10 shocking moments from WWF (WWE) 1999

#9 Mankind wins the WWF Championship

Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot

Normally there would be nothing shocking or noteworthy about a popular, main event Superstar winning the WWF Championship for the first time. But on the 4th of January edition of Monday Night RAW, Mankind's title victory would prove to be one of the most important moments of the entire time period.

Mankind was in a position similar to the portrayal of Daniel Bryan in 2013/14, an unlikely underdog hero who was being forced out of the WWF title picture by forces acting above him. This came off the back of the double turn at the Survivor Series PPV the year before which saw The Rock join the Corporation and Mick Foley transition back to a face.

Vince made his intentions clear that the only man he wanted to see as his company's champion was the Rock, and he would do everything in his power to make sure Mankind did not ruin this ideal situation.

Towards the end of the year, Mankind would apparently beat the Corporate champion at an In Your House event by making him pass out to 'Mr Socko'. However, he did not win the championship after Vince decided The Rock did not technically give up.

Mankind's time in the spotlight would eventually come in early January after a gruelling main event of RAW which involved The Corporation, DX and eventually "The Rattlesnake", Stone Cold. In one of the biggest crowd reactions ever witnessed in a WWF/E show, Austin would come to the ring, incapacitate Rock with a chair shot to the head and drag Mankind's body over his adversary for the pinfall victory. This moment stands the test of time as one of the truly defining periods of the Attitude Era as a whole.

What made the ending to the match even more important was that prior to RAW being broadcast, WCW commentator Tony Schiavone had already given away the result of the match, a tactic regularly used by WCW to discourage people from tuning into RAW.

His now infamous comment 'that'll put a lot of butts in seats' ended up being one of the biggest backfires in pro-wrestling history as millions of viewers decided they wanted to see the moment play out for themselves.

RAW gained a considerable amount of the viewing audience that night, largely unnecessarily. This would prove to be something the WCW would not ever fully recover from.