Six-Man Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship

Birmingham, Ala., was the site of Armageddon 2000, and one of the most hellacious matches in WWE history. The sadistic mind of then-WWE Commissioner Mick Foley produced the first-ever Six-Man Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship.

A match of such magnitude was unprecedented in the history of sports-entertainment, as the WWE Championship had never been contested under such extreme conditions. Six of WWE’s elite Superstars (The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Undertaker, Rikishi and Kurt Angle) were each on top of their game, bringing 110 percent to sports-entertainment’s most unforgiving structure.

WWE Champion Angle was facing incredible odds. With six men in the ring at any time, Angle could lose his championship without being pinned. However, showing the courage that made him an Olympic Gold Medalist, Angle persevered, defying the odds to retain the most coveted prize in WWE. Angle’s win, however, did not come out without great struggle.

The carnage involved in a Hell in the Cell Match containing just two men is normally overwhelming, but at Armageddon, the six competitors took the brutality to a whole new level. Bleeding and brawling inside the cage, outside the cage, and all over the arena, the Superstars left WWE fans in awe of what they were witnessing.

Midway through the match, Mr. McMahon, who objected to the match taking place, arrived at ringside with his entourage and a large pickup truck. The trio’s attempt to fasten a chain to the cage and tow it away from the arena was thwarted when Mick Foley appeared to interrupt their plans. The fan-friendly Commissioner stopped McMahon in his tracks and ordered security to remove him from the building.

With McMahon and his crew out of the picture, the physicality escalated further. The truck that the Chairman intended to use to end the violence became an accessory to one of the most unbelievable moments in WWE history. All six men ended up on top of the cage at one point during the match, but none suffered as dangerous a descent as Rikishi.

The oversized Superstar ended up going face to face with Undertaker, who used his past Hell in a Cell experience to give Rikishi a taste of the dark side. The Phenom battered the heavy Samoan to the edge of the cage and sealed his fate with a vicious chokeslam off the top of the cage to the bed of the truck sitting some 20 feet below.

As the crowd reacted to the unbelievable sight outside the ring, The Rock, Stone Cold and Kurt Angle battled inside the ring to an unlikely conclusion. The Rock blasted Angle with the Rock Bottom, and went for a pin, which was broken up by Austin. The Rattlesnake proceeded to hit Rock with the Stunner, providing another near fall broken up at the last second by Triple H. With the Cerebral Assassin pre-occupied with Austin, an alert Kurt Angle rolled over and put his arm on a still unconscious Rock to record a three count, and one of the most improbable victories in recent memory.