"Not a smart guy" – Former heavyweight champion botched moment with Steve Austin, ex-WWE employee recalls
Former WWE photographer Tom Buchanan recently disclosed details about Mike Tyson's involvement in Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin's staredown before WrestleMania 14.
The 1998 event ended with Austin defeating Michaels to win the WWE Championship. Tyson, a huge wrestling fan as a child, performed as the special guest enforcer. Before the match, the boxing legend was positioned between the WrestleMania 14 opponents at a press conference.
Buchanan explained on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast that Tyson was supposed to separate Austin and Michaels during the media event. However, he botched a huge opportunity for the cameras by turning his back at the wrong time:
"Tyson gets up and he turns around backwards, and somebody else in the media has to say, 'Mike, turn around!'" Buchanan said. "[Tyson is] not a smart guy. I think he was originally scheduled to be an in-ring referee, special guest referee, but it became clear to us that he just didn't have that capacity, so he became an outside the ring guest enforcer, and it worked that way." [39:36 – 39:59]
Despite his press conference mistake, Tyson's WrestleMania 14 appearance was widely viewed as a success. In 2012, the former boxing world heavyweight champion was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Tom Buchanan's conversation with Mike Tyson before WWE event
Buchanan joined WWE as a full-time staff photographer in 1987. He produced thousands of pictures during his 17-year association with the company, including Sunny's viral 1996 photos.
Mike Tyson with Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Steve Austin in 1998. https://t.co/BZI7co5md6
While the former WWE employee had no problem with Mike Tyson, he struggled to have a genuine conversation with the boxer:
"He was a nice guy, I don't have any issues there," Buchanan continued. "He just wasn't real smart. We were in a restaurant setting this thing up. It was like a Hard Rock kinda place. There were all these pictures on the wall of famous places and people and whatnot. I tried to engage Mike in a conversation about something he was looking at on the wall and it was hard. He was not a conversational kinda guy." [40:01 – 40:24]
Buchanan also spoke about the time that The Ultimate Warrior threatened to kill him backstage at an event.
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Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.