8 Incredible Wrestling Paydays You Won't Believe

6. Mike Tyson ($3.5m - 1998)

Mike Tyson was hot sh*t in 1998.

Coming off his ear-biting frenzy against Evander Holyfield in June 1997, the menacing 'Baddest Man On The Planet' was exactly what Vince McMahon and the WWF needed to launch their newfound Attitude into the stratosphere. All McMahon needed to do was dip into his growing bank balance.

Mere months after reneging on a deal with Bret Hart (Montreal, the screw job and all that), Vince agreed to throw cash at Tyson. There was method to this. McMahon knew the bad boy boxer would drive media attention to his product, and he planned to tease a collision with Steve Austin and tie Tyson into the upcoming hype for WrestleMania XIV.

Reportedly, this cost the company upwards of $3.5m. All lifelong wrestling fan Mike had to do was sit in a sky box at the Royal Rumble, work a confrontation with Austin on Raw and temporarily join D-Generation X before helping 'Cold Stone' become the new champ.

The mind-blowing thing here was that Tyson, in one night, earned far in excess of what 99% of the WWF's locker room did all year.