20 Original WWE Character Concepts You Won’t Believe

13. Mankind

Goldust Concept
WWE

In his first autobiography, Mick Foley documented his early talks with the WWE creative braintrust when he took brave steps North from ECW in 1996, noting that the 'Mankind' moniker was his own in response to a "Mason The Mutilator" suggestion that had the potential to destroy his Cactus Jack-built reputation.

The drafts for 'Mason' and 'Headcase' were at least visually closer to how the eventual gimmick looked, though the team's penchant for pantomime required scaling back before 'The Deranged One' debuted as The Undertaker's newest foe.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett