Mick Foley Lied To Vince McMahon Before Hell In A Cell Match
Mick Foley's career in the WWE really began to take off when he literally put his life and body on the line at the 1998 King of the Ring pay-per-view, where he faced The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match.
17,087 fans packed Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, where they saw Foley (wrestling in his Mankind gimmick), take two major falls in the match. The first one saw Undertaker throw Mankind from the top of the cell 16 feet onto the announce table.
Undertaker then chokeslammed Mankind through the top of the cell, where he fell into the ring and fell unconscious. Despite lost teeth, a dislocated jaw and other bumps, Mankind pulled through the entirety of the much and instantly became a wrestling legend forever.
But Foley recently revealed a very surprising tidbit to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. In order for the match (and the crazy stunts), to happen, Foley had to tell a couple of lies to Vince McMahon.
“I told Mr. McMahon two of the biggest lies of my life that day. I told him I had been on top of the cell earlier that afternoon, and I told him that I felt completely comfortable up there.
Had I gone up there for a walk-through, there would be no twentieth anniversary because I would have realized that getting thrown off was a terrible idea.”
Foley also revealed that his family wasn't pleased with all the dangerous bumps he took, and that he knew there would have to be other ways to entertain the crowd. Thanks to the popularity of his Mankind character, Foley was indeed able to maintain his main even star status after King of the Ring.
Mankind forever changed wrestling history on Jan. 4, 1999. Over at the rival WCW promotion, Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash faced off for the World Heavyweight Championship.
WCW announcer Tony Schiavone advised fans to not switch over to the WWF, as they were informed Mankind would beat The Rock to become the new WWF Champion. About 600,000 viewers changed channels to see Mankind's historic moment. As for WCW?
Hogan literally poked Nash in the chest and pinned him to win the title. That was the turning point in the Monday Night Wars, and Foley and the WWF would never look back.
