WWE v The Super Bowl – How one of The Rock’s highest-rated matches took place in front of 9,000 empty seats

The Rock is used to performing in front of crowds of thousands as one of WWE’s biggest stars, though one of his biggest hits played out to an audience of no one.

Back in 1999, what was then the World Wrestling Federation was in firmly in what’s now fondly remembered as the Attitude Era.

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WWE aired the iconic WWE title match during an edition of Sunday Night Heat that went head-to-head with the 1999 Super Bowl[/caption]

Going head-to-head with rivals WCW in an all-out ratings war and producing an edgier product than ever before, the company was very much in the habit of pushing boundaries and the proverbial envelope of what was possible.

The Rock was also arguably at the peak of his early WWE powers in 1999, having enjoyed his first runs as the company’s top male champion and aligned himself with its evil owner Vince McMahon.

Early in the year, one of Rock’s major rivals was hero and fan favourite Mick ‘Mankind’ Foley as the two fought over the championship and the fact the future Hollywood star upended him as the apple of McMahon’s eye.

They went to war numerous times that year, perhaps most famously doing so in a match prerecorded and aired to compete with the 1999 Super Bowl Halftime show.

The Denver Broncos downed the Atlanta Falcons in Miami but, while Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder wowed the huge crowd and 83 million television audience, WWE teamed up with MTV to offer an alternative.

They presented Halftime Heat, featuring a WWE Championship between Rock, the incumbent, and Foley – with the unique twist of it being held inside an entirely empty arena.

Recorded in Arizona, the bout played out with every one of the Tuscon Arena’s 9,000 seats completely empty, with the only other figure involved being, of course, McMahon, who rolled back the years to his commentary days of the early 1990s to provide the call.

What followed was farcically brilliant. The two rivals battered each other from pillar to post, starting off in the ring before fighting up in the upper tears of the area, Mankind memorably tossed down a near full flight of stairs by an enraged Rock, who brilliantly berated his foe with verbal abuse along the way.

“The whole experience was memorable,” Foley told ESPN years later. “I took quite a pounding… and it seemed like The Rock had a great one-liner in every scenario we found ourselves in.”

The charismatic Rock even stopped to take a phone call during the brawl that also spread into a kitchen, the arena corridors and the recesses of the building, one backstage set featuring a forklift that played a part in the match’s big finale.

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The two rivals prerecorded their epic battle before fans arrived for an episode of Monday Night Raw[/caption]

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Foley was kicked down a flight of stars during the tussle[/caption]

With the champ slain, Foley took advantage, pinning him down under the forklift to secure the pinfall that earned him the WWE Championship – even if others weren’t so impressed.

The camera angle used for the decisive shot was one from a camera seemingly affixed to the forklift itself as Rock got his comeuppance. Even by WWE’s standards, it was corny as the shots switched back and forth between Rock’s terrified face and Mankind’s menacing grin.

“I watched the match from the airport longue in Charlotte,” Foley said in his book, Foley is Good. “Not many of the patrons were wrestling fans… [but] they seemed to get caught up in our Hollywood production rather quickly.

“They were cheering as I finally levelled The Rock in the parking lot, rooting me on… And then, in a moment, it was dead. One hokey, completely unrealistic bird’s-eye view of a groggy Rock coming to and realising that he was about to be crushed ruined the whole thing.

“I slunk away, knowing that with one ridiculous camera shot, we had completely ruined their suspension of disbelief.”

It was pure chaos and classic WWE mayhem of the time and, even if the ending did let things down a little, Halftime heat was considered a success and drew a sizable 6.6 television rating – roughly 11 million viewers – a phenomenal figure by today’s standards.

Its innovation impressed fans, too, who awarded it a handsome 8.53 rating on Cagematch, ranking it The Rock’s eighth highest rated match out of the 855 on the site.

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Always one for getting laughs even as a bad guy ‘heel’, Rock stuck the boot in to Foley[/caption]

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The comical camera angle left a bad taste in the mouth of many who watched the match[/caption]

Rock would go on to get his revenge on Foley soon enough, too, winning back the WWE title on an episode of Raw the following month.

In true pro wrestling style, the two bitter enemies later became best buddies, teaming up as The Rock N’ Sock connection later in 1999 and winning the WWE tag team titles on three occasions.