Footage has been unearthed of a rare confrontation between ‘The Immortal’ Hulk Hogan and ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson from 1991.
One of the hottest properties in all of sports, Mike Tyson’s participation in professional wrestling throughout the years has been well documented. From his role as Special Enforcer at WrestleMania XIV for Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels, to his tag team bout with Chris Jericho in 2010 and his most recent appearance on AEW television.
However, one of the least remembered angles in professional wrestling history came in the 1990 when then WWF planned to bring Tyson into the company to serve as Special Guest Referee for a high profile match between WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
When Tyson shockingly lost his subsequent boxing match to Buster Douglas, the star was said to have pulled out of plans which the company hoped would lead to Tyson vs. Hogan at WrestleMania. Mooting other names to replace ‘The Baddest Man On The Planet’, it would be another seven years before the luminary made it to WWF.
While both men partook in a stare down, the footage of this momentous coming together was lost for thirty years before being discovered by Gregory Iron in an archive. According to current Executive Director of Raw, Bruce Pritchard, Hulk Hogan vs. Mike Tyson was a very real possibility in the world of professional wrestling:
“The prospect of actually having Hulk Hogan vs the Baddest Man on the Planet, Mike Tyson, without a doubt is always going to be discussed. I don’t care who’s in what place, you always talk about who’s the best and who would win in wrestler vs boxer. And there probably were not two bigger stars in the galaxy than Hulk Hogan and Mike Tyson at the time. So yeah, it was discussed.”
As it would turn out, Hulk Hogan would go on to battle and defeat Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania VII, while Mike Tyson would make appearances at the 1998 Royal Rumble and subsequent editions of Monday Night Raw in tussles with Stone Cold Steve Austin.