“I think the fantasy, especially at that time frame, was Tyson and Steve Austin,” he explained. That was the holy grail of outside people who could’ve worked with Steve.

“Whether or not Steve would’ve liked to have done that, I don’t know, but to me, that would be the one where I’d say: ‘I’d like to make that happen.”

For his part, Austin had good things to say about Tyson’s WWE stay when he penned his auto

While admitting Tyson, who boasted 12 first round KO victories in his boxing career, had a chequered past, the Rattlesnake seemed to enjoy his company – with one noted exception.

“It was all good working with Mike Tyson,” he explained. “The first time I met Mike, he called me: ‘Cold Stone.’ He kept calling me that, even though we did several shows together.

“I used to make him mad. I’d say to him: ‘Why you gotta call me ‘Cold Stone’? It’s damn easy… I’d do it in character, barking at him. He’d say: ‘Okay, Steve,’ but sure enough, he’d call me ‘Cold Stone’ the next time.”

Austin went on: :”The guy I met was intelligent… you got to give the guy credit. He hasn’t made the of the decisions in his life, but hey, he’s owned up to all of them too. I enjoyed the guy [and] he did well for our company.

3

“That whole issue with stone Cold, or ‘Cold Stone,’ as he’d say, was good stuff. The Austin-Tyson story line was super for our business.”

Tyson pocketed $3m for his short WWE run but, owing to mounting debts at the time, barely saw any of the lucrative pay-out.