Mick Foley Explains His Mindset Going Into “I Quit” Match With The Rock
Mick Foley has explained what he was thinking going into one of the biggest matches of his career against The Rock.
At the 1999 Royal Rumble, Mick Foley was about two months into a feud with The Rock over the WWE Championship. The two men exchanged the championship multiple times leading into their infamous “I Quit” match at the Rumble.
Foley went into the match as the WWE Champion while defending the title against The Rock. This was the era where The Rock wrestled in pants and shirt rather than shirtless due to a cosmetic operation he underwent around that time.
It’s a match that is remembered fondly due to its violent nature. At one point in the match, The Rock handcuffed Mankind and delivered about a dozen brutal chair shots to the head. Mankind was a bloody mess while looking back on the clip of a dozen vicious chair shots to the head makes fans cringe because of the kind of damage you could do to a person.
The conclusion of the match saw The Rock put the microphone by Mankinnd’s head and a tape record played Mankind saying “I Quit.” It turns out that Mankind never actually said “I Quit,” But since Mankind said those words on a pre-match interview, The Rock and his allies in The Corporation made sure that everybody heard that Mankind quit. That meant that The Rock screwed Mankind out of the WWE Title.
In addition to all of that, Foley’s wife and two young children were ringside to watch the match that saw The Rock absolutely obliterate Foley with the steel chair. It was also featured in the movie “Beyond The Mat,” which had unprecedented access for that Royal Rumble show.
Mick Foley Thinks The Rock Needed To Be Heelish At The Royal Rumble
The infamous Rock-Mankind match at the Royal Rumble was 25 years ago, so Mick Foley is talking about it on his “Foley Is Pod” podcast. While discussing the match, Foley explained what he wanted to get out of that match with The Rock.
“It’s inevitable people are going to cheer him. You just kinda try to hold off the inevitable until after WrestleMania. It’s hard to really boo him because he’s such a gifted entertainer, and he makes you smile [and] laugh. But if we could show a vicious, vindictive side [to him], we could hold off the inevitable for at least a few months.”
That’s exactly what happened because The Rock went into the match as a heel and left as the new WWE Champion. The Rock would end up turning babyface in April 1999 after losing the WWE Title to Steve Austin and Rock would end up being one of the top babyfaces about a month after WrestleMania 15 took place.
While Foley retired from pro wrestling many years ago, The Rock could have more matches left in him, especially after his major tease on the New Year’s Day 1 edition of Raw.