In the thick of the Monday Night Wars, Vince McMahon had positioned two guys atop the throne to battle Eric Bischoff in the ratings: The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. When fans turned into Raw during this period, they expected to see one of these guys wearing the belt at all times. Mick Foley, on the other hand, was a company man who sacrificed his body for the McMahon family like no one else in the history of the WWE, only to be rewarded with a status as mid-card talent. Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy had no shot at being the guy, not with Rock, Austin, Taker and Triple H all in the mix. And then something...strange happened. Following Mankind's iconic Hell in a Cell match with Taker, he started to get a true push toward the top, being positioned against the recently heel-turned Rock, who was now in the back pocket of Vince McMahon. It was Mankind vs. The Corporate Champion on Raw, January 9th, 1999. And it was for the WWE Championship. But this being Mick Foley (and not a PPV), there was little chance that the title would change hands. In fact, this match was probably being used to drum up more heat between The Corporation and D-Generation X, which had been brewing for a while now.Meanwhile, over on WCW Monday Nitro, in an attempt to turn viewers away from their competition, it was announced live, on-air that the pre-taped Raw would indeed end with Mankind as the new WWE Champion. To underscore just how much of an unlikely champion Mick was, the announcers mocked the decision, sarcastically saying "that'll put some butts in the seats." And to further highlight just how much the people were behind Mick Foley, how much they wanted him to become WWE Champion, that night people changed over from Nitro to Raw in droves, landing WWE their first ratings victory in years, marking a historic night for the company. But it was even more historic for Foley, who was now, no doubt about it, "the guy."