There was no dark main event after this week’s WWE RAW went off the air at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but WWE United States Champion AJ Styles did take another Stone Cold Stunner from WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin.
The show-closing beer bash with Austin, Cedric Alexander, The Viking Raiders, RAW Tag Team Champion Braun Strowman, and RAW Tag Team & WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins continued for a few more minutes after RAW went off the air, until AJ recovered and stood with Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Robert Roode, and Dolph Ziggler at ringside. Austin began his speech and proposed a toast with Styles in the ring.
“Once again it’s been a blast for me to come back here to MSG,” Austin said. “I appreciate each and every one of you showing out, and that’s the bottom line. I came out here and got Seth Rollins signed up with Braun Strowman, for the Universal Championship. They come out here and handled business. Congratulations to Cedric for a helluva damn win against the phenomenal AJ Styles, but I wanna say this, I know you got your posse with you, The OC, I respect all of you. Bobby Roode. AJ, you and I got off on the wrong foot but here’s the thing – I respect everything you’ve done. Hell, I’m probably your biggest fan. I’ve watched your journey from start to finish and now here we are, Madison Square Garden, and what I truly think was just a lack of communication, just somehow we misunderstood each other, and I didn’t want to leave here with any animosity or bad blood towards you. So, I’m extending my right hand in friendship and offering you a cold Broken Skull IPA. Will you accept this gesture of my friendship?”
AJ then asked if the beers were any good, and kept repeating this question to encourage “What?!” responses from the NYC crowd. The back & forth between Austin and AJ led to Austin promising not to hit AJ with another Stone Cold Stunner if he came in to enjoy the beer in friendship.
Austin also referred to AJ as the best in the business for the past so many years but added, “Personally I think you’re a big pile of trash but when the bell rings, as far as getting the job done, there ain’t nobody like you.”
AJ finally accepted the beer from Austin but The Rattlesnake quickly hit him with the second Stunner of the night. The glass then broke and Austin celebrated with the rest of his crew to send the MSG fans home happy.
Below is video from the post-RAW segment, courtesy of Wrestling Inc’s Daniel Yanofsky. Above is video just released by WWE.
