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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Rumble Ramblings: #3 Mankind gets ROCKED



@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Since the 2017 Royal Rumble is right around the corner, I've decided to countdown to this year's event with my 10 favorite non-Rumble Royal Rumble matches. 

In early 1999 you needed to pay close attention to know who the WWF Champion was. The Rock won the belt at the 1998 Survivor Series by turning heel and joining Vince McMahon's Corporation. It was a switcheroo of sorts with former corporate Superstar Mankind. Fans were quick to cheer the underdog as he did battle against the WWF's first third-generation Superstar. 

Rock dropped the title to Mankind on the first Raw of the year. This was the infamous recorded show that Tony Schiavone spoiled on a live edition of WCW Nitro. Fans changed the channel in droves to see Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy win the gold. That victory led the way for a brutal "I Quit" match at the 1999 Royal Rumble. 

Chairshot
Courtesy: WWE
Pardon my language, but the Rock beat the shit out of Mankind at the event, nailing the hardcore icon with 11 chair shots, some with Foley's hands handcuffed behind his back and no way to "protect" himself. Mankind "quit" the match after being knocked unconscious. But it turns out the Corporation had used a recording of Foley saying "I quit" in a previous promo and played it over the speakers.

With doubt hanging in the air, Mankind got a rematch and won the title back at Halftime Heat. He would lose it back to the Rock and set up the continuation of The Great One's feud with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

Mankind "quits"
Courtesy: WWE
While I wasn't a huge fan of the brutality of the match, I did rank it high because of my fandom for both men and the impact it had on wrestling at that time. We'd not seen an "I Quit" match end in this manner, so it gets bonus points for creativity in my book. And helped cement Foley as an upper tier Superstar. 


10 Favorite Non-Rumble Royal Rumble matches

1 comment:

  1. That's way to cruel and violent! Hitting a person with a metal chair can and will cause serious damage. Without a hesitation of a doubt that man deserves compensation for any kind of damage I don't care how mynute it is a scratch a bump

    ReplyDelete