3. The Undertaker Is Attacked By A Debuting Mankind - Monday Night Raw, April 1, 1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Fm7zusvyM One night after Wrestlemania XII, most any avowed online dirt sheet reader sat down to watch Monday Night Raw for only one reason. Cactus Jack was debuting. Yeah, we knew he was "Mankind," but there was absolutely no reason to care about that (then) silly name. It was Mick Foley, the guy who kicked Vader's ass in WCW, was all the rage with Japanese tape-traders, and was an ECW cult favorite. All of the "embellishment" that WWE was adding to Foley (the whole squealing, pain-loving, boiler room-dwelling and deranged schizophrenic who, like Michael Jackson and "Ben" spoke to a rat named George) was arguably, stupid. However, when in the guise of this bizarre gimmick attacked the Undertaker at the end of Raw, dropped the diving-off-the-ring apron elbowdrop, then shoved his fingers down his throat to lock him in the Mandible Claw, it led to immediate shocked, amazed, and fear. What was genuinely scary was the level of committal to character Foley had as Mankind, and in just taking the punishment being dished out by Mankind, how The Undertaker was able to get Foley over immediately as a main eventer (arguably for the rest of his career) from that moment. When two athletes-as-performers know the actions and behaviors of their characters (especially Mark Calaway as the Undertaker) well enough to do that level of compelling business right out of the gate, that's a scary level of talent.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.