Mike Tyson's GOAT of professional wrestling is no longer with WWE

Mike Tyson named the former WWE star he believes is the greatest professional wrestler of all time during a debate with Francis Ngannou.

Boxing legend Tyson trained Ngannou for his fight against Tyson Fury, which took place in Saudi Arabia last year.

Prior to the bout, which Fury won via split decision, both Tyson and Ngannou conducted an interview with Complex, in which they named their GOATs in a range of different topics.

In MMA, both Tyson and Ngannou named current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones as being the GOAT.

Ngannou, meanwhile, named Tyson as his GOAT of boxing. 'Iron Mike' didn't choose himself, instead going for Muhammad Ali.

The debate then switched to the professional wrestling GOAT, with Ngannou choosing Hulk Hogan, who was WWE Champion for 1,474 days between 1984 and 1988 - the fourth-longest reign in the title's history.

Tyson, meanwhile, could have gone for 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels, whom he shared the ring with at WrestleMania 14 as a special guest enforcer for their main event match.

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But he instead opted for Ric Flair, who has had a career spanning over 50 years and has won at least 21 world championships.

Flair had his last match with WWE in 2008, losing to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24.

But he has since wrestled for other companies, and had a second spell with WWE before being released in 2021.

'The Nature Boy' is now signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), aligning himself with Sting as the latter prepared for his retirement match that took place earlier this month.

Flair, however, didn't pick himself when naming his Mount Rushmore of wrestling - picking his final WWE opponent instead.

He said: "I'm not on my Mount Rushmore. I think it's better to have somebody else put you there.

"My Mount Rushmore in terms of importance to the business is Stone Cold, Hulk, obviously, Undertaker, and I think Shawn Michaels.

"[The Rock] would be [on the list], except he didn't stay long enough. I think part of the Mount Rushmore is longevity. It's hard to be really good, and The Rock was great. But he took off.

"He's on my Mount Rushmore for interview skills and everything else, and I remain very close to him."

Topics: WWE, Boxing, UFC, Mike Tyson, Francis Ngannou, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

@NasJabbar