For one day, Kane was WWF/E champion. That day was June 28, 1998 when Kane beat "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for the WWF Title at the 1998 King of the Ring.

Kane lost the belt back to Austin the next night on Raw, ending Kane's one-day reign as champion. Kane won the World Hvt. Title in 2010, but he has not held the WWE/WWE World Hvt. Title since that one day in 1998.

Of course, that one day was overshadowed by the career-risking bumps taken by Mick Foley during the Hell in a Cell semi-main event. Plus, there was a King of the Ring tournament won by Ken Shamrock over The Rock...

PWTORCH #501: COVER STORY
HEADLINE: Mick Foley's incredible bumps steal show
SUBHEADLINE: The two bumps will be talked about for decades, but will praise of his stunts lead to dangerous copycats?
Originally Published: PWTorch Newsletter #501
By Wade Keller, Torch editor

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Sunday night, June 28, at the King of the Ring pay-per-view, Mick Foley took the two most incredible bumps in the history of professional wrestling. His two falls from the top of the cage in Pittsburgh, Pa. will be remembered for decades to come. They will also become a source of inspiration and jealousy on the part of some other wrestlers and a topic of discussion among wrestlers, promoters, and fans for a long time to come.

At the start of their Hell in the Cell match, Undertaker and Foley (in character as Mankind) fought on the roof of the cage. Just a minute into the match, Undertaker threw Foley off the top of the cage. Foley flipped in mid-air and landed on his back on the Spanish announcing table on the floor 16 feet below. He came just a few inches from landing on a monitor, just a few feet from hitting one of the announcers, and just a second of mistiming away from landing on his head and killing himself.

Minutes later, he got up from a stretcher and returned to the top of the cage to fight Undertaker again. Seconds later Undertaker chokeslammed him through the roof of the cage. Without a table to break his fall or a body roll to spread the impact of his fall, he landed flat on his back on the canvas of the ring 13 feet below. A minute later he got up and fought for another ten minutes.

As if the two bumps weren't enough to immortalize the match, at the end of the match Foley dumped a bag of about 500 thumbtacks onto the mat and ended up being slammed onto them twice. Dozens of tacks pierced his outfit and his skin. Seconds later Undertaker tombstoned Foley and scored a pin.

Without the two staggering bumps, the match would have been an excellent brawl. With the two bumps, it became perhaps the most memorable match of the '90s. But with both men bleeding, exchanging stiff chair shots, and Foley taking bumps onto tacks, it became the most brutal spectacle in the history of televised wrestling. It was undoubtedly a great wrestling match on several levels. Foley escaped with only three dislocated teeth, a broken jaw, and bruised ribs. That said, it has the potential to become an infamous and regretful match.

After the match, Jim Ross said on commentary: "I have never witnessed anything that even closely resembles what we just witnessed. These two men gave you everything in their bodies. They gave you part of their souls here tonight. This will be the most ungodly match that we will perhaps ever see. As long as I live I will never forget this moment."

Should the collective wrestling industry -- the announcers, promoters, wrestlers, and fans -- heap praise upon an act that came so close to ending a career and had the potential to cripple or end the life of a wrestler? Foley is much more than a stuntman. He's a good worker and one of the best talkers in the industry. Take out the thumb tacks and the falls from the roof of the cage and his match against Undertaker would still have been excellent. So is the thrill of seeing the added spectacle and is the memory that it creates worth the risks Foley took?

Foley is an adult with high intelligence and an apparently sound mind. He has established over the years a willingness to put himself at great risk in order to stand out in the crowd of a better bodies and more gifted athletes. Should Foley be praised? Perhaps. Should he be admired? In a twisted way, yes. But praising and admiring what Foley did is purely selfish on the part of us viewers who got a rush from seeing him risk his well-being for our entertainment.

It took tremendous timing and years of practicing bumps for Foley to pull off what he did. It is similar to Evil Knievel who used precise physics to establish the proper slope of his ramps and the speed of his motorcycle. Then he had to acquire unprecedented skill in manipulating his motorcycle so he had a chance to execute his jumps successfully. But he often crashed and spent months at a time in hospital beds.

Others in wrestling are going to see what Foley did and emulate it and perhaps try to top it. They may not have the years of honed skills that Foley has. They may not have his luck. And in the process of trying to top Foley, they may crash hard and end up paralyzed or dead -- all in an effort to receive praise and attention similar to what Foley has received this week.

***

WWF KING OF THE RING RESULTS
When: June 28, 1998
Where: Pittsburgh, Pa.
What: WWF three-hour pay-per-view
Attendance: 16,505 sellout ($266,124)
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the event and previewed the main events.

(1) Taka Michinoku & The Head Bangers beat Kaientai (w/Mr. Yamaguchi) at 6:42. Ross billed it as the first of two bonus matches. Good opener. No memorable moments, but tons of nice spots and no missed moves. Taka put Funaki out with the Michinoku Driver. (**)

Sable came out and introduced Vince McMahon. McMahon came out accompanied by Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. As Sable left the ring, Patterson put his hand on her butt. She turned around slapped him. Ross joked that Patterson went somewhere he had never gone before. As fans booed McMahon, Brisco said over the house mic they should show respect for McMahon. McMahon asked the crowd how many wanted to see Austin lose the belt. He said they would be disappointed, just like all of them were a disappointment to their parents. The segment droned on too long. One of McMahon's weaker performances.

(2) Ken Shamrock beat Jeff Jarrett via submission at 5:27 to advance to the King of the Ring finals. Shamrock entered the ring and went after Jarrett aggressively right away. A fast-paced match, everything looked good, back and forth action. Shamrock won clean with an anklelock submission. Jarrett tapped out frantically. Afterward Lee entered the ring, but Shamrock suplexed him for a pop. (*3/4)

(3) Rocky Maivia pinned Dan Severn at 4:24 thanks to advance to the King of the Ring finals. Severn went for two early ankle locks, but Rocky reached the ropes both times. Rocky got in some offense, but the match was too short to develop into anything special. Kama and Mark Henry distracted the ref while D-Lo came off the top rope with a chest guard of some kind and frog splashed Severn. Rocky then scored the pin. (1/4*)

(4) Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor beat Al Snow & The Head at 8:30 when Christopher pinned The Head.

(5) X-Pac (w/Chyna) pinned Owen Hart at 8:31. X-Pac slidekicked Owen as he approached the ring and went on aggressive offense at the start. At 0:30 Owen moved when X-Pac charged the corner. At 3:30 X-Pac took over offense and hit Owen from behind with a clothesline off the apron. Owen, though, reversed X-Pac into a ringside table and then suplexed him into the Spanish announcing desk. At 4:45 Owen applied a sleeper. X-Pac escaped at 5:45 and applied a sleeper of his own. At 6:40 the match began to fall apart. Owen was too low in the corner when X-Pac went for the Bronco Buster, killing the pop it might have received. They did a sloppy looking spot where both fell off the top rope. Mark Henry then ran to the ring and splashed X-Pac at ringside and threw him into the ring. Chyna got in Henry's face which popped the crowd. Vader, who had no other role on the card, splashed into Henry. They fell to the back. Meanwhile Owen applied the sharpshooter, but Chyna gave Owen a DDT. X-Pac rolled onto Owen for the pin. Given the talent, it should have been better. Bad camera work didn't help, either. Owen bled from above an eye. (**1/4)

Paul Bearer gave a monologue in mid-ring. He said he used to watch the Undertaker on television with his son Kane and Kane used to say, "Daddy, I want to be like him." Bearer said it will be the happiest night of his life because he will be the father and manager of the WWF Champion. "Then you can laugh at the fat man all you want because I'll sure laugh all the way to the bank."

(6) The New Age Outlaws beat The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) at 9:48 to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles. This was another "bonus" match that wasn't advertised. When Billy Gunn and the former Bart Gunn squared off early in the match, the announcers didn't make an issue of it, probably since it doesn't do Billy any good to remind people he was part of such a passé gimmick not long ago. Lawler wondered if Cornette's moniker was "Ballsless Jim Cornette." Ross said, "That's close enough for me." Bob stood over Road Dog and yelled "Suck it!," then looked down and yelled, "F--- you." Ross didn't seem pleased by Bob's judgement. Cornette interfered with his tennis racquet, but it didn't lead to the pin. Later when Cornette entered the ring, Chyna gave him a low-blow from behind (although Chyna was very late getting into position). The Outlaws immediately gave Bob a double hot-shot and Bad Ass scored the three count. (**1/4)

Kevin Kelly interviewed Dustin Runnels backstage. Dustin said: "I personally think everybody should just put out a nice little prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior to keep them from injury."

(7) Ken Shamrock beat Rocky Maivia at 14:09 to win the King of the Ring tournament. Hunter came out to his intro music and joined Ross and Lawler on commentary. He talked about how the King tourney help elevate careers, but added, "You just can't pose in any nudie magazines or they take your crowd away." They showed Chyna doing color with the Spanish announcers. She speaks fluent Spanish. Ross asked Hunter if he was bi-lingual. Hunter responded, "There are a lot of bi things I am, but lingual is not one of them." He added a second later, "Wait a minute, did I just mean to say that?" Rocky avoided a pumped up Shamrock during the opening few minutes of the match. When Rock got in Hunter's face at ringside, Hunter called him "fuzzy top." Shamrock then began beating on Rocky at ringside. When Rocky clotheslined Shamrock, he then got in Hunter's face again. Hunter threatened to stick his boot up Rocky's ass. Ross said he wished he wouldn't do that. Hunter said, "Me, too, it's a nice boot." After a couple of two counts, Rocky went to a chinlock on Shamrock. At 8:30 Rocky signaled for the People's Elbow and hit it. The crowd popped. When Shamrock kicked out, Ross said the ref was just a few inches away from a three count. Hunter suggested Ross enter the ring and drop his pants and measure just how close he was. Hunter was on a roll. Ross criticized the Snow match as setting the business back 20 years. Hunter said he liked it. Lawler told Ross to shut up. Shamrock made his comeback at 11:00 and scored several near falls. The crowd popped for the believable near falls. Shamrock hit a really nice Northern Lights suplex after blocking a Rocky DDT. Rocky got frustrated with the two counts and got in the ref's face. That gave Shamrock a chance to lock on the ankle lock for the win. The crowd being so into the near falls made the match, which otherwise was solid, albeit ordinary. (***1/4)

(8) Undertaker beat Mankind in the Hell in the Cell at 17:08. Ross's build up for this match was awesome. Mankind challenged Undertaker to meet him on top of the cage to start the match. Mankind nailed Undertaker with stiff chairshots. They both stood on one section of the cage roof and it gave way a bit and the crowd ohhhed. Good (unintentional?) foreshadowing of what was to come. Then, just seconds later, in a shocking move, Undertaker threw Mankind off of the cage. Ross shouted, "Good god almighty! Good god almighty! They killed him." Lawler broke character in selling the move. Mankind flipped onto his back and crashed through the Spanish announcers' table. Ross said, "Oh my god. Somebody get out here. Really." Lawler said, "This is over." They replayed the bump from three different angles. Terry Funk was the first to come to ringside to check on Mankind. He grabbed at his arm, but was moving around. Several others came to tend to Mankind. Undertaker remained on top of the cage. McMahon came to ringside and also broke character, looking terribly concerned. EMTs brought a stretcher to the ring. They began raising the cage with Undertaker still on top to make room for the stretcher. Fans chanted "Undertaker" as Foley was stretchered. The stretcher got half way down the aisle when Mankind got up and ran back to the cage with a smile on his face. The crowd cheered. They fought on top of the cage again starting at the 7:00 mark. Undertaker deliberately stood on the support beams while lifting and chokeslamming Mankind through the top of the cage. Mankind bumped onto his back to the mat. The crowd popped again. Mankind didn't move again. EMTs rushed into the ring as Ross said, "Somebody stop the damn match. Enough is enough." Undertaker hung from the roof and dropped to the mat landing on his injured ankle. He appeared okay. He began beating on Funk and chokeslammed him. A minute later Mankind was on his feet and taking bumps for Undertaker's punches. Mankind bled from his mouth. Undertaker walked the ropes, but Mankind knocked Undertaker off. They locked the cage door. Undertaker rammed Mankind with the steel ringside stairs. Undertaker dove through the ropes at Mankind, but hit the cage facefirst. Undertaker came up bleeding. Mankind piledrove Undertaker onto a chair and scored a near fall at 13:00. After a minute more of offense, Mankind brought in a bag of 500 silver thumbtacks. Mankind put the Mandible Claw on Undertaker, but Undertaker escaped by dropping backward slamming Mankind onto tacks. Mankind rolled through the tacks, dozens of which were stuck to his back. Undertaker then chokeslammed Mankind onto the tacks at 16:45. He then gave him a tombstone, crossed Mankind's arms over his chest, and scored the pin. The crowd popped. Undertaker walked slowly to the back. Mankind insisted on walking to the back with the help of Funk and a referee. An awesome, yet disturbing spectacle. (****1/2)

(9) Kane defeated Steve Austin at 14:57 to capture the WWF Title in a "First Blood" match. A tremendously booked and well executed match that managed to successfully follow an impossible act to follow. Great bumps, believable brawling, and innovative finish. (***3/4)

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