Some of the best this day in wrestling history moments happen when no one’s expecting them, and the Rock won his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship during the epitome of storytelling in the WWE.
On November 15, 1998, the Rock defeated Mankind by “submission” ala the Montreal Screwjob to close out the Deadly Game Tournament for that Survivor Series.
It was arguably the best storytelling the WWE has ever done as the entire lead up to it and during the pay-per-view was on a whole other level.
Steve Austin faced off against Mr. McMahon and the company to reclaim his title that had been vacated after a disputed ending when he defended it against Undertaker and Kane at In Your House: Breakdown.
The Deadly Games tournament looked like it would focus on Austin and company favorite Mankind, but there was a swerve coming no one saw.
The Rock rises
To culminate the storytelling of an awesome event, the Rock would become the youngest champion in the company’s history at the time. Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the following quotes.
“To become the youngest WWE Champion at that time, I’m going to quote the great Jim Brown, that was sweet. I was on the rise as one of the top two good guys. The other one was ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. We bucked tradition in a way by turning heel on a dime. Now, you align yourself with Vince McMahon. You take the moniker of The People’s Champion, which people loved that engagement, and you turn it corporate. It was a recipe for phenomenal success.” – The Rock, The Epic Journey documentary.
This wasn’t just the beginning of a new era for the Rock as he rocketed to stardom, but it was the crowning jewel for Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara (and their filter Vince McMahon) as this storyline became the stuff of legend.
Once in a lifetime
“There was only Ed Ferrara and myself. The Rock turn was something we mapped out months in advance. We knew where we were going with this. We told a subtle story over the course of about 8 weeks. We wanted it to be like The Usual Suspects. You see the finish and it’s ‘Holy crap. What happened?’, but you could go back over those weeks and think ‘Why didn’t I see that?’
“I was in the building because I wanted to see the reaction. All of a sudden, McMahon calls for the bell, playing off of what happened last year, Rock has Mankind in the Sharpshooter. There’s the embrace with The Rock and McMahon. You could have heard a pin drop in the arena.” – Vince Russo, WrestlingInc interview, November 19, 2015.
This is the storytelling that’s sorely missing in today’s wrestling. Despite it being a recreation of the Montreal Screwjob, the twists and build to it was so awesome we didn’t see the betrayal coming.
It’s one of many moments this day in wrestling history as seen, and it’s a great memory that keeps on giving.
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