The King of the Ring 1998 Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Mick Foley is one of the most famous matches in WWE history due to two spots that will forever be replayed in wrestling.
Undertaker launching Foley off the top of the cell and onto the announce table below and the chokeslam off the top fo the cell will live in infamy. But the real question is, "did it hurt?"
"I resented being the guy who did the Cell match. I literally felt like Bill Murray in 'Groundhog Day.' For 15 years someone would come up to me, as if it's the first time I'd ever been asked and go, 'Did it hurt?' I resented it to the point that I expected it. I disliked being the guy known for that one match because there are other things that I want to be known for," Foley said on Inside The Ropes.
Over the years, Foley has changed his mind on how he feels about the match. Elaborating on why he changed his mind, Foley recalled the match and stories that went along with it.
"My wife told me that my children heard about this match in school. They're like 8 and 10 at the time and they wanted to see it. 'Are you sure they're ready for that?' 'Kids in school are talking about it.' We waited for them to come home and I watched the match in its entirety for the first time in many years. It still packs a wallop. What I took from it was this incredible dedication to getting over the finish line by whatever means. Obviously, things went wrong, but you see human-beings pick up the pieces with help from wherever we could get it," he said.
Folley then discussed Terry Funk's involvement and how he added to the match. He said, "It was clear to me that when Terry Funk entered the ring, there were words shared and it was said so casually that I never once asked anyone what words were shared. He goes over, he touches my face, goes back to Undertaker, and gets chokeslamed. In the process, Terry's shoes came off. After being out for a minute, I rolled over and people are like, 'what were you thinking?' The only thing I could think of was, 'where did those shoes come from?' When he's inducting me into the Hall of Fame, Terry Funk relays the words shared between he and Undertaker. He said, Undertaker casually said, 'See if he's alive.' When Terry went over and it looked weird he's touching my face, he was taking my pulse to see if I was alive. He reported to Undertaker, 'he's still breathing.' At which point, Undertaker chokeslamed Terry Funk out of his shoes."
Foley went on to say that at that time, WWE didn't stop matches, they just bought time.
"I had watched the Shawn Michaels match with Undertaker and it was because of that match and how great it was that I felt compelled to do something that no one had ever done before or thought of before. I told Undertaker, 'If we can find a way to do things no one has ever done before, maybe we can make people think they're seeing a great match, even if they aren't.' When I take the chokeslam, I'm laying amidst three or four twist ties. I attempt to suplex Undertaker on top of the dilapidated cell and he shot that shit down in a hurry."
After Foley was able to recover from going through the cell, Undertaker dropped him with a punch and told him "go home."
"It was my ego taking offense to anyone, including Undertaker, telling me when it was time to go home," Foley said before discussing the end of the match, which took place in the ring and involved thumbtacks.
June 28 marked the 22-year anniversary of the Hell in a Cell match.
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