http://www.wrestlingworld.it/Histori...ockmankind.jpg
On
August 30,
1999 the Rock 'N' Sock Connection was formed when the then
heels,
Undertaker and
Big Show attacked the Rock on
RAW. The Rock challenged both of them to a later match that for revenge. At the time, it was considered career "suicide" to face a team as deadly as The Undertaker and the Big Show. With this in mind, Mankind (who recently started using a sock named "Mr Socko" as part of his
gimmick) asked his former enemy if he could help with his fight against Undertaker and Big Show. The Rock reluctantly accepted and later that night the two captured Undertaker and Big Show's
WWF Tag Team Titles when they pinned Big Show after a double
People's Elbow. They lost the belts a week later in a
Buried Alive match against Undertaker and Big Show, in which
Triple H interfered to help Undertaker and Big Show.
Two weeks later, the Rock N' Sock Connection won the titles back in a Dark Side rules match with Big Show and the Undertaker (however, Undertaker did not feel like being in the match so he made
Mideon and
Viscera take his place, thus turning the match into a three-on-two). The following night on
Smackdown!, the
New Age Outlaws reunited and challenged Rock N' Sock Connection for the titles, which they won. Three weeks later, the Rock told Mankind that he was tired of him because he did not like the whole Rock N' Sock thing nor did he enjoy Mankind stealing his catchphrases during
promos. Mankind begged the Rock to team up with him one more night, but did not tell Rock who they would be fighting.
It turned out to be the Tag Team Champions, the
New Age Outlaws. And that night, the Rock 'N' Sock Connection won the tag team titles for the third time, which meant that this was not the final night for the Rock 'N' Sock Connection since they now had to defend their tag team titles again. The next week on
Smackdown!, before their title defense against
The Holly Cousins, Mick Foley gave the Rock an autographed copy of his book,
Have a Nice Day!, but later found that same book in the trash. Mick confronted The Rock and cursed him out for throwing away his life's work. And later that night during their match, a crushed Mankind refused to participate as he sat despondently on the steel steps, facing away from the ring, as
Hardcore and
Crash Holly beat the Rock for the Titles. The Rock and Mankind began a
feud with each other until Foley discovered that it was his close friend,
Al Snow who threw the book in the trash, since the book contained many Al Snow jokes (Foley and Snow always make fun of each other and their careers).
The Rock 'N' Sock Connection reunited for one more match when they took on then
Evolution members
Randy Orton, then heels,
Ric Flair &
Batista at
WrestleMania XX in a 3 on 2 handicap match. They lost when Randy Orton hit Foley with the
RKO. However at the end The Rock hugged Foley for being a good friend and partner.
