The Rewind - The Rock Vs. Mankind (Raw Is War 1999)
On January 4th, 1999, Worcester, Massachusetts played host to one of the most epic, yet forgotten moments of the Attitude era. Since Mankind's Bret Hart-esque screwing at the 1998 Survivor Series 'Deadly Game' tournament at the hands of Vince McMahon, both the Corporate team and the new World Wrestling Federation champion The Rock had been making his life incredibly difficult. The taunts and group attacks administered by the Corporation over the weeks and months that followed the Survivor Series got the attention of D-Generation X who, to some extent, began to adopt Mankind into the DX family. This was exemplified when they escorted Mankind to the ring in the match that the McMahons thought would be the end of Mankind's dissidence towards the Corporate team and quest for the WWF Championship. The end result of this match however, would just add fuel to the fire.
While it was the middle of winter in Worcester (not so much down here in Australia's sunshine state), this match took place smack bang in the middle of the stiflingly heated relationship between Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. With Vince McMahon distracted with his issues with Mankind and D-Generation X and Stone Cold just coming off the heels of burying the Undertaker alive, the chances of Stone Cold playing a part in this vital match for the Corporation was not something that the McMahons, The Rock nor Mankind or DX for that matter, were expecting.
So here it was, a no disqualification match for the WWF Championship on Monday Night Raw. The challenger, Mankind, accompanied to the ring by D-Generation X and the champion, The Rock, accompanied to the ring by the Corporation. The hype and anticipation within the DCU Centre was fever pitched as Mankind and The Rock went at it, bringing steel stairs, the ring bell, the WWF Championship, Jerry 'the King' Lawler's headset and the announce table into the equation before they were back in the ring with the crowd on their feet and evil smiles across the faces of the McMahons as The Rock lined Mankind up for the 'Corporate' Elbow, mocking Mankind by moving his hand like a talking Mr. Socko as he brought the elbow down, only to be denied the pinfall by a resilient Mankind.
As Mankind regained momentum, the real Mr. Socko came out to play and soon enough, the WWF Champion was fading away at literally 'the hand' of the Mandible Claw. As The Rock looked like he was in trouble, Corporate thug Ken Shamrock raced into the ring, hitting Mankind with a steel chair before DX's Bad Ass Billy Gunn took Shamrock out of the ring and the two started trading blows on the floor outside of the ring as the rest of DX and the Corporation went to town on other with fists swinging. Seconds later, with the sound of smashing glass the arena exploded as Stone Cold Steve Austin marched down the entrance ramp towards the ring containing a motionless Mankind and The Rock beginning to get to his feet. With Mr. McMahon irate at ringside at the sight of Stone Cold, he could do nothing but watch as Austin smashed The Rock over the head with a steel chair and threw Mankind on top of the WWF Champion for referee Earl Hebner to count 1-2-3, crowning Mankind as the new WWF Champion.
Despite the attempt to ruin this historic moment in Sports Entertainment by WCW's Eric Bischoff, he could do little to overshadow the images of Stone Cold flipping the bird at a seething Vince McMahon and Mankind hoisted up on the shoulders of Triple H and Billy Gunn holding high his first ever WWF Championship.
The Outlaw's Opinion
To me this match perfectly exemplifies everything going on in that period of professional wrestling? a period which I happen to believe was the most exciting and the most engaging as a viewer. I like to relate a lot of what was going on in this period to Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' or Guy Ritchie's 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' for the reasons that, at this time in wrestling, whilst everyone had their own agenda, their agendas were intertwined, creating a very unified as opposed to segmented feel about the industry. For example, DX had problems with the Corporation, the Corporation in turn had problems with Mankind and at the time, the Undertaker who also had problems with Stone Cold Steve Austin, the man who just happened to be #1 on the corporate hit list. This allowed us as viewers to never know what was coming next, that was the beauty of both the Attitude era and the Monday Night Wars, as they bred uncertainty which allowed for the notion that 'anything can happen'. No one expected Stone Cold to help Mankind in this match, for all we knew he wanted to kick some Corporation ass and regain his WWF Title. That's what made this match special? both Mankind and Stone Cold had their own separate agendas with the McMahons and the Corporation. However, their agendas intertwined allowing them to both get what they wanted. In Mankind's case, the World Title and in Austin's? pissing off Vinnie Mac!
'The Outlaw' Alex Brennan