10 Iconic Wrestling Moments That Weren't Meant To Happen
9. From Nice To Immortal
On December 29, 1998, Mick Foley, as Mankind, defeated The Rock via Steve Austin assist to capture his first WWF Heavyweight title. Judged entirely on its own merits, the result was a cracking, uplifting Attitude Era moment - nothing to alter the paradigm, nothing that would have drastically altered the fortunes of the WWF if it didn't happen. Nor would it have killed WCW if it did, in itself.
Cue Tony Schiavone and his cyanide tablet.
The result was meant to happen. Mankind's transitional reign added an extra texture to his pre-WrestleMania rivalry with The Rock, and that assist - furnished with perhaps the loudest pop in company history - laid the foundations for WrestleMania XV's headliner. What elevates this into truly iconic territory is the ironic suicide that was WCW's misjudged decision to broadcast the taped result on the live January 4 Monday Nitro. "That'll put the butts in the seats," remarked a withering Schiavone. It did put the butts in the seats; viewers switched over to RAW in their droves. 600,000, to be near exact.
Nitro would never again win a singles ratings war battle. It was suicide and homicide at the hands of a creatively rampant and superstar-powered WWF. Fittingly for such an OTT wrestling organisation, WCW's death was an overkill.
January 4, 1999 was a life-changer for Mick Foley - and a game-changer for the WWF.