Eric Bischoff Discusses His Reaction To WWE Signing Mike Tyson In 1998

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about getting the news in 1998 that WWE had signed Mike Tyson to appear on RAW and WrestleMania XIV, and how he knew WCW was in trouble as a result. WCW countered by having NBA stars Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone wrestle at the 1998 Bash at the Beach in July of that year, a couple months after Mike Tyson worked with WWE.

On how he heard that WWE was bringing in Mike Tyson: “I think Mike Tyson, I’ve said this to you before, when I heard, when Zane Bresloff called me, I was in Kissimmee, Florida actually taking a flying lesson. And I just got done flying around and doing some instrument training and things like that, and I just got down on the ground, and Zane had paged me, I believe, I still had a pager at that time, or maybe he called me, I don’t know. And I remember I went, I think it was a page, because I had to use a payphone, I remember I was on a payphone when I talked to Zane, and that’s when he first buzzed me that he had heard from people that he knew internally at WWE at the time, that they were bringing in Mike Tyson.”

On how he knew he was in trouble when WWE signed Tyson: “That was the moment when I went, ‘OK, now these guys are, now they’re making a comeback.’ I knew then I was in trouble at that moment. That was early, that was maybe in January of ’98, and then obviously when they used Mike Tyson as effectively as they did to setup Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Mr. McMahon character, then I really knew I was in deep shit and I had to put the pedal to the metal. So that was a perfect example of using probably the perfect celebrity at that time in Mike Tyson.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.