Mike Tyson made his debut for All Elite Wrestling this past Saturday when he awarded Cody Rhodes with the new AEW TNT Championship at the Double or Nothing event. Despite the fact that he’s 53 and hasn’t boxed since 2005, Tyson made headlines recently when he showed off some impressive training footage and teased the idea of making some sort of comeback. Rhodes appeared on The Rich Eisen Show this week and, after sharing a story of helping Tyson put baby oil on before his match with Lance Archer, speculated over whether or not the former heavyweight champion would step back inside the ring.
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“It looks like Mike is going to fight,” Rhodes said (h/t Wrestling Inc. for transcript). “I know he’s close personal friends with with Tony Khan, and Tony has offered him the run of the mill in terms of I saw him pushing the big dumbbells in the in the weight room at the stadium. I saw him training with Vitor Belfort on strike. So even when he was here for something fun and character driven, he was training for something, and I believe they’re pretty close to maybe announcing a deal.
“I could be wrong, but people want to see Iron Mike. They want to see an Iron Mike knockout. They want to see him knock somebody out. So I mean 53 but in great shape, I think it’s a unique story. I think we all kind of want to see it. Right?”
This week’s Dynamite will feature another appearance from Tyson, as well as a battle royal to determine the first man to challenge Rhodes for his new championship. During a post-show press conference, Rhodes revealed that the title belt shown on Saturday is not the final design.
“I know Tony has already told you this already so this isn’t breaking news, but this isn’t even the final belt,” Rhodes said. “The actual silver-plated title, which has the shine finish and the extra details, due to the COVID and the pandemic, we didn’t have it here. And we will have it, maybe as soon as this week’s Dynamite. But man, I don’t know if I want it. Because this is the one I got handed.”
Considering that he picked a pinfall win over Rhodes at the AEW Revolution pay-per-view earlier this year (albeit through questionable means), some fans are speculating Rhodes’ first challenger could be MJF.
