal before WrestleMania XV.
The beer giant wasn't interested though. Austin soaking The Corporation didn't get WWE the lucrative contract they wanted.