The night 600,000 fans switched channels to watch WWE change the course of wrestling history

On this day 23 years ago, Mankind defeated The Rock to win the WWE title, in one of the biggest moments in wrestling history.

The January 4, 1999 edition of RAW was taped on December 29, 1998. It featured a main event pitting The Rock and Mankind with the WWE title on the line. Earlier in the night, Mankind put Shane McMahon in a painful submission hold, forcing Vince McMahon to grant him a WWE title shot against The Rock.

Back then, WCW Nitro was a live show, contrary to RAW being taped every week. WCW President Eric Bishoff was ready to go to great lengths to put his competition down. One of his tactics was to give away RAW results beforehand, every single week. The shrewd trick did work for a while, but heavily backfired on this legendary night.

The Rock meets Mankind for the WWE Championship on RAW

In a moment that changed the course of wrestling history, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone made the following call during Nitro, while it was up against a taped RAW on January 4, 1999:

“Fans, if you’re even thinking about changing the channel to our competition, fans, do not. We understand that Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as Cactus Jack, is going to win their world title. Ha! That’s gonna put some butts in the seats.”

The call didn’t have the intended effect, and more than half a million fans switched to WWE RAW to watch Mankind win the WWE title from The Rock. The pop that Stone Cold received when he interfered and helped Mankind win the belt was deafening to say the least. This was a major turning point in the Monday Night War.

Over on Nitro, Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash competed for the WCW World title. The match kicked off, and the two men teased an intense collision for a few seconds. All of this was for naught, though, as Nash fell down immediately after Hogan poked him with his finger. Hogan then pinned Nash and a reunited nWo celebrated in the ring. This was followed by a brutal attack on the fan-favorite Goldberg. Hogan’s “Fingerpoke Of Doom” was the beginning of the end for WCW.

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WCW never recovered from this blow, while WWE kept bagging more and more viewers over the next several months. Two years later, Vince McMahon bought off his competition, thus marking the death of WCW.

A former WWE writer wanted Bray Wyatt to end the streak. More details right here.