100 Greatest WWE Matches Of All Time (Ranked)
7. Mankind vs. The Undertaker (King Of The Ring 1998)
Granted, The Undertaker vs. Mankind almost came across as more of an extended angle than an actual match, but the impact it's made on wrestling is undeniably giant. Not only that, but two terrifying bumps in particular will stay with Mick Foley forever. He feels them every single day, and he will for the rest of his life. Looking back, Foley is lucky he's still among the living.
His industry-shaking falls off and through the Hell In A Cell structure dropped jaws and scared the living daylights out of everybody watching. That included concerned onlookers backstage, as well as Mick's traumatised family back home. At one point, 'Taker even looked down on a prone Mankind and wondered if his peer was still alive.
Chilling.
Good old Terry Funk was literally chokeslammed out of his trainers when stalling for time so Foley could recuperate and continue too. It's incredible that Mick was able to keep going, especially when learning that he can't remember most of what happened after that second bump. Later, a confused Foley asked people if they’d remembered to use the thumbtacks he and Undertaker had planned earlier. Yikes!
Showing this HIAC war to non-fans has become a minor thrill to hardcores who remember it from King Of The Ring 1998. There's almost an entire subsection of YouTube dedicated to people reacting to the nightmare these guys lived on 28 June that year, which really says it all. When people talk about cultural impact that extends far beyond the limits of the wrestling biz, they're talking about Undertaker vs. Mankind in (on top of and around) the Cell.