Gimmick Some Lovin': No Disqualification Match

The Match

You knew this was the finish, but that didn't stop you from reading the article (or, if you were a fan of the business in January of 1999, watching the match).

From the entrances alone, we know that this one is going to be insane. Foley, perhaps to counter the Corporation's influence (and perhaps just so that Russo can work as many characters into one booking as possible) comes out with all of D-Generation X as his entourage (and with his old "Ode to Freud" music, which would not long after this match be replaced by the car wreck and guitar riff).

As wrestling matches go, the action is pretty basic Attitude Era brawl. Acknowledging the no-DQ aspect of the match allows some freedom with that style, as it finally makes sense that the performers spend an inordinate amount of time on the outside of the ring. Rock makes some brutal hits with the steel ring steps, and I'm distracted by how odd it is to see Test holding on to the championship belt for Rock.

As basic as the action is, so many things make it work: The Rock's intermittently joining commentary (a Rock staple at the time, which Foley mocks excellently later on), Vince's pleased smirks with Shane, Foley choking the life out of Rock at the announce table, and some of the stiffest 2017-WWE-would-never-allow-this weapon shots you can find.

By the time Rock puts Foley through the announce table with a Rock Bottom, the Worcester, MA, crowd is lit, and I can remember at the time (and on subsequent rewatches) thinking that Schiavone's spoilers were an error, because the match was playing out like any other Corporation bait-and-switch from Raw outings at the time.

Going from good to great, Rock mocks Mr. Socko with a final taunt added to the People's Elbow, and the crowd pushes the decibel meter even further after a Mankind kick-out.

This match does so much with so little; each successive Foley kick-out and hope spot gets thunderous applause, and the action is so basic that it's great character work getting the cheers. I remember once seeing a critique of WWF written around this time that Papi Chulo could hit a triple moonsault off a cage and it wouldn't get a tenth of the applause a Steve Austin punch could, and nowhere is that emphasis on the characters (not the moves) more evident than in this match.

In writing about the "pills match" we took Russo to task for not caring enough about the in-ring product to put on a good wrestling show, as opposed to a good television show, but this is one of those areas where it works.

The match's climax sees a pier-six brawl erupt between D-X and the Corporation, and as the crowd simmers in the enjoyment of 3-4 smaller fights taking place all over ringside, the familiar glass shatters, and at least 15,000 people probably develop permanent hearing damage because that place explodes, then only gets louder when Austin nails Rock with the chair and places Mankind on top of him for the three count.

It's little touches like The Rock's facial expression here that should make it no surprise he's been a huge success in Hollywood.

Austin disappears again and leaves Foley to celebrate, and Vince and Shane to hyperventilate. Worcester is alive like few crowds have ever been, partly out of the joy of seeing such a respected performer become "The Man", partly out of the catharsis of Vince and company finally getting their due, and partly out of the disbelief of what they had just seen. It's the pinnacle of what Russo's shock-first-explain-later style could accomplish.

However, the reason this match succeeds and Bischoff's spoilers failed is because of the characters, not because of the shock of the finish. It's particularly telling that nearly a million people turned on Raw knowing exactly how it would end (and, probably, because they knew how it would end). The how and the why of the finish mattered, and the exultant pop that Foley received (duplicated in living rooms nationwide) is proof positive.

One need only look at the Twitter commentary after Tuesday's Smackdown Live, which most fans knew the ending too long before it aired: the joy of seeing Mick Foley or AJ Styles take the big one wasn't going to be deterred by knowing it was going to happen. If anything, it amplified the hope spots when both men's nights looked darkest.