10 Most Shocking Stone Cold Steve Austin Controversies

7. The Baddest Man On The Planet

With hindsight, this incident doesn't seem very shocking or controversial. Tyson and Austin is a "classic" moment, a fixed point in time so to speak, but at the time it was a white hot angle that caught mainstream attention in a way wrestling never had before. With WrestleMania XIV looming, the WWF was in dire straits. They were deep in the middle of WCW Monday Nitro's eighty-three week long ratings streak. Similarly, Mike Tyson had a career in flux. He was still uber popular, but his boxing license had been revoked Nevada State Athletic Commission, and no other commission would touch him. It was Vince McMahon's idea to bring the two struggling brands together, at the biggest show of the year. Everyone knows that Tyson was announced as special referee (later special enforcer) for Michaels/Austin, and Austin and Tyson brawled on Raw, but the impact of what followed is often overlooked. The incident instantly made mainstream news, and was covered alongside traditional sports on shows such as ESPN's SportsCenter and Fox Sports Net Primetime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5abDK1j5IE Vince McMahon cannily blurred the lines of fiction and reality, playing up Tyson taking offense and Austin's lack of professionalism. This made WrestleMania XIV a must-watch show, with 730,000 (more than triple WrestleMania XIII's paying to see what would happen as Austin, Michaels and Tyson clashed at Mania.