Hell In A Cell: A Match Made Famous By Mick Foley

Tonight’s pay-per-view features not one but two matches in Hell in a Cell. One man who hears a lot about the match is Mick Foley. Each and every day, he hears the same question from wrestling fans around the world: “Did it hurt going through that table?”

Ever since the fateful night of June 28, 1998, The Hardcore Legend is still feeling the repercussions of being flung from the top of the Hell in a Cell by The Undertaker and plunging to the concrete below. For many fans and WWE superstars that image of Mankind’s body crashing through the Spanish announce table represents the height of ring brutality and death defying risk. It still resonates today.

Foley talked with WWE about the epic match. Here are some highlights.

Almost wrestling Stone Cold Steve Austin

“Who knows? It may have been a completely different match. At a certain point, [WWE officials] were almost making it a “Thunderdome”-type match like in “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,” where you would have different objects that would be attached to the cell. There was an idea for some sort of bungee that would allow us to propel ourselves to the top of the cell to allow us to recover the objects.”

Starting the match at the top

“That was Terry Funk’s brainchild. After Terry and I watched the first Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, I looked at Terry and said, “What am I going to do?” I was never really a great cage match wrestler. I didn’t have the athleticism to do a lot of the climbing. I certainly didn’t have any of Shawn Michaels’ athleticism and I did not think I could live up to the standards that they had set. Terry thought about it for a while and said, “It’s going to be tough, but maybe you ought to start the match on top of the cell.” He jokingly mentioned “Hey, maybe you get thrown off and climb back up on top of the cell.” As he was laughing, I said, “I think I can do that.” I wasn’t serious, but at that point I had that seed in my mind and I had a vision of what I wanted to accomplish.”

Being placed on a governor

“I think that I created a moment that was impossible to top and I think I created a moment that shouldn’t be topped. [Mr. McMahon] talked about “placing a governor on me” and then explained to me that a governor is a device that does not allow a car to exceed a certain speed. That governor needed to be placed not only on me, but on other Superstars that wanted to top me. So many of the Superstars want to give people moments that they’ll never forget, but we don’t want to give them moments that could end Superstars’ careers. Mine easily could have ended that night in Pittsburgh.”

How the match is called

“When I used to visualize matches, I would think, “How would this sound with Jim Ross calling the match?” J.R. has an incredible ability to really capture a moment and say in a few words what so many people might be thinking. Those two calls: “As God is my witness, this man has been broken in half!” and “Will somebody please stop the damn match?” You put those words on paper and they don’t sound so special, but the emotion with which Jim conveys those words is timeless.”

Do you remember when you saw this match? Where you were? How it make you feel?

[Photo Credit: WWE]

Hell In A Cell: A Match Made Famous By Mick Foley