10 Outrageous WrestleMania Moments That Made Mainstream News

by Andrew Pollard

1. Mike Tyson Kicks Off The Attitude Era

Forget the guy with the face tattoo who you see these days in Hangover movies, €œIron€ Mike Tyson was at one time the absolute best active boxer on the planet. So good was he, the age-old debate still goes on to this day as to whether it's he or Muhammad Ali that's the greatest boxer of all time. Tyson was a bad, bad man, both in the boxing ring and in real life. Despite some of his lesser moments, €œIron€ Mike was still a massive draw to boxing fans, sports fans, and even non-sports fans back in 1998. This is a talent who transcended his own profession and was somebody who was simply must-see. As Wrestlemania 14 was on the horizon, an upstart by the name of €œStone Cold€ Steve Austin was making a name for himself as the toughest S.O.B. in the World Wrestling Federation. When Tyson appeared in the same ring as Austin, dollar signs were in the air. Whilst supposedly aligned with D-Generation X against Austin, Tyson would of course go on to lay out Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 14 and reveal that he was an Austin fan. Mike Tyson appearing on the Grandest Stage of Them All brought with it a ridiculous amount of press coverage, got over huge with wrestling and non-wrestling fans, landed an almighty blow for WWF in their battle against WCW, and is often referred to as being the moment that launched the legendary Attitude Era. Safe to say, Tyson€™s Wrestlemania 14 moment was a hugely pivotal one for a number of reasons and began the era which would see a whole host of non-wrestling fans dragged in as the wrestling industry was in a boom period.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.