Sharing the ring with some blockbuster names during his career, Mike Tyson very almost shared the squared circle with a late professional wrestling icon.
Long before his huge appearance with the WWE back in 1998, where he served as a guest referee for ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XIV, Tyson was reportedly in line for a spectacular in-ring debut.
Namely, during the peak of his powers, Mike Tyson was set to take on professional wrestling’s biggest name during his own prime.
Mike Tyson was set to face Hulk Hogan in a pro wrestling match
At the absolute prime of his career in the late 80s and into the early 1990s, Tyson was considered one of the biggest stars across the globe — outside of combat sports, in fact.
But before Tyson’s historic knockout loss to Buster Douglas, the WWE were reportedly interested in booking the New Yorker in a pro wrestling match with the late Hulk Hogan.
And with Tyson concentrating on his return to the ring after his loss to Douglas, who himself featured at WrestleMania V, the federation elected against booking the former against their iconic performer, Hogan. But it wasn’t for the want of trying.
According to former WWE screenwriter Bruce Pritchard, during an interview on the Something to Wrestle With podcast in 2020, the federation had held talks with Tyson’s representatives about a potential match with Hogan.
But with Tyson’s defeat against massive underdog Douglas, the WWE pivoted and ditched the idea to pit Tyson in the ring with Hogan.
But this was not the first time Hogan and Tyson were linked with a massive crossover showdown in the ring.
Mike Tyson shared forgotten face off with Hulk Hogan
A year after his loss to Douglas, Tyson had already turned in a quartet of stunning victories in the ring.
Taking out Henry Tilman, Alex Stewart, and Razor Ruddock twice in his bid to book himself a heavyweight title opportunity again, Tyson was once more linked with a potential crossover to the WWE.
And appearing on The Arsenio Hall Show alongside the above-mentioned Hogan in 1991, the duo locked horns on camera in a forgotten face-off between the duo.
And just days before his first fight with Ruddock, Tyson would return from an advert break — squaring off face-to-face with Hogan, with the duo receiving massive applause from the studio audience.