This article's lead sectionmay be too short to adequately summarize its key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(December 2020)
Mankind was thrown from the top of the cell through an announce table on the arena floor; Mankind was chokeslammed through the top of the cage and onto the ring mat
Result
The Undertaker performed a Tombstone Piledriver on Mankind to pin him and win the match
The Undertaker vs. Mankind was a professional wrestlingHell in a Cell match between Mark Calaway (The Undertaker) and Mick Foley (Mankind) of the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The match took place at the King of the Ringpay-per-view on June 28, 1998, at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It set the standard for future Hell in a Cell matches due to Foley taking two dangerous and highly influential bumps from the top of the cell. Foley received numerous legitimate injuries performing the stunts, and the match had little impact on his career in the short-term, but eventually became the match he is most remembered for.
At the following month's Survivor Series PPV, The Undertaker returned to face Mankind, this time with Bearer hanging 20ft (6.1m) above the ring in a steel cage, with a stipulation that if The Undertaker won the match, he would be able to exact revenge on Bearer. The Undertaker won the match, but interference from The Executioner (Terry Gordy) enabled Bearer to escape.[5] With no manager, The Undertaker was developed into a more human character, with a gothic and rebellious attitude, proclaiming himself to be "The Lord of Darkness".[6] He would win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13, and the rivalry with Mankind would be briefly renewed when they competed for the championship at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, with The Undertaker ultimately retaining.[3]
First Hell in a Cell match
The first Hell in a Cell match took place at Badd Blood: In Your House in October 1997, and was between Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) and The Undertaker. The Hell in a Cell match concept was inspired by a 1983 match in Georgia Championship Wrestling between Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer, known as the Last Battle of Atlanta. The match was designed to prevent interference and for the match to reach a definitive conclusion,[7] with the "cowardly" Shawn Michaels persona spending portions of the match trying to elude The Undertaker. The conclusion arrived when Kane (Glenn Jacobs), the storyline brother of The Undertaker, débuted by tearing down the cell door and costing The Undertaker the match.[7] During the match, Hickenbottom performed a stunt where he dangled off the roof off the cell and crashed through the announce table, setting a "dangerous precedent".[7]
Prelude to the pay-per-view
On the June 1, 1998, edition of Raw is War, having spent months alternating between the characters of Dude Love and Cactus Jack, Foley would revert to the Mankind character,[8] and formed an alliance with The Undertaker's brother Kane. The pair would challenge The Undertaker and WWF champion Stone Cold Steve Austin to the second Hell in a Cell match on the June 15 episode of Raw, with the match ending with in a no contest.[9] This set up the double main-event for the June PPV King of the Ring; Austin and Kane in a First Blood match for the championship, while The Undertaker and Mankind would be booked for a Hell in a Cell match. Fittingly, the event was scheduled to take place that year at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Foley himself trained to become a professional wrestler at Dominic DeNucci's wrestling school in nearby Freedom, Pennsylvania, only 25 miles (40km) from Pittsburgh, bringing his career full circle.[10][11]
According to WWE producer Bruce Prichard, the original plan for the PPV was for Mankind to challenge Austin for his championship, before Vince McMahon changed the direction in an attempt to be unpredictable.[12] Calaway went into the match with a fractured ankle, but was adamant he would go through with the match and stunts as planned,[13][14] later saying that it was of such great importance that he "had to do it".[15] Foley credits head-writer Vince Russo for believing in the Mankind character, giving him confidence heading into the PPV.[8]
Planning the match
Before the match, Foley and fellow wrestler Terry Funk were in Stamford, Connecticut to watch and discuss the previous year's Hell in a Cell,[8] brainstorming ideas about how to try and top that match,[7][16] with Funk saying "maybe you should let him throw you off the top of the cage".
"Yeah," I shot back, "then I could climb back up – and he could throw me off again". Man, that was a good one, and we were having a good time thinking completely ludicrous things to do inside, outside, and on top of the cage. After a while I got serious and said quietly to Terry, "I think I can do it."[17]
When presented with the idea of throwing Foley off the top of the cage, Calaway was hesitant,[8] going as far as to ask Foley, "Mick, do you want to die?" Ultimately, Calaway reluctantly agreed to perform the spot. Foley sold him on the idea by saying they could not only begin a match in a way nobody had ever done, they could then have a unique match.[8] Foley later admitted that he had told two lies to McMahon, regarding climbing the cell earlier in the day to acclimatise with the situation, as well as about his comfort in performing the stunt, reasoning that had he already been on top of the cell, he "would have realized that getting thrown off was a terrible idea".[14][18][19]
Mankind came out first and once he reached the cell, he threw a steel folding chair on top of the structure and began to climb to the top. The Undertaker then made his entrance, and followed Mankind by climbing to the top. The pair began exchanging punches and moved towards the edge of the cell.[20] Then, in an "unbelievable moment", The Undertaker threw Mankind from the top of the structure from a height of 22ft (6.7m),[21][14] and sent him crashing through the Spanish commentators' table,[9][20] which triggered commentator and longtime Foley supporter Jim Ross to famously shout, "Good God almighty! Good God almighty! They've killed him!"[nb 1] and "As God as my witness, he is broken in half!"[7][22][23] Calaway said he experienced an out-of-body experience in the moment, visualising himself watching Mankind fly off the cage.[13][24] It was seen as extra surprising as stunts involving announce tables are telegraphed by a performer removing bulky CRT monitors to protect the recipient.[7]
Mankind remained motionless underneath the broken table, while The Undertaker remained on top of the cell.[2] Medical personnel came out to check on Foley, as did Funk and various others,[2] including McMahon who broke kayfabe by looking legitimately worried about someone his Mr McMahon character was supposed to dislike.[2] Mankind was placed on a stretcher and began to be wheeled out of the arena.[2] However, Mankind got up from the stretcher and fought off the officials, to climb again onto the top of the cell,[20][2][14] with The Undertaker doing likewise. After a brief brawl, Undertaker performed a chokeslam on Mankind which sent him through the panel of the chain-link cage.[20][2] The steel chair would also fall through, hitting Mankind as it landed and knocking him unconscious.[2][15] On commentary, Ross said "Good God... good God! Will somebody stop the damn match? Enough's enough!" while color commentator Jerry Lawler adding, "That's it. He's dead."[9][20] According to both Foley and Calaway, the second bump through the cell roof was completely unplanned,[25][24][15] Calaway would later say that he thought Foley was legitimately dead following the second fall.[26][27] while Foley would describe Ross' commentary as "not part of a wrestling match, but a legitimate cry for my well-being".[27]
Some time after getting up and being attended to again by medical personnel, television cameras showed a lingering shot of Mankind smiling through his bleeding mouth and lips, with a loose tooth hanging beneath his nose, the tooth having been knocked out due to being struck by the chair.[28][14][16] At the urging of Foley, the match continued for a while longer, with Mankind being chokeslammed by The Undertaker onto a pile of thumbtacks,[9][29] followed by The Undertaker executing his finishing move, the Tombstone Piledriver, and pinning Mankind to end the match.[16]
Funk wrote in his autobiography, "Watching from the back, I thought he was dead. I ran out here and looked down at him, still lying in the ring where he'd landed. His eyes weren't rolled back in his head, but they looked totally glazed over, like a dead fish's eyes".[30] Mankind later said that the only reason he survived the fall was because he did not take the chokeslam properly, as he had been too exhausted to lift his body weight in response to the chokehold.[31][14] In his memoir Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Foley called it both the best and worst chokeslam he ever took, saying that despite its looks, he would have likely died if he had landed properly. Foley would later explain that the roof of the cell was supposed to sag sufficiently so that The Undertaker could kick Mankind through, allowing him to dangle by his feet and eventually fall in a rotation to land on his front.[7][16][32][19] Years later, Calaway would note that just before executing the chokeslam, he had been standing with his left foot on the same panel that Mankind fell through, but decided to place it on the support bar the panel was attached to have more stability for lifting Mankind.[15] According to Funk, the prop guy had purposely designed it that way, except it was never meant to give way completely.[33]
Aftermath
Both wrestlers received a standing ovation for the match.[citation needed] In the main event of the PPV between Steve Austin and Kane, the cage would be lowered again when both The Undertaker and Mankind interfered, as Kane won the WWF championship. The fourth Hell in a Cell match took place on Raw is War two months later, between tag team champions Mankind and Kane, concluding their alliance. This match, like the second cell match which was also televised on Raw, involved interference from The Undertaker and Austin.
In a 2020 interview with Wrestling Inc, Foley recalled that there was no mention of the match on the following night's Raw Is War, as there was a belief that it was not a big moment due to the history between the two.[34] Foley has said that although this match grew in legend, the reality was that his career remained "somewhat sluggish" for sometime afterwards until Foley further developed the Mankind character, and fans began to get behind him.[35] Mankind would go on to become a three-time WWF Champion in the year following the match, and would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2013,[36] while The Undertaker would develop his 'undefeated WrestleMania streak' and win five more world championships before eventually retiring in 2020.[15]
Foley suffered several injuries in the match: a concussion, a dislocated jaw and shoulder, bruised ribs, internal bleeding, puncture wounds, and several teeth knocked out.[37][38] The match made Foley change his approach to wrestling, concluding he could not continue taking such dangerous bumps, leading his Mankind character to become a more gentle one who would later form a tag-team with The Rock and use an anthropomorphic sock named "Mr. Socko".[18][16]
After the match, McMahon said to Foley, "You have no idea how much I appreciate what you have just done for this company, but I never want to see anything like that again."[39][19] He also made mention in the book of a rather humorous exchange he and Calaway had while being checked out more thoroughly by Dr. Pettit in the backstage area. Foley, still somewhat dazed from the concussion he sustained, turned to Calaway and asked "Did I use the thumbtacks?" Calaway responded responded sternly "Look at your arm, Mick!", at which point Foley discovered a significant number of thumbtacks still lodged in his arm.[16] Foley wrote in his first book that his wife Collette cried during a post-match phone conversation between the two, and this made Foley strongly consider retiring from wrestling,[39][16] something that Foley did eventually do on a full-time basis in 2000. Fittingly, his last match as a full-time wrestler was also a Hell in a Cell match at No Way Out in February 2000; Foley decided to replicate his fall through the roof of the cell during the match and proper precautions were taken to ensure his safety performing the stunt.[24]
Weeks after the match, Mankind would be featured in another Hell in a Cell match, this time against Kane on an episode of Raw, with the match featuring another bump through an announce table, this time with Mankind halfway up the side of the cage.[7]
Both participants have said that the original Hell in a Cell match, between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997, was the superior of the two matches;[9] in 2003 Calaway named the Badd Blood contest as his favorite match,[40] while both Foley and Moody have called it the greatest Hell in a Cell match ever.[41][42] In 2011, the match was named as the number one "OMG!" incident in the WWE history,[43] and has been ranked highly amongst the greatest matches and top moments in the history of Hell in a Cell matches.[44][45][46][47] Writing in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer awarded the match four-and-a-half stars out of a possible five, saying he would never forget the performance of Foley.[48] Meltzer said Foley had made himself an "all-time legend", and would forever be associated with Hell in a Cell in the same way Bret Hart would always be linked with the Montreal Screwjob, but questioned the future of wrestling if people tried to emulate or one-up the performance of Foley.[48] The match was voted Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Match of the Year for 1998.
It has been described as Jim Ross' most famous line of commentary,[49][50] and Foley has categorized it as being a part of popular culture.[51] Foley has been described as the MVP of Hell in a Cell matches, not only for his role in this match, but also for his last match as a full-time wrestler at No Way Out in February 2000; wrestling under his Cactus Jack persona, he competed for the WWF Championship against Triple H, with the match ending when Triple H backdropped through the cage and breaking the ring in a planned stunt.[9][52] In 2018, Foley toured a one-man show titled 20 Years Of Hell, discussing the match in length to an audience, and later filmed a special for the WWE Network exactly 20 years after the match,[53] but said that for years he disliked being known primarily for this match, as there were many other aspects of his career of which he was proud of.[54] Foley says it is the thing most fans remember him for.[7][55]
"I've always wanted to be remembered as the blood-and-guts guy and the guy that gave the fans their money's worth when they bought a ticket. But I'd also like to be remembered as the guy that made people smile and took their minds off their problems for a couple hours every week.".
—Mick Foley discussing his legacy in a 1999 interview.[56]
Many future matches attempted to replicate some of the spots from the match at King of the Ring. Although many fans regard the match as a classic, it has generated controversy as well. Critics charge that the falls in the match were so extreme and they set the bar for further bumps too high,[7][57] that the inevitable attempts to equal or surpass them would be very dangerous for any wrestlers involved. WWE continues to have Hell in a Cell matches on an annual pay-per-view of the same name, with the match stipulation losing its luster because of this.[2][7][57][58] Foley acknowledged in 2014 while being interviewed about the Monday Night Wars that, had the match taken place today, WWE would have immediately stopped the match after the first fall off the top of the cage "and rightfully so."[59] In 2019, Meltzer wrote that "with 20 years of perspective", this match "was a terrible thing because of all the stunt bumps it encouraged and how guys got into the business thinking they could get over by doing that stuff rather than wrestling." Meltzer also wrote that New Japan Pro Wrestling's match of Kota Ibushi versus Tetsuya Naito at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall was the modern successor of The Undertaker-Mankind in lacking safety for the wrestlers, but is "probably going to be copied and admired".[60]
In regards to Foley's risk taking, former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) executive producer Eric Bischoff stated that, when Foley had worked for him in the early '90s, he "wanted to become more physical and more violent, bloodier, and more over the top" and that he had a "bizarre dark side that he needed to explore and feed".[61] In his autobiography Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Foley wrote that he could not remember much of what happened,[9] and he had to watch a tape of the match to write about it.[24] In 2020, Foley said he still suffers with injuries sustained in the match, particularly having to have false teeth replaced,[62] and also suffers with chronic pain.[38]
During a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania 32 in April 2016 against The Undertaker, Shane McMahon paid homage to Foley's first fall by performing a diving elbow from the top of cage, breaking the announce table when The Undertaker moved at the last moment; Michael Cole on commentary yelled "for the love of Mankind" in tribute to Foley.[20][63]
Notes
↑ Sources vary between "They've killed him!" and "That killed him!"
Related Research Articles
Paul Michael Levesque, better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, professional wrestler, and actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is the Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development for WWE. He is also the founder and executive producer of NXT, and an occasional in-ring performer.
Michael Francis "Mick" Foley is an American actor, author, comedian, retired professional wrestler, and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE.
Mark William Calaway, better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler currently under contract with WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, The Undertaker is a seven-time world heavyweight champion in WWF/E, having held the WWF/E Championship four times and the World Heavyweight Championship three times.
Hell in a Cell is a professional wrestling cage-based match which originated in 1997 in the World Wrestling Federation. It features a large cell structure, a five-sided cuboid made from open-weave steel mesh chain-link fencing which encloses the ring and ringside area. Unlike the steel cage match, the only way to get out of the Hell in a Cell without damaging the Cell's structure is through an integrated door, which is part of the Cell and is locked by chains and a padlock. Only an in-ring pinfall or submission will ordinarily result in a win and there are no disqualifications.
WrestleMania XV was the 15th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation, which took place on March 28, 1999, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
WrestleMania X-Seven was the 17th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on April 1, 2001 at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the first WrestleMania held in the state of Texas.
The Corporation was a stable in the late 1990s in the Attitude Era in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
The Ministry of Darkness was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999. Led by The Undertaker, the Ministry was a controversial group with pseudo-Satanic-themed storylines that included rituals and sacrifices.
The Brothers of Destruction were a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of storyline half-brothers, The Undertaker and Kane. They feuded and teamed together on and off from 1997, winning three tag team championships.
The Rock 'n' Sock Connection was a professional wrestling tag team of The Rock and Mankind/Mick Foley that wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) between 1999 and 2000 and briefly in 2004. As a team, they held the WWF Tag Team Championship three times.
Have a Nice Day!: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks is an autobiography of former wrestler Mick Foley. It details his life all the way from his upbringing in New York to winning the WWF Championship from The Rock in December 1998. Foley had originally wanted the book to be called simply Blood and Sweatsocks, but this was eschewed in favor of his long-time catchphrase Have a Nice Day!, with the former being worked into the sub-title. The book debuted at #3 on the New York Times Best Seller List on November 7, 1999 and reached #1 on December 5.
Timothy Rhys White is an American former professional wrestling referee. He worked with World Wrestling Entertainment as a producer on the SmackDown! brand. During the 1980s and 1990s, White worked as André the Giant's assistant in addition to his referee duties. Jim Ross would call Tim White, ‘The Fighting Irishman.’
The 1999 Royal Rumble was the twelfth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 24, 1999, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. The tagline and subtitle of the event was taken from a promise by Mr. McMahon that the first entrant in the Royal Rumble, Stone Cold Steve Austin, had "no chance in hell" of winning the match. The theme song for the event, based on the phrase, would go on to become the entrance music for McMahon's stable The Corporation and later, just McMahon himself, which he uses to this day.
The 1998 King of the Ring was the sixth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on June 28, 1998, at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Attitude Era was a term used by World Wrestling Entertainment, to describe the company's programming during the Monday Night Wars, a period in which WWF's Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week during the late 1990s and early 2000s. WWF's programming, branded as "WWF Attitude" from 1997 to 2002, featured adult-oriented content, which included an increase in the level of depicted violence, profanity and sexual content. This era was part of a wider surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and Canada as television ratings and pay-per-view buy-rates for WWF and its rival promotions saw record highs.
No Way Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on February 27, 2000, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the first event produced under the No Way Out name, although it was preceded in 1998 by an event named No Way Out of Texas, which was an In Your House event.
Armageddon was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Federation. It took place on December 10, 2000, at the Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. It was the second annual Armageddon event, and the only WWF pay-per-view event to be held in the state of Alabama. It was the final Armageddon event produced under the WWF name, as the event was temporarily replaced with Vengeance in December 2001 due to the September 11 attacks.
Badd Blood: In Your House was the eighteenth In Your House professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation on October 5, 1997, at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The event was notable for the first Hell in a Cell match pitting The Undertaker against Shawn Michaels and the debut of Undertaker's storyline brother Kane, who interfered in that match and eventually Michaels won to become the number one contender for a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against reigning champion Bret Hart. The show would also mark the last time Vince McMahon was part of the commentating team for a pay per view.
The Streak was a series of 21 victories for professional wrestler The Undertaker at WWE's premier annual event, WrestleMania. It began at WrestleMania VII in 1991 when he beat Jimmy Snuka, with the final win coming against CM Punk at WrestleMania 29 in 2013; the Undertaker was absent from WrestleMania X (1994) and WrestleMania 2000, owing to injury. Overall, he defeated 18 men during The Streak, which included three bouts with Triple H and two each opposite Kane and Shawn Michaels, as well as a handicap match against A-Train and Big Show at WrestleMania XIX. Although part of professional wrestling storyline, this run of victories was described by sports news publication The 42 as the "greatest winning streak in sport", while Sky Sports likened it to that of boxer Floyd Mayweather.
The history of WWE Raw began as WWF's Monday Night Raw on January 11, 1993. Over the next two decades, Raw would become the promotion's flagship show, achieving numerous milestones along the way.
References
↑ "The Undertaker interview". Off the Record. March 29, 2002. 9 minutes in. TSN.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
