10 Loudest Crowd Reactions In WWE History
1. The Pop Heard Around The World
After weeks of being cheated out of chances to get at the Corporation's WWF Champion The Rock, Mankind finally got his big moment on the first episode of Raw in 1999. Not only did the match feature the largest pop in professional wrestling history, the bout also acted as the single biggest turningpoint in the Monday Night War.
WCW had been ruling the Monday night ratings battle comfortably, using the regular strategy of giving away WWE's pre-taped Raw results as a way to gain a leg-up. It was this same strategy that would lead to WCW's biggest blunder ever. In a major oversight, Monday Nitro colour commentator Tony Schiavone announced that Mick Foley was going to win the then WWF Championship, sarcastically remarking "That'll put a lot of butts in the seats".
The Nielsen ratings indicated that a record amount of viewers switched from Nitro to Raw that night to see Mankind win his first WWF Championship. Mick Foley winning the title was huge enough, but the manner in which it was done won over the huge portion of WCW fans that changed the channel thanks to Schiavone. Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared to a thunderous reaction, battering The Rock with a steel chair shot before dragging Mankind onto The Corporate Champion.
To make matters even worse for WCW, the main event of Nitro was the infamous Finger Poke of Doom moment which reprised the old NWO concept. Not only had the company given its fans a reason to view a remarkable moment produced by its competition, it also provided a big reason for those fans to not come back the next Monday night.