"I was fearful" - Former WCW Executive Producer recalls his reaction to WWE bringing in Mike Tyson
Eric Bischoff recently recalled his reaction when he found out that WWE was signing Mike Tyson in 1998.
WWE brought in Mike Tyson in 1998. Mike Tyson was one of the hottest athletes on the planet at the time. Tyson helped kick off the feud between Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold got into Mike Tyson's face, in the middle of the ring, on RAW. This led to a brawl between the two men. Tyson was later the Special Guest Enforcer for the WWE Championship match between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold at WrestleMania XIV.
In a recent episode of his podcast 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff gave his reaction to finding out that WWE had signed Mike Tyson. Bischoff said his pager went off while he was at a flight school. He made a call and found out that Mike Tyson had signed a deal to appear in WWE. Bischoff said that at the time, he felt that Tyson signing with WWE was a 'game-changer':
"I heard rumblings about Mike Tyson. When I got that phone call…..I remember I was at the flight school in Kissimmee, Florida. I had just gotten back from a flight, and my pager went off and it was Zane Breslov. He wanted me to call him ASAP. I went to a payphone, and he said, 'You're never gonna believe this, but they're bringing in Mike Tyson.'"
"When I heard about Tyson, it started giving me pause. I thought if they use him right, it's gonna be a game-changer and s**t's gonna be really serious. In '97, we were kicking WWE's ass. In early 1998, we were kicking their a**. But I was fearful that the Tyson thing would be a big deal, and I was unfortunately right." H/T: 411Mania
Mike Tyson appeared in AEW last year
Mike Tyson made a couple of appearances in AEW last year. Tyson was at ringside for Cody Rhodes and Lance Archer's TNT Championship match at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May 2020. Tyson chased away Jake Roberts at the end of the match, allowing Cody Rhodes to pick up the win.
Mike Tyson also appeared on the following episode of AEW Dynamite. Tyson got into a face-off with Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle stablemates.