10 Behind The Scenes Stories From WWE King Of The Ring 1998
"Sorry we forgot the thumbtacks..."
As he looked down from atop the Cell onto a group of concerned referees, doctors and other staff checking Mick Foley even had a pulse, The Undertaker must have been wondering if he and his co-worker had succeeded in going too far.
Behind the curtain, others were flapping around, trying to make sense of Foley's potentially fatal bumps. A worried Vince McMahon dashed out from his seat at the Gorilla Position to check on Mick himself after the first, and show producer Bruce Prichard angrily shouted at passers by to find him Pat Patterson.
It must have been quite the scene, both in front of the live crowd and buried away out of sight backstage, and there were genuine fears Foley might be dead. If that sounds hyperbolic, then consider that every single wrestler knew how stiff WWF rings were before the subsequent policy change; bumping off the top rope was bad enough, but this was another level entirely.
On his Something To Wrestle With podcast, Prichard's examination of the build up towards (and day of) the King Of The Ring 1998 pay-per-view is fascinating. Stories from behind the scenes were often more dramatic than what happened in front of the cameras.
That's saying something...