10 Times Blood & Guts Made Wrestling AWESOME
2. Mankind Makes The Gimmick (WWE King Of The Ring 1998)
Badd Blood: In Your House saw Shawn Michaels establish Hell In A Cell's brutality by bleeding bucketloads in the stipulation's first outing, immediately establishing it as something far grislier than a regular steel cage. Eight months later, at King of the Ring 1998, Mick Foley made it a matter of life and death.
This is the most obvious entry on our list but a necessary one. You can't talk about blood and guts without referencing Mankind's two falls from Hell In A Cell. The first was planned, but still potentially deadly, as Foley came within inches of missing the announce table, hitting the barricade, and losing his life. The second was a brutal accident that saw the roof supports give way under Mick's weight, sending him stumbling to the cold, unforgiving canvas, a steel chair compounding his pain by crashing down on his face a split-second later.
That shot of Foley dragging himself up and grinning through the pain with a tooth lodged in his nose and a bloodied, gaping maw tells the whole story.
Foley's back catalogue is full of moments fit for consideration here. Despite this, KOTR '98 remains the most impactful.