It's perhaps the most powerful few minutes of any match in history. Mick Foley, hands cuffed behind his back like a criminal, flinches as a steel chair is swung towards his head yet again. There's nothing he can do to stop it. There's no way he can protect his already damaged skull. The Rock has already gone over the agreed number of five chair shots, and he just keeps swinging; he doesn't get the message. The Rock vs Mankind in an I Quit match at the Royal Rumble event in 1999 was to convey a fairly simple story: Mankind would never back away from pain, but The Rock was to take him so close that even though Mankind never actually quits, the audience is glad he does. This protects Mick Foley's unhinged Mankind character, and sells the fact that The Rock will stop at nothing to win. The plan was for a brutal and chaotic match would come to an end after Rock handcuffs Foley's hands behind his back, delivers five chair shots to the unprotected head of Foley, and puts the mic to Foley's mouth. At which point, an obviously pre-recorded Foley screams "I Quit" and, although the audience doesn't believe it was Mankind actually quitting, they are glad that the match is ending for the sake of Foley's health. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, The Rock got carried away. Despite Foley obviously turning his head away from the Rock as he walked up the ramp, offering his back for the impact, Rock still went for the head. Foley was unable to pass on the message for Rock to stop and he delivered a total of eleven unprotected impacts to Foley's fragile skull. The result was the same, the match seemed even more brutal and told the story even more effectively than the plan, but it took a heartfelt apology and some time for Foley to forgive The Rock for going so far. As far as the match goes, however, it lives in infamy as a match that underlined what Mick Foley was willing to give to his audience. The ending of the match is difficult to watch, but removing the behind the scenes aspects that came to light after the fact, the match is utterly compelling. It tells the story flawlessly, simultaneously enhancing sympathy for Mankind and hatred for The Rock in equal measure. Only the details of the I Quit match as a concept keep this entry as low on this list as number 4. In order to win the match one competitor must pass the microphone to the other, who either utters "I Quit" and loses, or says something else. This means that every "near fall" slows the match right down, and takes a little away from the overall effect. But still, as far from perfect as it turned out, what both men did in this match, and what Mick Foley gave, make this one of the most memorable in history.
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".
