I wanted to touch on the Dark Side of the Ring show featuring Mick Foley and his Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker in 1998.
First, I remember Jim Ross had gotten sideways with some editing on a previous season of DSOTR, so I’m glad they made up, and he’s back. It can’t just be Jim Cornette as the historian on the show.
While the story of that HiaC is well traveled, this is the first time I’ve heard the perspective of Foley’s wife, Colette Foley, and his now-adult children, Noelle and, for the first time for me, Michael Jr (no Dewey?? Booo). They added some first-hand horror to this.
Al Snow, being such a close friend, was a great addition since Terry Funk passed away. How in the world is Dr. Francois Petit not all over these things? That guy was a character all his own.
I was watching that night, and while the first bump was incredible, Mankind getting off the stretcher had me screaming at my TV. I had seen Cactus Jack and Sting go crazy in a cage match at a house show, but it was nothing like this.
Foley makes a great point early. He had hit his ceiling in the WWF. The pattern for these monsters was “Face Undertaker. Get some kind of heat. Taker prevails. Monster slows fades away, and they’re out of the company”. Because of the quality of the matches, Mankind lasted longer, but he was at his end.
Even this match felt random at the time. Foley had already had a pretty good face run against Hunter Hearst Helmsley and had teamed with both Steve Austin and Terry Funk to win the tag titles. He had gotten Cactus Jack and Dude Love onto WWF TV. Even got a well-lauded World title match against Shawn Michaels. He had done everything you would figure he could.
Why were we going back to a feud Taker had decisively won? The real attraction of this show for me was Austin vs Kane in a First Blood match. What I appreciated most was them making sure this wasn’t just more hype on the big bumps but a true cautionary tale, one I’m sure no one who needed to hear heard. Such is life.
I did love seeing the WCW and FMW clips. Disappointed with nothing from his territory days or TNA. I went in skeptical, but this was pretty damn good.
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