Jim Ross has spoken about the 1998 Stone Cold Steve Austin & Mike Tyson brawl, claiming it helped WWE “stem the tide” against WCW!
Talking on his Grillin’ JR podcast, the veteran commentator gave his view of the events – from the unique position of having been part of the commentary team when all hell broke loose. On the podcast, he detailed how the segment went viral:
“It was a big moment, no doubt. It went viral, it had an edge to it. If you go back and watch the push that Tyson gave Austin, it looked like an offensive linesman on a pass block. He was very snug, but it woke everybody up. […] it made all the headlines. It put Austin in the spot he needed to be in, very defiant, very anti-corporate stuff.”
He also referenced the high that WCW were on and how the star-power of Mike Tyson helped “stem the tide”, all thanks to Shane McMahon:
“They (WCW) were on a roll man, and we had to do something to stem the tide and the answer to that was Mike Tyson. It worked out really well. Shane McMahon had a lot to do with that, he kind of became Tyson’s consiglier. I think during this time, Tyson wanted a motorcycle so Shane bought him a motorcycle. […] The WWE tried to take care of Mike at every turn.”
The Stone Cold Steve Austin & Mike Tyson ruckus happened on the Raw immediately after the 1998 Royal Rumble, which itself was won by Stone Cold, who eliminated The Rock to take the victory.
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