Mick Foley discussed the Royal Rumble 1998 and Mike Tyson’s appearance at the show during a recent edition of FOLEY IS POD.
Tyson served as the special enforcer for Steve Austin’s match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14. Here are the highlights:
The first time he met Tyson:
“When Mike met me, he was talking about ‘Mankind hanging out with rats.’ He was talking about the original vignettes, which I had forgotten I’d even did.”
Tyson feeling bigger than a regular celebrity:
“It does feel big. Big to the point where I remember being on one of those Legends roundtables, right before Mania? You may have seen it because I left there feeling kind of disrespected. I was stomped on by the panel when I said that Tyson was the most important celebrity we’d ever had, I got jumped on for that! ‘What are you trying to say, [WrestleMania] wasn’t big without it [Tyson’s involvement]?’ Yeah, it was big… but it was big within wrestling.”
“Tyson made it big in the mainstream. That was really important, it was really difficult to get mainstream coverage. [Tuesday morning] it was everywhere. It was one of the best things WWE had ever done. I think it was the biggest celebrity appearance that we’ve ever had. Mike and [Steve] Austin, hitting the news around the world, that was really important.”
H/T to 411 Mania