Mike Tyson is in the WWE Hall of Fame, having saved the company and was even lined up to have a Wres

About five years after purchasing the then-WWF from his father, Vince McMahon took the biggest gamble of his life.

Today, the company is a global juggernaut of wrestling, but back in the mid-80s, McMahon's vision was in it's infancy and he was still trying to take over the rival territories in America.

With Hulk Hogan as his focal point, he staged WrestleMania in 1985, which exceeded expectations and gave WWE the footing they desperately needed.

But make no mistake, McMahon risked it all with that first 'Mania and the company could have gone bankrupt if it didn't work out.

His decision to roll the dice showed that, coupled with a vision, fortune favours the brave.

In late 1997, McMahon was faced with a similar problem.

Since the formation of nWo in WCW on June 10, 1996, WWE had been trailing in the ratings to their rival promotion, a run that lasted 83 weeks.

Although McMahon turned a profit in 1997, the declining ratings and a loss of advertisers led to reports their TV partners were losing faith in his baby.

WWE had to do something to turn the tide, especially considering they were losing their top talent to WCW, Bret Hart being the latest of them after the infamous Montreal Screwjob in November 1997.

McMahon couldn't compete with WCW's chequebook, but he was willing to make one last big investment - Mike Tyson the disgraced boxer who had just bitten Evander Holyfield's ear off.

Tyson was serving a suspension from the sport and was supposedly down to his last $150,000 - a lot to many, but not to his extravagant lifestyle - and McMahon saw the perfect opportunity to pounce.

Timing was everything here. Tyson had no money coming in, so McMahon offered $3.5million to have him appear as the special guest referee at WrestleMania 14 and several appearances in the run up to it.

WCW knew they were in trouble as head honcho Eric Bischoff recalled.

“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 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 s*** 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.”

Strangely, Tyson's star power probably only grew with his controversial actions against Holyfield and with WWE doubling down on his billing as The Baddest Man on the Planet, fans were hooked.

Their decision to marry him with Stone Cold, the biggest box office attraction in wrestling history, was the magic that led to WWE finally defeating WCW in the ratings weeks after WrestleMania in late April.

WWE never looked back from that point and within three years, WCW was run out of business and was bought by their rivals in 2001.

That same year, they were looking to make a special attraction match at WrestleMania 17 between Mike Tyson and Triple H.

Tyson had screwed over D-Generation X during his spell with the company in '98 by turning on them and siding with Steve Austin.

In the years that followed, Triple H became the top heel in the industry and big enough star to stand face-to-face with Tyson and it certainly would have sold tickets, especially given that it would have been on the same card as Stone Cold vs The Rock.

By this point, though, 'Iron Mike' was allowed to box again and was asking for a lot of money.

"We were going to do six rounds. I don’t remember if it was going to be full boxing rules, or whether I was wearing gloves," Triple H told WWE.com.

“But it ended up being a deal where the whole thing just would have been a ludicrous amount of money, and it got pushed off."

Tyson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 - by D-Generation X no less - and in 2010 he knocked out Chris Jericho on an episode of RAW.

Those inside WWE have made no secret of how much the company appreciates what Tyson did for them back in 1998, but it certainly cost them for the pleasure.

And who knows, once his return to the boxing ring is completed, maybe Triple H will get that opportunity.

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