There are some moments in sports you never forget, and even if you’re not watching a replay of it, you can imagine all the sights and sounds that went along with it.
For wrestling fans, that moment is probably when The Undertaker threw Mankind off the top of Hell in a Cell at the King of the Ring Pay-Per-View on June 28, 1998 at Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
It came at a time when both then-WWF and WCW were doing all the could to try to one-up each other to draw in new viewers and fans. Needless to say, when you have people talking about a moment 19 years later, you won.
Here again is the moment.
Right from the start you knew it was going to be bad when Mankind went straight to the top of the cell. Then then get five steps into the match and the two guys, who were allegedly around 300 pounds each, break through the cage and damn-near fall through to the ring below.
Jim Ross sounds horrified at the idea of them being on top of the cage from the start, and then cranks it up to 11 when The Undertaker actually throws Mankind off the top and through the announcers booth.
It brought an immediate halt to the match as medics and ring-side personnel came rushing out to try to check on Mankind. Which was not an easy task given that there was a giant steel cage in the way.
Amazingly, as they tried to stretcher Mankind out of the building, he hops off the stretcher, and climbs back to the top of the cage…only to be choke-slammed through, landing with a horrific thud on the ring.
Honestly this was even worse than him being thrown off the top and into the announce table. The dude had a tooth coming out of his nose he hit so hard.
So here’s that, if you want to see it.
Amazingly, they somehow keep going. Tacks are brought out, and the match goes on another five minutes or so before finally The Undertaker pins him after a Tombstone Pile Driver.
Needless to say, thank god WWE has never come close to replicating anything like this match, and nearly 20 years later it still lives on in wrestling and pop culture.