During a boxing career that saw him become the Undisputed Heavyweight World Champion, Mike Tyson was one of the most famous celebrities on the planet.
Capitalising on this star power WWE eventually brought Tyson in for a number of appearances in 1998. He ended this stint as the special guest enforcer at WrestleMania 14, counting the pin as Stone Cold Steve Austin became World Champion for the first time.
In the years since the proud wrestling fan has continued to make occasional appearances for WWE as well as AEW.
Speaking in a new interview with Alfred Konuwa for Forbes, Tyson discussed a whole host of subjects including his love of wrestling. The former Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year broke down how that love of wrestling impacted his own boxing persona, as well as that of modern legend Floyd Mayweather.
“I’m in the wrestling Hall of Fame,” Tyson proudly stated. “I loved wrestling all my life. The Valiant Brothers, Bruno Sammartino, that’s just who I was: the arrogant talker and the bad guy who people booed. That’s when I realized you can’t remember the good guy without the bad guy. That’s what makes the good guy famous, is the bad guy. The good guy is nothing without the bad guy, the bad guy is the biggest draw. That’s why Floyd Mayweather and myself were the biggest draws because we were the bad guys.”
Tyson went on to state that it’s this ability to make fans feel something, that makes stars such as Mayweather and social media sensation-turned- WWE Superstar Logan Paul stand out.
“Hate is really close to love, and just as much as you could love somebody, you could always have the opportunity to hate him. And just like you could hate somebody, he’ll always give you the opportunity to love him because of how he handles his adversity.
When I see [Logan Paul] looking good and doing well, I always stick up for him because when he makes all the money himself, I get the credit, too. Because without me he would have never had a platform.
I don’t think he’s really that serious [about a boxing match], but I’m just happy he’s receiving the success that the has. For my ego, I feel I had so much to do with that.”
When asked about potentially tangling with Paul in WWE, Tyson joked about his wrestling skills before admitting that he’d be open to such a match.
“Have you ever seen me wrestle before?” joked Tyson.
“I would do it! I would kick his [expletive] ass, yes I would do it. Even though I love him, though (laughs) This is what I found out about WrestleMania: Everybody says ‘that’s fake, that’s fake.’ But the check is real. Deep down inside—don’t let [WWE] know—I would do this for free.”
Mike Tyson Almost Faced WWE Legend Kevin Nash
While Mike Tyson has never wrestled in WWE, he almost ended up having a charity boxing match against Kevin Nash. Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, Nash stated that Vince McMahon had an idea for him to box Tyson in New York’s Central Park.