10 Wrestlers Who Ruined Gimmick Matches For Everybody Else

1. Mick Foley - Hell In A Cell Match

Hell Cell Mick Foley Undertaker Mankind WWE
WWE

There’s do doubting that the most famous moment and match of Mick Foley’s career is his Hell in a Cell battle against The Undertaker at the 1998 edition of King of the Ring – Foley has even toured a one-man show based around that bout – but it was also a match that ruined the Hell in a Cell gimmick for everybody else.

Mrs Foley’s Baby Boy and The Phenom put on one of the most spectacular sights ever seen by wrestling fans both up to that point in time and in the two decades since then. And it’s there where the problem lies.

Due to the sheer insanity of some of the bumps Foley took – both on purpose and accidentally – in that ’98 match, it has made it impossible for other performers to ever top what Mick did back then. Being honest, no wrestler should be wanting to top the excesses on show in that bout, though.

The wrestling world is now clearly very different to what it was in 1998, and the protocols in place in current WWE mean that the violent action of Foley vs. ‘Taker wouldn’t be allowed in 2019. Still, that doesn’t stop certain fans going into every Hell in a Cell match hoping for a bump to match or even eclipse those that Mick Foley took 20 years ago – which is an unfair expectation to have that leads to those fans feeling a little short-changed with each passing Hell in a Cell match.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.