During the Attitude Era in WWE, Stone Cold Steve Austin was a top-selling superstar in terms of merchandise. However, Austin felt that he wasn't receiving proper royalties for his high volume of t-shirt sales. Despite their on-screen rivalry, Austin approached Vince McMahon to address the issue. McMahon and Austin had a close off-screen relationship, frequently supporting and standing by each other, as revealed by Austin in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated.
After the confrontation, McMahon implemented the 'Austin Deal,' bringing significant changes to the agreement as a response to Steve Austin's concerns.
Steve Austin said, “You know, after I started getting hot and I created that promo and man, all of a sudden I came out with that shirt and those shirts were everywhere. And I went and had a conversation with Vince. I said, ‘Vince, hey man, I’ve seen a lot of t-shirts out there, and I noticed my royalty check doesn’t reflect that.'”
Following their conversation, Vince McMahon offered Stone Cold Steve Austin a mutually agreeable amount. Austin was pleasantly surprised when he received the next royalty payment.
He said, “I mean, he came up with a number. He goes, ‘what do you think about that?’ and I said, ‘I like it’ and so it was a fair deal, and that became known as the Austin deal.”