WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson recently revisited Stone Cold Steve Austin’s meteoric rise in 1998, the year he won the WWE Championship. A crucial part of that journey was Mike Tyson’s involvement in the WrestleMania 14 storyline alongside Austin and Shawn Michaels. While rumors at the time suggested Tyson earned millions for his role, Ross clarified the actual figure.
“I know that it was in the thousands,” Ross revealed.
Thompson pressed further, asking, “It wasn’t millions?”
Ross responded, “I don’t think so.” He then elaborated on Tyson’s financial negotiations, stating, “The original piece of business was Tyson needed ‘X’ dollars or whatever it was, so many thousand bucks, but he kept coming back for more money. That was a little disgusting because you made a deal, but Tyson was needing more money. At the end of the day, he needed more money to buy a f***ing motorcycle.”
Ross noted that WWE ultimately gave in to Tyson’s increasing demands to keep him content. “That was Mike,” Ross continued. “And the irony was he got the money. We wanted to keep him as happy as we could, and in order to do that, we needed to make sure that we could continue to fill his pocket full of cash. As long as we did that, everything worked out just fine.”
