Vince McMahon’s daughter Stephanie McMahon is under fire for a blunder involving Mike Tyson’s sexual assault charges and his collaboration with the WWE.
The clip is played in Mr. McMahon, Netflix’s new documentary series on the history of the WWE and the sexual assault allegations against Vince McMahon.
Warning: some may find this content distressing.
Despite being one of the most celebrated names in boxing, in 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years in prison, three of which he served.
Then, in 1998, he made his WWE debut. Among the many shocking moments that arise in Mr. McMahon, one of the key takeaways is that the former wrestling boss will do anything for “business.”
During the Attitude Era and his ongoing feud with WCW, this involved bringing Iron Mike Tyson to the stage. The boxer appeared at WrestleMania 14 as part of an alleged $3 million deal.
“The idea for bringing in Mike Tyson came from Vince, and Shane McMahon (his son) was heavily involved,” explains longtime WWE employee Bruce Prichard.
Shane goes on to say they wanted a “big personality” for the event, and that he believes “he’d gotten out of jail about three years earlier.”
The scene cuts to a 2013 interview in which Stephanie – who resigned from the WWE in 2023, shortly after the first wave of allegations against her father surfaced – is asked about “Mike Tyson’s baggage.”
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“Was it risky for WWE to fully invest in him?” the interviewer asks, to which she replies, “He hadn’t been arrested for rape yet, though, when we did that, right?”
The off-screen team then confirms he had been, which she responds to by simply staring back at the interviewer. The footage has caught the attention of Netflix viewers since Mr. McMahon’s release yesterday (September 25).
“The look on Steph’s face after that was priceless hahaha it was like she immediately knew she f**ked up,” said one X/Twitter user, while another wrote, “Find a girl that looks at you the way Stephanie McMahon looked at producers for mixing up Mike Tyson’s rape allegations.”
A third added, “Mike Tyson was convicted of rape in ‘92. Mania 14 was in ‘98, and Mike Tyson was controversial at the time for biting Evander Holyfield’s in’ 97. Her timeframe does not add up whatsoever.”
A fourth said in response to the clip, “Dude, I was in 1st grade and I knew Mike Tyson had been convicted of rape.”
However, others have jumped in to defend Stephanie and say the WWE wasn’t the only organization that used Tyson’s popularity at the time.
As stated by one commenter, “There was not a single American media house not using Mike Tyson’s insane popularity for boosting their ratings back then, even after the rape case, but go ahead and question the woman who was a 21-year-old college girl back then.”
Mr. McMahon is streaming on Netflix now. For more coverage of the documentary, read about why the WWE has been accused of promoting “racist trash” and how to watch the terrible Hulk Hogan movie No Holds Barred for free now.