The Big Rate the Moments [90-100]
Ratings closed, for Big Rate the Moment 90
(BIG Rate the Moment - 91)
Mick Foley sacrifices his body for the entertainment of fans at King of the Ring 1998
Mick Foley, through his various personas of Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Dude Love, had entertained fans for years by executing risky moves, from which he suffered countless broken bones, contusions, sprains, and the loss of an ear. In June 1998, though, Foley raised the bar for all time. The Undertaker and Mankind (Foley's alter ego at the time) had been engaged in a two year long feud that was set up to be capped in a Hell in the Cell match at the 1998 King of the Ring pay per view. The event featured a cage around the ring that was enclosed on top; there were no disqualifications, either, so a winner must be declared. Rather than entering the cage directly, both The Undertaker and Mick Foley climbed atop the cage (about sixteen feet off the ground) and began fighting up above. After several minutes of this, the fighters pushed closer to an edge near an announcer table and suddenly The Undertaker grabbed Foley and tossed him off of the cage. Foley went headfirst through an announcer table after falling about sixteen feet, breaking the table into several pieces.
But the match wasn't over. After being carried off in a stretcher (since the match technically hadn't even begun yet), Mick Foley came back out to the ring amidst a reign of adoring cheers to continue the match. He managed to climb back up the cage where the brawl continued. After a few more minutes, The Undertaker once again picked up Foley, and once again tossed him down, expecting him to land on top of the cage, but suddenly the cage gave way and Foley fell headfirst about thirteen feet to the center of the ring. But the match wasn't over. Foley gets back up and the brawl continues. The crowd is going crazy by this point, so The Undertaker takes advantage of the crowd momentum to do something even more heinous. He gets under the ring, produces a steel chair, then smashes Foley in the head with it. After collapsing, The Undertaker picks Foley up and drops him head first onto the steel chair, after which Foley rolls over like a sack of potatoes. But the match wasn't over. After a bit, Foley gets back to his feet and the match finally gets underway. After some brawling, Foley gets underneath the ring and produces a bag of thumbtacks and proceeds to dump about two thousand thumbtacks out onto the ring surface. But The Undertaker takes advantage of this, picks Foley up, bodyslams him onto the tons of thumbtacks strewn about, and finally ends the match via pinfall. This match is an integral part of the legend of Mick Foley and contributed to his growing popularity, which would peak in the coming year with an even more compelling moment.