WWE signed Mike Tyson to appear at WrestleMania 14 and apparently paid him about $3 million during that run which led to him being the special enforcer for the WWE Title match pitting Shawn Michaels against Steve Austin.
Jim Ross recently talked about Tyson on his Grilling JR podcast. Ross was asked if there was ever a plan for Tyson to wrestle in WWE during it.
“No, I thought he’d be a body guard type, one punch knockout kind of a guy. And that’s all I needed to see until the right hand, and I’m good.”
“So we negotiated and discussed this opportunity with Mike seemingly forever. Because I had a lot of time with Mike because Vince, whoever brought Tyson in, because Shane McMahon babysat Tyson a lot. And when he wasn’t available, or he was busy doing something, whatever the case may be, JR got that distinction. And so we’ve developed a good relationship.”
“And he’s been back with his occasional appearances in AEW. I’ve always enjoyed it because we talk about the old times. Mike, a lot of fans don’t realise Mike Tyson could win a lot of trivia contests from wrestling, in New York wrestling in the 60s and the 70s. He’s really really brilliant and he loved it. It meant something to him. He remembers it, he studied it. So he was legit a fan and I was respecting Mike for that.”
Quotes via TJRWrestling