Back in 1998, former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion 'Iron' Mike Tyson was once again the hottest topic in sport, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
Tyson had recently lost his championship rematch with Evander Holyfield by disqualification for actually biting a chunk out of his opponent's ear, but though the incident ended his days as a top-level fighter, he was soon recruited by World Wrestling Entertainment to appear at 'Wrestlemania 14' in Boston, MA.
His endorsement of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in the show's main event launched Austin into the mainstream and helped the company turn round their flagging fortunes against red-hot rival World Championship Wrestling.
Jim Ross, lead commentator at the time and recognised as one of the greatest wrestling announcers in history, recently discussed Tyson's involvement at that Wrestlemania on his 'Grilling JR' podcast.
“It was a big moment, no doubt,” Ross said. “It made a lot of headlines and put Austin in the spotlight he needed to be, very defiant, very anti-corporate stuff. Vince's (McMahon, WWE owner) look on his face was brilliant because he had dollar signs in his eyes looking at Tyson and Austin, and Tyson being a part of the brand, and Austin trying to screw it up.
“It was a big night for us. I made sure [on commentary] when I said Austin and Tyson, I didn’t say Tyson and Austin, because I wanted to give our guy Stone Cold the top billing.”
Ross went on to detail how the company would do everything they could to keep Tyson happy in the lead-up to the big event, with the boxer making a number of appearances on their television show 'Raw Is War' to hype the annual showpiece.
“Shane McMahon (Vince's son) had a lot to do with that,” Ross said. “He became Tyson’s concierge, whatever Mike needed [Shane got him].
"I think during his time, Tyson wanted a motorcycle, I have no idea why, and Shane bought him a motorcycle. They tried to appease him, it’s like recruiting a college football player or basketball player
“The WWE tried to take care of Mike at every turn of the road and Mike needed money at that point in time. The McMahon family took care of him and it worked out. It was a good investment quite frankly because it paid off at the end of the day.”
Tyson returned to prominence last year with a surprisingly entertaining exhibition bout against fellow fiftysomething former world champion Roy Jones Jr. Tyson hopes to participate in another contest this year, amid reports his opponent could in fact be Holyfield himself in a unique conclusion to their trilogy.