Vince McMahon Turned Down Major WWE Sponsor
WWE now has an in-ring sponsor for the very first time but now it’s been revealed that Vince McMahon turned down a major deal to have that back in 1995.
On SmackDown in Dallas, Texas, US Champion Logan Paul kicked off the show by telling the world that his Prime drink has struck a deal with WWE to become the first-ever center ring sponsor for the company.
The deal will begin at WrestleMania 40 and will be in effect for every premium live event going forward. This means that WWE’s toughest competitors will now do battle on grand stages with a vinyl bottle of Prime beneath their feet.
Logan Paul has admitted the deal wouldn’t have happened had Vince McMahon still been in charge of WWE. However, Vince McMahon was forced to resign his role as TKO Executive Chairman after sickening allegations were made against him in a lawsuit.
Vince McMahon Said No To In-Ring Sponsorship Before
Speaking on Kliq This, Kevin Nash revealed that back when he was WWE Champion there was a chance for the company to have Budweiser pay a significant sum to get its logo in the ring but McMahon dismissed the idea:
When I was champion, I went down to the Super Bowl, and I met a couple of pretty high-ups with Anheuser Busch. We went to the Maxim party and we drank, I think it was the Playboy wet and wild party back then, whatever it was. I had these guys interested in putting the Budweiser emblem on the turnbuckles at pay-per-views. Just pay-per-views. Not Raw, just the pay-per-view, something people were buying anyway.
I knew what production was costing. They were talking around $200K. I brought it back. I brought it right to Vince and he says, ‘No, we’re competing with Disney.’ This was 95. Jump forward to 97 and they’re trying everything they can to get a f*cking beer sponsor with Steve [Steve Austin].