Bruce Prichard Discusses Mankind Beating The Rock For The WWE Title On RAW, WCW Giving Away The Finish

In a recent edition of Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard discussed Mankind beating The Rock for the WWE title on the 1/4/99 edition of RAW, WCW giving away the finish, and much more. You can read his comments below.

On Mankind beating The Rock for the title on RAW: “The human being Mick Foley was ecstatic. It was something that as that kid – as a lot of people listening to this can relate to – dreamed of one day becoming a superstar and becoming the guy. You don’t just stop dreaming that. You take it all the way of I wanna be the champ, I wanna be the guy, I wanna be the one cutting the promos about ‘I know I can walk down any street in any city in America and in the world and know I can beat any man walking that street.’ Everybody dreams of that. And this was Mick’s dream come true as a kid and as a human being, and to actually realize that as a talent – the acceptance of your peers, the acceptance of the audience – to feel that, it meant a lot to him. It was a huge deal.”

On WCW giving away the finish on Nitro: “It kind of flies in the face of what those of us in the business have always clung to and that’s live is better. And I will still argue to this day and beyond that live is better. Live has a different energy, it has a different feel. You’re out there without a net. It’s different than taped. So Eric had made a habit in the early days of Nitro of acknowledging that we were taped and acknowledging what we had the week before and giving away the results. This one, well this was not so much a fuck you but a thank you because it was good. It was something where they said ‘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? I believe they were doing their immediate replays anyways, so shit I can watch it later but I wanna watch this now. So that helped.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Something to Wrestle with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.