[Mr. Pike Central]

[SIZE="3"]#6

The Rock vs. Mankind
"I Quit" Match for the WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 1999)[/SIZE]

Full Match:

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This match is a big deal. Quite possibly one of the most frightening matches of all time. That's only because we saw what was happening backstage. We saw the fear of Foley's wife and kids crying because they thought their daddy was being seriously killed here. We saw the huge gap that Rock left Foley on the TOP OF HIS HEAD and watched it being stitched up. Most importantly, we saw one of the rawest matches of all time.

Wrestlers go to extreme lengths in order to express their art. It's not just Benoit. It's Foley. It's Austin. It's Taker. The list just goes on. This was an ERA where wrestlers wrestled very dangerously. Unprotected chair shots have damaged lives and ended many careers young. Perhaps this match resembled the start of that trend. I'm not sure why. If you see any footage of Foley being stitched up after the match, you can tell that he's in great pain. You would think the company would use it as an example to be more careful. No wonder Foley retired a year later. What was going on with The Rock's mind? Well whatever it was, Foley was drinking the same juice. Both were stiff as hell in this match. You don't see that kind fo stiffness these days.

Matches like these are just amazing forms of storyline. That's something TNA STILL can't get right. Whereas they think random run-ins and mass chaos would be good visuals, when it happened in the Attitude ERA, It at least made sense. The handcuffs part was perfect for the match. Foley totally playing the Jesus role here. And seriously, has there been a more brilliant way then winning a title and keeping both men smart here? The next night on raw, it was revealed that Foley was set up and they used a pre-recorded soundbyte that had Foley saying "I Quit." I remember when Foley said it live. He was pretending he was The Rock but the most important thing of it all was Shane McMahon. After Foley said those words, there was a close-up on Shane with a big time smirk on his face. Foreshadowing during the Attitude era ruled because despite it's wildness, everything made perfect sense.

This match had a lot of first for the WWE...

. One of the first times where handcuffs were involved.
. One of the first times where a wrestler trash talked instead of saying "NOOO!"
. One of the first times a wrestler used an audible or a clever way to win a World Championship. Edge and Christian have perfected it since then