"We don't need Mike Tyson" - Steve Austin initially disliked WWE's WrestleMania 14 idea
Steve Austin initially disagreed with WWE’s idea to use Mike Tyson as part of his WrestleMania 14 storyline with Shawn Michaels.
In the late 1990s, both WCW and WWE regularly worked with celebrities in an attempt to create more interest in their television shows. While WWE recruited Mike Tyson in 1998, television host Jay Leno competed in a WCW match in the same year.
WCW legend DDP appeared on the latest episode of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show. Discussing Tyson’s WWE appearances, Austin admitted he did not understand why Vince McMahon wanted to do business with the boxer.
“My first thing was just like, ‘Oh, man, we don’t need Mike Tyson.’ Idiot, right? But Tyson brought so much interest, eyeballs to our product, it was unbelievable, and just how dumb I was not to see the big picture,” Austin said.
WWE Magazine April 1998. Steve Austin, HBK & @MikeTyson on the cover released 18 years ago this month. #WWE #RAW https://t.co/3Ax5eF3nHA
The highlight of Mike Tyson’s time in WWE came at WrestleMania 14 when he performed as the guest enforcer for Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin. Having sided with Michaels in the build-up to the event, Tyson turned against the D-Generation X member and counted the pinfall for Austin’s victory.
DDP thought he was on Steve Austin’s level after Jay Leno segment
Taking it all the way back to 1998 with this picture of me and the one and only Jay Leno! #ThrowbackThursday #DDP💎 #DDPY #BANG💥 https://t.co/r6NqKFBoXf
Four months after Steve Austin’s moment with Mike Tyson, Jay Leno and Diamond Dallas Page defeated Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan at WCW Road Wild 1998. Before the event, DDP saved Leno from being attacked by Bischoff and Hogan on The Tonight Show.
DDP compared the television segment to the reception he received after winning a world championship. He also credited his celebrity tag team partner for helping him become a household name.
“The next day, you see whatever it is, world championship, whatever, and there’s 500 cameras and there’s a thousand flickering bulbs. That’s what this was like. I didn’t realize that it would take just everything up. It also put Diamond Dallas Page on a household level like Stone Cold Steve Austin,” DDP said.
Leno was not DDP’s only celebrity tag team partner in 1998. At Bash at the Beach, basketball stars Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone also competed in a high-profile WCW match. On that occasion, Hogan teamed up with Rodman to defeat DDP and Malone.
Please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.