10 Wrestling Debuts That Changed Everything

7. Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE
"Tyson and Austin! Tyson and Austin!"

That one gravelly-voiced call from Jim Ross was iconic, complemented the importance of the WWF hiring Mike Tyson and put Steve Austin on par with the 'Baddest Man On The Planet'. The boxer had already been paraded on pay-per-view before stepping into Austin's domain 24 hours after the 1998 Royal Rumble on Raw, but this was a different level of celebrity usage.

There, the pair of aggressive warriors got in one another's faces, worked a shoving match and had to be pulled apart by staff as Vince McMahon blew a gasket. It was powerful television, and it succeeded in three things: Austin was cemented as wrestling's hard nut by daring to square up to Tyson, the celebrity rub McMahon so loved was achieved and WCW's Eric Bischoff was powerless to respond.

Bischoff has told on his '83 Weeks' podcast that he knew the gig was up when the WWF signed Tyson. He couldn't compete with the kind of drama that came with matching such a controversial mainstream name up against the cult-hero-like 'Stone Cold'.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.