Mankind vs The Undertaker: The night of living hell
What a monumental matchThere arguably has not been a match as affiliated with its stipulation as much as this one has.In the theme of Hell In A Cell month, this article brings back to life the most famous Hell In A Cell match ever, and there are several big reasons for that. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was witness to one of professional wrestling’s most infamous nights, and it always will be considered that way.At King Of The Ring 1998, in the initial phases of The Attitude Era and among intense competition with World Championship Wrestling in the Monday Night Wars, WWE dished out of its deepest bucket and dug out something which nobody expected.In a pay-per-view themed for King Of The Ring, which was a match in the midcard and saw Kane win the WWE Championship, the most talked about match was this, and there is good reason for that.Let’s remember the night that changed wrestling.
#1 The Build-Up
This one is a little different. I’m not going to talk about the story build-up to the match, but rather the booking decisions going into it and how they took place.
While discussing about the match, Terry Funk (who, by no means, is a traditional wrestler) and Mick Foley were talking about the first ever Hell In A Cell match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker from the previous year at Badd Blood, and were thinking of ways to better the things that happened in that match. One of the prominent spots saw Michaels fall off the side of the cell, through the announcer table.
While trying to come up with something to beat that, Funk had mentioned as a joke “Maybe you should let him throw you off the top of the cage”. It seemed likely that Funk needed reminding of the fact that it was Mick Foley he was talking to, and both men actually planned a few more spots for the match, which were all dangerously approved by Foley.