Court Bauer Reveals Vince McMahon Wanted Steve Austin To Lose to Jonathan Coachman

During a recent interview with SP3 and Jeremy Lambert on Fightful’s In The Weeds, MLW CEO Court Bauer recalled his days in WWE, revealing how Vince McMahon once pitched an idea to Steve Austin to have the WWE Hall of Famer lose to Jonathan Coachman. It would’ve apparently been in a two-on-one handicap match.

According to Bauer, McMahon liked the idea, believing it would’ve generated a ton of heat for Coachman as a heel. Below are some highlights from Fightful:

Court Bauer on How Vince McMahon Wanted Steve Austin To Lose to Jonathan Coachman

“I’ve been in some writer rooms in wrestling where you were like, ‘Is this going to be a show called The Laughterhouse cause it’s getting really funky and weird.’ I think there was a Cyber Sunday (it was actually Taboo Tuesday) that got so funky and weird that you really thought it was a laughing house kind of deal where someone was supposed to go to Steve Austin and tell him he was going to lose to Jonathan Coachman in a two-on-one handicap match. That was pretty interesting.”

On Why Vince McMahon Liked the Idea

I’m sure the writers caught some heat for that. But that was an idea from the chairman at the time, Vince McMahon. I’m like, ‘Well, that’s a pretty ballsy move. This guy’s one of the biggest stars in history and I know you think a lot of Coachman in his heat, and so did Kevin at the time, but it’s like, ‘Really?’ Of course, I think Steve may have hurt his back moving that week and couldn’t come to the show in San Diego unfortunately. That was also I think a match that ended up with Goldust, Vader, and Jonathan Coachman in it. Somehow, I think in the middle of the match, Vader got vertigo. You watch him, he’s like breaks gravity, like flips and twirls like a fish out of water and falls. This poor Dustin Rhodes is looking like, ‘What am I going to do with this live TV, man? You never know what’s going to happen.’ I was like, ‘I guess this Steve had some good instincts here. This could have been Steve.’ He dodged a bullet that day, but you look back and you laugh at it. Some of these ideas, man, they’re not all good.”

This would’ve been an attempt at a return match for Austin in 2005.