[1999-01-25-WWF-Raw] The Rock and Mankind

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The Rock interrupts an Oddities intro. He has words for HHH, which set up a match later in the evening where Chyna turned on HHH. Meanwhile, Mankind attacks the security guards and takes the $100,000 and heads to the ring. He gives the money to fans and Rock gets off the great line that $100,000 is enough money for The Rock to buy five new shirts. He reveals how he was screwed the night before with clips to support it. I wondered briefly if this was necessary but they probably made the right call in making it very clear. They end up announcing there will be an Empty Arena match between the two on Halftime Heat.

[Tim Evans]

I remember that shirt from the old No Mercy game. I kinda wanna see Rock vs Animal Steele. I guess this was a good set up for the rematch.

[soup23]

I really liked this back and forth of Mick throwing money to the crowd and then explaining the night before. I think that was crucial as it wasn't apparent what had happened the night before but it comes into focus here. They set up a big match during Halftime of the Super Bowl.

[PeteF3]

Ah, Super Bowl halftime...a history in its own right. The phenomenon had rebounded after being a long-running joke a few years before this when they landed Michael Jackson, but had slid back into irrelevance and would stay there until the wardrobe malfunction of 2004. The door was back open, after In Living Color had pioneered the idea, of counterprogramming, and the WWF was the perfect company and audience to try it with. This is another long and drawn-out segment after we got one to open the show, but at least these segments are advancing the story in major ways.