Legendary boxer, actor and celebrity extraordinaire Mike Tyson has been announced as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012. The announcement was made official tonight on WWE Monday Night RAW, live from Kansas City, Missouri.
While Tyson made his living and notoriety through his legendary boxing career, he is an avid pro wrestling fan has been involved in many wrestling events over the years, primarily with WWE.
His mot notable contribution to the pro wrestling industry was in 1998. He initially made an appearance at the 1998 Royal Rumble, and expressed his love for the WWF.
The next night on Monday Night RAW it was announced by Vince McMahon that he would be apart of WrestleMania XIV as the special enforcer for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and challenger Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin interrupted the announcement, got in Tyson’s face and flipped him the bird. This led to an epic physical confrontation that made sports, news, and celebrity headlines for the days that followed.
At the event Tyson turned on Michaels and his DeGeneration X cohorts and counted the pinfall for Austin, giving him his first WWF Championship.
Then during the height of WWE’s recent celebrity guest host gimmick, Tyson was the guest host for RAW in January 2010, live from Minneapolis, Minnesota. There he made peace with Shawn Michaels and DX.
Even this past weekend he appeared at the independent Wrestlereunion convention in the Los Angeles, where he appeared at various points and mingled with wrestlers and fans.
Tyson will be a part of WWE’s “celebrity wing” of the Hall of Fame, which currently houses luminaries like Pete Rose, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker and Drew Carey.
His induction once again shows the surrealist quality of WWE’s Hall of Fame, but of all the celebrities inducted, none of them had a bigger impact on the wrestling business than Tyson. Plus he is a self-admitted wrestling who will surely enjoy the experience all the way throughout, and not just see is a paycheck or media appearance.
It seems likely either Austin or Michaels would get the honors to induct Tyson into the Hall, which should lead to a highly entertaining acceptance speech.
Tyson joins Edge, The Four Horsemen and Mil Mascaras as inductees into this year’s Hall of Fame class. This year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be on March 31, the night before WrestleMania XXVIII, in Miami, Florida at the American Airlines Arena.
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