Date: April 1st You would be lying if you said that you knew Mick Foley would be in line for great things in the WWF. He was a cult favorite as Cactus Jack in WCW, always willing to pull off bumps that nobody else would be insane enough to try. In ECW, he was able to get an even bigger fan base because of his incredible promo skills that WCW rarely allowed him to show off. However, the WWF was going to be a different beast entirely. Nothing about him in any way, shape or form suggested that he would be a successful WWF performer, but his debut vignettes intrigued people, so they wanted to see how it would go. Mankind's debut match was against Bob Holly, and he won it in a little over three minutes. Outside of the debut of the Mandible Claw and the first of Foley's famous spots where he would rip out chunks of his own hair during a match, it was essentially nondescript. In the show's main event, The Undertaker took on Justin Hawk Bradshaw (now known as JBL), and out of nowhere, Mankind ran out and interfered, attacking Taker and capturing everyone's attention. After his attack, he locks the Mandible Claw in on Taker, and Taker does an incredible job of selling it, coughing and hacking after it was over, and all but frothing at the mouth. In an instant, Mankind had put himself on the map, and it laid the foundation for one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
