If Vince McMahon could create the perfect wrestler, it would ironically look a lot like boxing’s lineal heavyweight champion. With the bigger than life stature of Andre the Giant, the Hollywood personality of The Rock and the big-man athleticism of the Undertaker, Tyson Fury is custom-made for World Wrestling Entertainment. Luckily for the pro wrestling company, it’s finally getting its hands on the “Gypsy King,” who will make his WWE debut at the Nov. 2 Saudi Arabian wrestling super card, Crown Jewel.
While Fury’s pro wrestling debut seems pre-destined, it’s not the first time a world-class boxer has crossed over into pro wrestling.
Floyd Mayweather
There is no one in boxing history better at playing the “heel” than Floyd Mayweather Jr. The “Money” man’s fights consistently generated nine-digit revenues from fans hoping to see him lose. For WWE, signing such a natural bad guy was a no-brainer.
Mayweather, who “retired” in 2007, stayed busy by jumping to WWE. In 2008, he fought the Big Show, better known by WCW fans as “The Giant” Paul Wright at Wrestlemania. Tipping the scales at 400 pounds, Floyd’s opponent was definitely out of Mayweather’s weight class. Still, Mayweather “stayed undefeated” after hitting the former WWE champion with brass knuckles. Hey, it was a “no disqualification” match!
Evander Holyfield
While pro wrestling is (spoiler alert) scripted, it had the “Real Deal” for one night in 2007. WWE wrestler MVP enlisted none other than Evander Holyfield to square off against Matt Hardy in a “boxing match.” If you’re wondering, the bout didn’t count on the great heavyweight champion’s 44-10-2 record.
Butterbean
What if we had WWE, but with real results? That genius idea was concocted by Vince McMahon at the end of the 1990s to disastrous results. “Brawl for All” was a non-scripted tournament featuring pro-wrestlers. When Bart Gunn, a lower-rung wrestler who typically spent his career counting the lights won the thing, McMahon was not happy. He needed someone to beat Gunn in a real fight, but none of his wrestlers stood a chance.
Enter Eric “Butterbean” Esch. While Gunn (real name Mike Polchlopek), a trained martial artist, proved to be a legit tough guy in the pro wrestling realm, he stood no chance against a professional fighter. At Wrestlemania XV, Butterbean wiped the floor with Gunn, knocking the wrestler out in 35 seconds.
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is the most beloved athlete of all-time, so there’s no surprise WWE spared no expense to secure the services of “The Greatest.” Ali’s Parkinson’s disease curtailed any active in-ring duty, but master marketer Vince McMahon found a way to get him involved.
At the first-ever Wrestlemania, Ali served as a ring-side guest referee. While his impact was minimal, his presence helped establish Wrestlemania as the greatest spectacle in professional wrestling. Outside of WWE, Ali has tussled with famed wrestler Antonio Inoki in arguably the first mainstream MMA-match in 1976 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The fight was ruled a draw.
Buster Douglas
Things were looking up for Buster Douglas even before his landmark upset over Mike Tyson. A year before that fateful fight, WWE saw money signs all over the then-budding heavyweight star, wedging him in between two of the company’s biggest stars. At Wrestlemania V in 1989, Douglas served as the guest referee of Hulk Hogan vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage. He even threw a punch at Savage after the “Macho Man” slapped him.
Mike Tyson
Speaking of Mike Tyson, you can’t talk about boxing’s influence in WWE without “Iron Mike.” In the late 90s, the World Wrestling Federation (WWE’s pre-panda lawsuit name) was down on the cards to Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling. Names like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Randy Savage had jumped ship to WWF’s rival and Vince McMahon’s company needed a knockout punch to win the fight.
In 1997, Tyson, who recently lost his boxing license after his infamous ear-biting incident with Holyfield, was the shot in the arm WWF needed. Leading into Wrestlemania XIV, the “bad guy” Tyson allied himself with the villainous group D-Generation X, lead by “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels and Triple H. The group clashed with WWF’s rising figurehead “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who was pitted against Michaels in the main event of WWE’s biggest card. Tyson was to serve as the “Heartbreak Kid’s” ring-side muscle.
In one of the most memorable moments in professional wrestling, Tyson turned on Michaels with a trademark knock out punch in favor of Austin, then subbing in as the referee to give “Stone Cold” the W. The moment propelled Austin into the biggest star in pro wrestling, re-established Tyson as a beloved household name and catapulted WWF back as pro wrestling’s premier promotion.
In 2010, Tyson had another brief appearance, re-joining a now good guy D-Generation X and knocking out their rival Chris Jericho. Two years later, “Iron Mike” was enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame.
