Bruce Prichard Recalls The Brutal Chair Shots The Rock Gave Mick Foley At WWE Royal Rumble 1999

During the latest episode of the Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard Podcast, Bruce Prichard talked about The Rock's career during 1999. Prichard talked about how Mankind defeated The Rock on RAW for the WWF Undisputed Championship in a taped show. The results of the show were put in the hands of WCW boss Eric Bischoff, who ultimately went on the air and revealed the results for the main event of RAW. This actually made viewers switch to WWF to see Mankind finally become champion.

Prichard talked about how big of a mistake it was for Bischoff to release the results of Monday Night RAW on his show. He also mentioned how much better live television is compared to tape, but during this segment, tape worked better.

"I still argue to this day and beyond that live is better," Prichard said. "Live has a different energy, a different feel. You're out there without a net; it's different than tape. Eric [Bischoff] had made a habit in the early days of Nitro of acknowledging that we were on tape, and acknowledging what we had taped the week before and giving away the results. This one was not so much of a f— you, but a thank you.

"The audience said, 'Okay, what would I rather see? Would I rather see The Rock, and Mick Foley, and a new champion crowned, or would I rather see Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan?' That definitely helped, so, thank you."

Mankind vs. The Rock at Royal Rumble 99' is one of the most memorable and brutal matches ever because of The Rock nailing Foley with 11 chair shots directly to the head. Prichard talked about Foley taking that many shots, and how difficult it was to watch back then as much as it is today.

"It was violent and brutal," Prichard said. "Not just difficult to watch now, it was difficult to watch back then. It was something you were like, 'Okay, I've seen it.' Enough is enough and move on. Nothing will prepare you for that. It was just a testament to the toughness of Mick Foley and that's not always good."

Prichard also continued to mention how he doesn't believe there was any malice or intent on The Rock's end to injure Foley. He said The Rock was just doing what he was told, and he actually wasn't okay doing it at the time.

"I know for a fact," Prichard said. "I know Rock – I don't even think they could convince me. Rock couldn't convince me that he wanted to take his head off; I just couldn't believe it. There was a lot of respect and admiration between the two and both were professionals. They did discuss it ahead of time and did have an idea of how brutal it would be. Sometimes it's just worse in real life, folks, and people get carried away trying to paint a picture."

Over the years in WWE, we've seen plenty of food fight angles. One of the most recent and memorable was during the Money in the Bank ladder match where the men and women started a food fight with Paul Heyman in attendance. Prichard talked about Vince McMahon and his love for a food fight in wrestling.

"Vince loves him some food fights," Prichard said. "If there is any scene that goes through any place that has food and beverage, that s–t is going to be used."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.