10 Heartbreaking WWE Moments That Made You Cry
2. Mick Foley Retires At No Way Out 2000
Mick Foley was never meant to be as popular as he was.
He'd treaded the boards across the world before he debut in WWE as Mankind, then went on to have success nobody saw coming. If there's one thing Foley did better than anybody else during his glittering career, it was losing to create the next star.
The wrestler to do the best from a Foley rub was Triple H. The Game won the WWE Championship from Mankind at the end of 1999, but to prove he should be at the top of the card, he needed a special rivalry.
When Mankind became Cactus Jack, it was on; this was the big one. Their Street Fight at Royal Rumble 2000 is legendary; let's jump ahead to No Way Out inside Hell in a Cell.
The stipulation for Cactus was simple: win the WWE Championship or be forced to retire. By this point in his career, Foley was one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE. Fans were firmly behind the idea of him putting his body through hell and raising the Big Eagle Belt one last time.
It didn't work out like that. He fell off the cell, he went through the roof, then took he one last Pedigree.
Fans were shellshocked as a bloody and beaten Foley got to his feet and made his way to the back. They loved what he'd done for the business, but more important than that, they were watching a genuinely nice human make his last walk from a WWE ring... for the time being anyway.