WWE King of the Ring 1998

During his Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker, Mick Foley, wrestling under his Mankind moniker, performed what remains the defining act of hardcore wrestling in the history of the business. Sure, since that day there have been other acts performed, in or around a wrestling ring with a higher degree of risk. There have undoubtedly been moments where an individual has fallen from higher platforms and there have been hundreds of wrestling matches with bloodier visuals than that of Foley at the end of this one. In truth, there were even matches before the 1998 King of the Ring that, it could be argued, were ‘more’ hardcore than this. What ensures that this match stands out from the crowd, however, is the stage on which he did it, the moment in which it came and the way in which it was performed. Here Mankind takes a flying fall off of the roof of the Cell, another crash through it and then a double portion of drawing pins (or thumb tacks, as they are called in the US) to his back, all in front of a mainstream pay-per-view audience much more used to the brightly coloured hair metal wrestling of the 1980’s and early 90’s, than to the dark, grunge based fare that had been saved for regional US promotions and niche Japanese groups up to this point. Not only that, but he did it at a moment when pro wrestling was on the crest of a wave, and just entering a 2-year period of peak popularity.

WWE Hell In A Cell 2015

WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 came square in the middle of WWE experiencing one of the least commercially and creatively successful periods in their history. Ratings for Monday Night Raw have fallen rapidly over the previous few months, reaching a nadir (at least for now) at the go home episode running into this pay-per-view. That was in spite of the presence of WWE’s part-time megastars and ratings bankers- Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, who were all wheeled out in front of the cameras to absolutely no affect- the rating that came through the following day provided grim news. The show had only managed to garner a 2.21 TV rating- the lowest rating other than a Christmas episode in 2008, for over 18 years. The message was clear- relying on nostalgia, and names from the company’s past is no longer going to cut it- WWE simply must move their focus to building a new generation of top tier stars or face that meagre audience falling further. While WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 was set to be headlined by returning part time stars The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, the rest of the show gave WWE a chance to put the spotlight on the future, and pave the way for the men and women who will be expected to carry the company over the next decade.

WWE In Your House: Badd Blood

WWE In Your House: Badd Blood is a fascinating snapshot of WWE at a time when everything was about to change in ways that couldn’t have been imagined at the time, mainly due to the fact that things already seemed to be changing in ways nobody could have imagined just a few months before. Going on air a matter of hours after the death of Brian Pillman and with details of what had happened to him still filtering through, there is an atmosphere of shell-shock that grips this show through the disjointed commentary, unconvincing undercard action and underwhelming crowd noise that pervades most of the matches. While it would be churlish to suggest that Pillman’s death was not a massively significant moment (to his peers, his family and to the wrestling world at the time- it was devastating), there is a sense that history remembers the night more for the events that would take place in the ring near the end of the broadcast, than the untimely death of a trailblazer worthy of celebration.