10 Most Heated Matches In WWE History
9. The Rock Vs. Mankind - WWF RAW 04/01/1999
The Attitude Era was known for its white-hot crowds - but even they had their limits. In yet another lesson WWE has failed to learn from its past, four hours of wrestling on a show not named WrestleMania is at least one hour too many.
The WWF in 1998 wasn't the financial behemoth it later became; accordingly, the company would often tape episodes of RAW weeks in advance in order to cut costs. Producing wrestling for television is mind-bogglingly expensive - so much so that it remains the primary reason why the established WWE has little in the way of competition. Even if the talent and the creative is there, the funding isn't.
The disadvantage to the pre-taping tactic was that fans were burnt out by the time The Rock defended his WWF Heavyweight Title against The Rock on the show which aired on January 4, 1999 - only stirring from their slumber when the two clashed in an entertaining, diversion-stuffed brawl. They had woken up, taking in the action with something approaching their inimitable racket.
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's unscheduled arrival at the match's denouement was their morning espresso shot - the racucous reaction to his pop was even more impressive because the fans were clearly so tired that they didn't register the shattered glass for a full second.