411’s WWE Rivals Report: The Undertaker vs. Mankind

-Back at it with episode two of the second season of this show. Let’s get to it!

-Joining Freddie Prinze at the table this week: Devon Dudley, Booker T, Natalya, and JBL. Another favorite rivalry of Freddie as he says it is hard to top how extreme this feud got.

-They start with Taker in 1995 before Mankind arrived in 96. JBL calls Taker the barometer and he has never seen anyone who had as much respect. Meanwhile, Mankind was in WCW as Cactus Jack and was destroying his body.

-Taker talks about how gentle and kind Mick is outside the ring and then becomes a maniac inside the ring. Foley mentions he used to ride with Mark in WCW and even stayed at Mark’s parents house.

-They discuss Survivor Series 1990 and the debut of The Undertaker. Baron Corbin says there is a genuine fear with Taker’s character when you watched as a kid. No kidding! I was 9 years old when he debuted and it freaked me out. Taker says he realized early that Mark had to be put on the back shelf so that The Undertaker is what everyone saw.

-Foley brings up that Taker had a run where he had to face guys that were bigger than him or taller than him. He was a character that conquered a monster and the idea was to find someone that may not be a monster as far as size, but could get crazy.

-Jim Ross says he had pitched to bring Mick in for years and finally Vince relented though he wasn’t a big fan. “I’ll bring him in, but I am covering up his face” -Vince. We get photos (Dec 12, 1995) of Mick having a mold of his face done to fit the mask. That was 3 ½ months before his debut the night after WrestleMania. Then we get the awesome Mankind vignettes. I loved the early Mankind character so much! “On the 8th day, God created Mankind. Why was he having such a bad day?” AMAZING! I quoted that one for years! Then we get Mick deep in Mankind mode during the vignette and someone gives him the sign to cut and in a snap, it’s Mick. Great stuff!

-April 1, 1996: Mankind debuts on RAW by attacking The Undertaker after he has a match with JBL. Since he is at the table, JBL says he knew something crazy was going to happen so he just bailed to the floor. Mick was an instant threat because he destroyed The Undertaker on his first night in the company. Taker says some will say it was a match made in Heaven, but was more like a match made in Hell.

-Commercials!

-Nattie and Booker talk about the pressure of debuting and having your first run being against The Undertaker. Mankind/Taker I happened at King of the Ring 96 and the chemistry was there from the start. Mankind wins the first match!

-They realized they had something and needed to have more than just a wrestling match. At SummerSlam 96 it’s The Boiler Room Brawl and Prichard admits what we all knew, the taped the Boiler Room portion the night before SummerSlam. CINEMATIC WRESTLING before it became all the craze during the Pandemic. Recording it the night before took away some of the risk and we get some cool footage of Vince giving direction and then telling Taker, “let’s do it. Good luck.” Hayes says that Mick and Mark said they were sorry before the match and then just tore into each other.

-Taker says it was in Cleveland and a real boiler room and was disgusting and dirty. Mick says everything that happened was real and even when he had cardboard boxes to fall, half of his body missed as he undershot it. Taker says he and Mick took a few years off each other’s career. Well, definitely on Foley’s side. More bonus footage as they are done with the match and are laying outside the door and Mick says, “sorry about a couple of those potatoes,” and Taker laughs. This is great!

-They were coming back the next night for the live crowd portion of the match and Taker had a cut on his arm. They wanted to stitch it, but Taker realized that wouldn’t jive and he needed it to be left open like it just happened. Terri told Taker that blood was pouring out of his elbow and he had to just let it go.

-The match continues as the brawl through the back and Mick just decided to grab the container of hot coffee and did what he had to do. Again, they said sorry to each other before the match. The winner is the one to grab the urn and we get the famous finish where Paul Bearer turns on The Undertaker. Look how old school as they had TVs set up around ringside for the crowd to watch like it was substitute teacher day rolling in a TV to kill time at the end of the day. Mankind gets the win and Taker gets carried away by Druids. For some reason I thought that was their way our writing Taker out of the WWF and I was expecting him to show up in WCW as part of the now storyline.

-Commercials!

-Freddie mentions the match was cinematic and asks Devon if he had ever seen anything like that. He doesn’t answer, but Piper and Goldust did have a Backlot Brawl 3 ½ months earlier and Dustin had a King of The Road Match against the Blacktop Bully in WCW. So Cinematic matches had been done.

-The feud continues and Taker cuts a promo in a cemetery and breaks character as he screws up his line, curses and then laughs. They next idea was a Buried Alive Match and Taker had reservations obviously.

-Freddie and the table laugh at Vince saying it was an unsanctioned match. I mean, the stipulation was basically you had to kill your opponent by burying them alive. It was another great brawl and the table compare the match to two horror characters fighting each other. Mick talks about being chokeslammed into the grave and then dirt starts getting dumped on him. Taker wins, but The Executioner (Terry Gordy) blasts Taker with a shovel. Now Mankind and Executioner have to completely bury Taker and Prichard mentions they miscalculated how long it would take to shove dirt back in the hole. That is why they sent other wrestlers out to help (HHH, Crush, and JBL). JBL: “Try filling in a grave with a shovel in 10 minutes on live television.” Mick was covering Taker like a cat burying his bowel movement.

-They get the job done and the crowd was freaked out. Mick says he remembers seeing a father in the crowd saying, “I can’t believe I am watching this.” We then get a bolt of lightning that hits the grave and Taker’s hand reaches up in front of the tombstone. The crowd popped!

-Commercials!

-We completely skip Taker/Mankind IV at Survivor Series, Taker/Mankind V at Revenge of Taker, and just jump to June of 1998 as they start the build to Hell in a Cell II. Prichard lets us know what a Hell in a Cell Match is and how they had large shoes to fill as Taker and Shawn had an all time classic in the first HIAC Match.

-Mick says the challenge for him was to do some kind of justice to what Shawn and Taker did. He tells the famous story of watching the first HIAC match with Terry Funk and Terry threw out the idea of starting the match on The Cell. Foley felt he could do that and pitched doing to it Taker every day and Taker kept telling him no. “Why do you want to kill yourself?” It’s still a no the day of the show, but Foley got to Vince and convinced it was okay and they double teamed Taker. “He is pretty sure he can take that bump.” Yep!

-I have to mention King of The Ring 98 took place in Pittsburgh and no I was not there. Although at this point 100,000 people will lie to you and say they were there. I do plan on doing a Retro Review of the show to celebrate the 25th anniversary in June. We have had documentaries just on this match, but let’s see if they add anything new. They mention Taker came into the match with a broken heel/foot and somehow toughed it out and climbed to the top. They brawl up there with a chair and then IT HAPPENS!

-MANKIND GOES FLYING OFF THE CELL. “AS GOD AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF.” Taker: “He ain’t getting up from this. Just move Mick. Move!” Most replayed moments in WWF history and it’s likely Hogan slamming Andre at 1 and Foley flying off The Cell at 2.

-Commercials!

-Back with Foley flying off the Cell as we get constant replays. Booker: “Mankind could have died that day.” That really isn’t hyperbole as one wrong landing and it’s curtains. JR: “I genuinely felt he was dead.” Then we get the visual of Taker on the Cell as they raise it so the stretcher can get to Foley. Jerry Lawler remembers Mick falling at his feet and seeing him smile when he opened his eyes. Taker was just happy to see him moving.

-Foley calls Taker a legend, but as he was laying in the table wreckage and heard the crowd chanting for Taker, “maybe you guys are cheering for the wrong guy.” No kidding! Foley gets wheeled up the ramp, but we aren’t done yet as Foley gets to his feet and we are off again. In an amazing feat, Foley climbs the Cell with a separated shoulder. The place explodes as they meet back on top of The Cell and Foley still gets goosebumps thinking about it. “I suffered a lot from that fall. At least the worst part of my night is over.”

-Then we get the second fall through the Cell and while less famous, this is the most brutal of the two. The ring sounded concrete as he just hit with a THUD! Everyone remember JR’s call of the first fall, but this one is the one that always stuck with me. JR: “Good God! Good God!” Lawler: “That’s it. He’s dead.” It’s Lawler’s call that always stuck with me as you believed it and I guarantee he believed it. JR: “Will somebody stop the damn match? Enough’s enough.”

-Taker seems emotional talking about the second fall and if Mick rotates a few more inches, he is either dead or paralyzed. Foley mentions it was the one time his feet didn’t leave the ground of a chokeslam and it saved him. That is crazy! Then poor Mick had the chair follow him down and smash him in the face. He takes out his fake teeth to show up the damage. He also had one tooth get lodged in his nose. Terry Funk thought Foley was dead and even took his pulse to make sure there was life. Mick does his Terry impression “He’s still breathing.” Being the pro he is, Funk takes a chokeslam to let Mick’s soul return to his body.

-Taker just wants Mick to stay down and mentions he came into the match with a broken ankle, but he obviously isn’t going to complain now as he was questioning his own manhood after seeing what Mick was doing. Mick is proud they didn’t cut the match short and they were dragging themselves to the finish line.

-Thumbtacks get introduced as Foley needed to finish and made it a point to get to the tacks. He admits it seemed like a good idea at the time, but hasn’t aged well.

-Commercials! Cena vs. Rock seems to be Rivals next week!

-Taker says he is trying to reason with a man who cheated death twice. “I have to get to the tacks.” Mick didn’t like the way the tacks went the first time in the match, so he had Taker put him in them again. Tombstone finally ends the match as Taker gets the win. I am pumped and out of breath just watching the highlights!

-Mick mentions he was told a stretcher was coming and he didn’t want it as he couldn’t be on a stretcher twice in one night. Yep, Mick is a different breed! Taker puts over Mick huge and says that match is next level stuff that most people don’t have inside of them.

-Freddie calls it a beautiful art of violence. Mick gets emotional and says he had a hard time dealing with the aftermath of The Cell. Nothing he did after made the fans forget and it angered him. He is asked about it every day and got tired of talking about it. It took Taker telling him that what they did will outlive both of them and that took a weight off Mick’s shoulders. Now he was free to celebrate it and talk about it. I was lucky enough to attend a show Mick did about 20 years ago when he came to my college (California University of Pennsylvania) and he made sure to let the fans knows that yes, it did hurt getting thrown off the Cell so that nobody would ask him. I brought a copy of all of his books and he personalized them to me, which I thought was cool. Then I wondered if he thought I was one of those people looking to sell and that’s why he added my name.

-Mick wonders where his life would have gone had he not crossed paths with Taker in 1996. He says he would not be in the WWE Hall of Fame and would not be who he is today. He is grateful their lives an entwined. Taker says they have a prominent piece of history together in WWE’s legacy. We seem them meet backstage during a show and Mick tells Taker, “My life would not be the same without you.”

-We close on a black and white photo of them hugging each other!

-This was great as expected. Sure, it is a bunch of stories we have heard hundreds of times, but it’s one of the greatest stories ever so I will keep listening. I did enjoy the after camera cut footage they included and getting a deeper dive on The Boiler Room Brawl and Buried Alive Match. Half of the show is about Hell in a Cell, but that was expected. Again, the 25th anniversary of that match is in four months so there will be more about the match this summer. So far this show is 2 for 2 this season and I am looking forward to next week. Thanks for reading!