The Rock And Mick Foley Reflect On Foley's WWE Title Win In 1998
As previously noted, 20 years later, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley revisited the DCU Center where, embodying his Mankind persona, he defeated The Rock to win his first WWE Championship.
The match was taped on December 29, 1998, but wasn't scheduled to air until January 4. As you'll see in the video above, this allowed Tony Schiavone to spoil the ending of RAW on WCW Nitro , but that would ultimately backfire on WCW and prompt the fans to switch the channel to WWE RAW to see Mankind win the title for the first time.
Along with some personal compliments, The Rock tweeted out how monumental Foley's first WWE Championship win was for the world of professional wrestling. Foley responded to his former Rock-N-Sock Connection partner, "These kind words kind of choked me up!" You can read the full tweets below:
The #HardcoreLegend @realMickFoley returns to the site where he WON the #WWEChampionship from @TheRock 20 years ago today...and altered the HISTORY of sports-entertainment! pic.twitter.com/Ju29RM2BMh
? WWE (@WWE) January 4, 2019
So cool to watch this. We had no idea we were going to make history this night and alter the course of pro wrestling & @WWE forever. @RealMickFoley is one of the kindest, sweetest, smartest, toughest and craziest men I've ever known. All love & respect to you my friend. #goat https://t.co/GKhne204za
? Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) January 5, 2019
Thank you @TheRock – not going to lie...these kind words kind of choked me up!
— Mick Foley (@RealMickFoley) January 6, 2019
The Rock's most recent match for WWE was at WrestleMania 32, where he defeated Erick Rowan in six seconds to break the record for fastest win at a WrestleMania. For Foley, the last time he wrestled in a WWE match was at the Royal Rumble in 2012.