10 Crazy Swerves Wrestlers Pulled To Win Titles
4. A Spliced Recording Screws Mankind
The Rock and Mankind's I Quit match at Royal Rumble 1999 is remembered best for its brutality. The bout for the WWF Championship, despite all its innovation and storytelling, is often overshadowed by the unprotected chair-shots that Foley took to the head while handcuffed. The aftermath of which was documented during classic wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat. Even somebody as integrated in the wrestling business as Bruce Prichard described it as difficult to watch then and now.
The swerve, though a novel one, often gets lost amongst the in-ring violence and the legends that it has spawned through generations of wrestling fans. Much of the hype going into this match was the disbelief that Foley would ever utter the words "I quit." However, it was clear that creative wanted to keep The Rock strong on the road to WrestleMania. This required some novel antics.
After Foley was beaten as bad as any wrestler ever has on a mainstream TV broadcast, 'The Corporate Champion' held the microphone to a seemingly unconscious Foley as "I quit" echoed around the arena. It was later revealed that Foley's submission was a recording of a previous promo in which Mankind promised that he would make The Rock scream the immortal words.