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WWE Posts Rare Audio Of The Undertaker & Mick Foley Talking About Their Legendary Hell In A Cell Match

The Undertaker Hell In A Cell

WWE posted a rare audio of The Undertaker and Mick Foley (and a few other men involved in it) talking about their legendary Hell in a Cell match that took place 20 year ago at WWF King Of The Ring 1998 PPV.

You can read the entire conversation below (audio that WWE released is posted at the end as well):

Undertaker: I honestly did not expect him to get up from that. He finally started moving around and I was like ‘man, that’s one tough son of a gun right there’.

Foley: My feud with The Undertaker had actually ended a while earlier. I thought we were entering the match cold. I thought my character had been through a lot and people had lost interest in it. After watching the first ever Cell match between Shawn Michaels & Undertaker, I realized I was in a terrible predicament to even try to approach the level that they had reached would be very difficult and I just didn’t see how it would be possible without something special.

If we can do something special, we can start the match in a way no one ever has, maybe we can fool people into thinking we’re having a great match even if we’re not.

Sgt. Slaughter: I’m not sure what exactly happened, but Undertaker broke his foot and we weren’t sure how that was gonna play out.

Undertaker: Yeah, I did have a fractured ankle. It was such an important time in the business, you knew you had to do it, so, you just grin your teeth and go in there and do what you do.

Foley: That compounded the troubles that we were facing. Yeah, The Undertaker and I reminisced of that a couple of years ago, like what were we even doing in that situation and yet he willingly entered it with a broken foot which speaks volumes as to what type of competitor he is.

I don’t remember the build-up to that day other than being approached by Vince McMahon and him asking me if I’ve been on top of that structure earlier in the afternoon. I assured him I had, which was the biggest lie I told up to that point in my life. Then he asked me if I was comfortable up there and I assured him I was which became the newest biggest lie I had ever told in my life because if I ever got on top of that structure in the afternoon, I wouldn’t be scaling it in the evening because it was terrifying, absolutely terrifying.

I know there are people in the WWE Universe, Superstars that are not afraid of heights, but I’m not one of them.

The reaction (to the match) even with a normally hot crowd was a little but lukewarm until we got on top of the Cell.

Undertaker: To be completely honest, it was like ‘crap, am I gonna be able to get up there?’. The answer was ‘yes’ because I don’t know how, but I mean I would have got up there I don’t care how, but I would have got up there. So it was definitely…(laughs) an exciting way to start off a Hell in a Cell match, to start out on top.

Foley: There are moments when our feet are sinking into the mesh. It’s like we’re tearing holes in the mesh as we walk.

Undertaker: I still remember clearly the distinct sound of the wire coming unwound or breaking from the pressure of our weight. But funny enough, I felt safer on the edge or the poling of the cage.

Foley: I remember getting a couple of quality chair shots to the back. The next thing I know I was in a flight.

Jim Ross: Everything you heard me say was spontaneous and real. So that call has a pause.

Undertaker: As I tossed him off of there and I was watching him fall, it seemed like it took forever for him to hit the table. It was so crazy. I was so loud with the people in there. At that point, nothing had ever been done like that.

Tim White (Referee for this match): Believe me, I was almost having a heart attack watching what was going on. I got to Mick and I’m asking him ‘are you okay?’ and he gave me the sign ‘yeah, I can continue’ which flabbergasted me.

Sgt. Slaughter: He said something…’my shoulder, my shoulder’, so I called for a stretcher. So we had to lift the Hell in a Cell up with The Undertaker still on top.

Undertaker: Obviously I know they raised the cage, but I was kind of oblivious to it, really. I was so zoned-in in what we were doing at that point. I am kind of up there without any communication with anything or anybody. It was like ‘I guess I’m not going anywhere till they bring me down’.

Sgt. Slaughter: Halfway back, we started saying ‘no, I wanna go back’ and I said you’re not going anywhere. You’re going to the hospital. And the next thing I know, he jumps up and he start climbing the Hell in a Cell and he started going up to the top.

Foley: Everybody in the building thought the match was over. I didn’t know for sure if I could, but I said I was gonna give it my best try. But by the time I got to the top of the Hell in a Cell, I was out of energy. So I look back and wish I had the strength and the energy to exchange with The Undertaker, but I’m thankful that I didn’t in retrospect because if I had the strength to exchange then I would also have the strength to get off the Cell for the Chokeslam.

Knowing what we know and knowing that the structure get gave way, I believe if I had gone up in a way that I usually go did for Chokeslams that would afford me the safest landings on a mat inside the ring, then I would have over-rotated and landed high on my shoulders and would have likely never wrestled again.

Undertaker: I totally agree with that. And we’re talking about a matter of couple of inches in the way he landed. I mean that could’ve been catastrophic, I mean it really could’ve. When I’ve stepped off of the panel and on to the support part, if I hadn’t have done that then we would have both gone through that together. So you could imagine if I stayed on that panel, my weight would probably be on him too and then what happens? Scary thought.

Sgt. Slaughter: It was just so incredible and sudden. It just made you sit and see it.

Undertaker: I remember punching him, trying to talk some sense into him, but also being distracted by this huge…what I thought was a (laughs) booger in his nose and come to find out that it was one of his incisors that went through his lip and ended up in his nose.

Foley: And I had the presence of mind if I could just find a way to stick my tongue through that massive wound and wiggle it, that would create a compelling image.

Undertaker: Mick had basically just had two really bad car accidents and still had the fortitude to get back to his feet and say ‘we’re gonna finish this’. I mean, that’s just another kind of human being right there.

Tim White (Referee for this match): You know what? I’m panicking and I don’t know if I should just say the match is over and then Foley, he grabs me and he goes ‘where are the tacts?’.

Foley: You know, just the glittery and shininess of the tacts…and I guess in retrospect we needed something like that and it seemed like a suitable way to end that match.

Undertaker: The tacts were probably the easiest part of the night. It was definitely icing on the cake for him. He ended up in a bed of tacts, so… it was a rough night for Mick Foley (laughs).

Foley: Even when I was being counted to 3, I think my right foot was kicking to show like I’m not completely out of this ballgame yet.

Mike Chioda, who was not the referee, came out and he told me they would bring a stretcher out for me. I can look on the video and I lift my arm. The reason I lift my arm is because I didn’t want anyone in Pittsburgh to see me talking. And what I said to him was ‘have I already been on a stretcher tonight?’ and he informed me that I have, then that right arm went up again and I said ‘I can’t be on two stretchers in one night’. Then I hobbled my way to Mr. McMahon’s room.

Sgt. Slaughter: We take him back and put him on a table. He wouldn’t let me know his shoulder was hurt, but he smiled at me and I could see that he had a gash under his lip. They started stitching him up right there. Just an incredible sight to see.

Foley: Mr. McMahon sat me down and I remember those words specifically. He said ‘you have no idea how much I appreciate what you have done for this company, but I never wanna see anything like that again’.

Undertaker: I couldn’t ask for a better human being to do that with than Mick. These are the things, like I said, I haven’t talked about. There’s probably only a handful of people that I would, you know, open myself up like that to…he being one of them.

It’s really special to still be considered such an iconic match and one that people really have so many fond memories of. We did something right.

Foley: It was the reaction to the unexpected. I think that element of surprise embeds in people’s minds that anyone who was there in the venue or watching live when it happened will never forget that moment.

This moment, or series of moments, has left this indelible imprint on people’s memories where somehow we were able to create an image in people’s minds that lives on and will outlive me and The Undertaker both.

You can watch it below:

Please give credit to WWFOldSchool.com if you use our above given transcript.


        
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