50 Greatest WWE Raw Moments Ever
7. A Title Win For All Mankind (January 4th, 1999)
The Attitude Era was many things, but one thing it wasn't was a particularly nice place. That's one of the many, many reasons Mick Foley was so vital to its success. The closing moments of this utterly stupendous Raw main event were a microcosm of the oblique perfection of the time, and Foley - particularly in the Mankind guise - being the glue that held so much of it together.
'Mrs Foley's baby boy' winning the belt would be moment enough, but to toast it amidst a festival of all that made the time great was so good it bordered on being a flex. D-Generation-X and Vince McMahon's Corporate team members brawled chaotically around the ring as The Chairman himself completely lost control of his golden goose's title defence. Taking full advantage of the chaos, Stone Cold Steve Austin's entrance was greeted by - no hyperbole - maybe the loudest recorded reaction ever, with the volume remaining at a peak for 'The Rattlesnake' waffling The Rock with a steel chair to gift a memorable victory to his on again/off again partner/rival Mick Foley. A finer and more artful convergence of nearly all the period's key components, there'd never be.
WWE delight in telling the tale of WCW commentator Tony Schiavone updating fans of this taped result before it aired on January 4th 1999. Truthfully, that wacky Monday Night Wars story buries the lede - this moments and others like it was why it honestly didn't matter what the opposition were up to that night anyway.