101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
15. Mike Tyson Knocking Triple H Out
The world may never know exactly how close this came to hitting the ring at WrestleMania X-Seven, but it was something the WWF wanted to do. They already had a fine working relationship with Mike Tyson stemming from events in 1998 at 'Mania XIV, and the 'Baddest Man On The Planet' was still a hot topic in 2001.
The plan? Have Tyson roll into Houston, Texas to KO 'The Game' in wrestling's latest 'Boxer vs. Wrestler' showdown. 'Iron' Mike was always in the news, but he was relatively fresh off a 38 second win over Lou Savarese in Glasgow, Scotland (Tyson kept on punching Savarese after the bell, which was highly controversial) and another fight vs. Andrew Golota in October 2000.
He was generally considered to be an absolute animal who couldn't be tamed, so there's no doubt Tyson vs. Trips would've done some serious box office. The WWF couldn't get it over the line though. Mike wanted a chunk of change the company wasn't prepared to give him, and Hunter was programmed opposite The Undertaker instead.
On that, it's pretty amazing that the creative team had nothing for Undertaker going into the biggest show of the year until HHH became available. In fact, having both Trips and 'Taker sitting on the bench for the Astrodome show would've been eye-opening. They were 2 of the highest profile stars in the industry, but WWF decision makers favoured Hunter as Tyson's opponent.
Lord only knows what The Undertaker vs. Tyson would've looked like as an alternative.