10 Times WWE Narrowly Avoided Disaster
8. Mankind Nearly Dies At King Of The Ring '98
Not that it's pleasant to recall the death of Owen Hart from anything but the perspective of a tragic and devastating loss of a family man, but it was disastrous for the WWF. A deserved and invited disaster, but a disaster nonetheless: the public perception of the company was never the same after May 23, 1999.
Mandatory silicone t*ts and racial caricatures were at best deeply unpleasant, but this repugnant Attitude schlock, in addition to eliciting what was only ever temporary hysterical posturing at the time, felt quaint and harmless in comparison. Many have never looked at WWE in quite the same way ever again.
A WWF independent contractor came shockingly close to death a year prior.
After taking the first, terrifying fall - an unhinged and dangerous stint, albeit one absorbed on a flat surface and timed to perfection - Mick Foley at King Of The Ring 1998 was plunged through the roof in an unplanned second bump. Under the force of an Undertaker choke slam, the roof was meant to only give way slightly, leading to a spot in which Foley was to dangle from the broken structure and fall to the old "concrete" canvas.
This didn't happen; the structure was more flimsy than they had reckoned, and Foley plummeted directly to the mat and missed the leg of a chair - an ostensible spike - by mere inches.