>>4918386Mid-30s anon here
Was a kid when the Tyson/Austin brawl happened, and I had already watched wrestling for a couple of years before that
That was the first time I had ever seen something that happened in wrestling being replayed and discussed in mainstream news media. EVERYBODY was talking about it in school the next day, even people who normally didn't give a fuck about wrestling
You have to remember that this was the era of peak 'crazy' Mike Tyson, in terms of his public image. One of the main reasons why he went into wrestling in the first place was because he got banned from boxing after biting Holyfield's ear off several months earlier - and that was by far the biggest sports story in that period
To see that guy then fighting with Austin, put Austin over in a huge way with normies (and WWE, by extension)
To this day I don't think younger wrestling fans truly understand just how big of a turning point the Tyson/Austin brawl was in terms of skyrocketing WWE's relelvance in the mainstream, and helping them to eventually beat WCW
Watch this video from the 2 minute mark onwards, this is the opening of the Raw episode that aired a week after the brawl:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeu7hkWWE was being mentioned in popular newspapers and televised news shows because of the brawl including USA Today, the Daily News and Inside Edition, not to mention a bunch of local news stations. That was one of Vince's best investments ever
