April 1, 1996 Mankind Debuts: On this edition of Monday Night Raw Mankind started off the show facing, Bob Holly in a squash match meant to showcase the debuting Mankind’s unique abilities. Later that night, in the main event, Undertaker squared off against Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw. The match itself wasn’t anything great, but The Undertaker picked up another victory. Moments after the referee counted to three Mankind assaulted The Undertaker and left him laying with his finishing hold: The Mandible Claw. This shocked WWF fans, The Undertaker had never been left laying by someone like Mankind, sure the Giants of the wrestling world had beaten down the Deadman, but Mankind wasn’t a giant, he didn’t have an entourage of people helping him, he laid out the Undertaker on his own to close the show. One of the most impactful debuts in the history of wrestling if you ask me.
April 28, 1996 First Ever Meeting: The very first clash of these titans took place after the pay-per-view went off the air. The match started off quickly with Undertaker attacking Mankind once his coat and Jacket were off. Undertaker got Mankind in the corner and unloaded with a barrage of rights and lefts before the match spilled to the outside. Undertaker slammed Mankind’s head into the steel stairs then rolled him back in the ring where he was able to keep up the advantage. However, despite the early onslaught, Mankind would fight back and gain the upper hand. Mankind also would use the steel steps to his advantage before getting the match back in the ring and locking on a nerve hold to neutralize the Undertaker. Undertaker would fight out of the hold and regain the advantage again having the match go outside. Outside the ring the Undertaker would toss Mankind back first into the steel security railing before eventually going back into the ring. Once in the ring the Undertaker hits Mankind with a chokeslam then the Tombstone for the victory. This match was relatively short by comparison to all their other encounters, but even in this short span, Undertaker and Mankind gave us a taste of the violence that was to come in the epic clash of beasts.
June 26, 1996 King of the Ring: This marked Mankind’s pay-per-view debut in his first televised match against The Undertaker. Leading up to this match, Mankind had been a real thorn in the Undertaker’s side, costing him matches against Goldust and the British Bulldog and this was Undertaker’s chance to get even. The match got started right away as Paul Bearer, The Undertaker’s “Loyal” manager walked to the ring by himself only to have the lights raise and for The Undertaker to already be perched on the top rope. Undertaker leaps off the rope and delivers a clothesline to Mankind and we’re off and running. Over the next twenty minutes WWF fans are treated to at this point, one of the more violent and physical matches in the company and certainly the most physical match of the night. We see Undertaker and Mankind use a steel chair on each other, throw each other into the ring stairs and battle in and out of the ring. The end comes when Undertaker is locked in the Mandible Claw but is being pushed into the corner where Paul Bearer is on the apron. Bearer as the Undertaker’s sacred Urn in hand, he goes to presumably hit Mankind, but accidentally strikes The Undertaker. Mankind then knocks Paul off the apron before locking in the Mandible Claw and getting a relatively clean victory over The Undertaker, a site very rare back in this time in the WWF.
July 22, 1996 Monday Night Raw: This was not a singles match between Undertaker and Mankind, this was a Raw Invitational Battle Royal in which Undertaker and Mankind were participants in. Mankind came out first and then the Undertaker rushed the ring and targeted his brown clad adversary. This is somewhat significant for The Undertaker character as until now, the Deadman had always had the elaborate, slow menacing walk to the ring, even in Royal Rumble’s he would walk, not run down to the ring. Mankind was in theory bringing out a new side of the Undertaker, allowing him to evolve from a slow-paced worker to a more fast-paced physical wrestler. This is also significant because this was the first time Undertaker and Mankind battled into the Boiler Room of an arena.
August 18, 1996 SummerSlam Boiler Room Brawl: This was the first of many unique matches for these two unique characters as in the past the WWF had settled things with stipulation matches, but all took place within the confines of a wrestling ring, however The Undertaker and Mankind rivalry was so intense, and the two characters were so unique, the WWF could be a bit more out there with the stipulations. The concept of this match was Undertaker and Mankind would start out fighting in a Boiler Room, fight through the hallways then going into the ring where Paul Bearer had the Urn. The only way to win the match was to gain possession of the Urn. This made many fans question how Mankind would win? After all, Paul Bearer was the Undertaker’s manager, what was to stop him from simply not giving Mankind the Urn? The match begins as we see The Undertaker standing in front of a door with a referee to his left, The Deadman simply says “Open it” once the referee does, the Phenom takes a short walk down a narrow hallway before reaching a door that has a huge “DANGER” sign on it. Undertaker hesitates momentarily before opening the door. Another landmark for the Undertaker character as he had never shown hesitation at all in his previous six years in the company regardless of the size or unusualness of his opponent.
Undertaker enters the dark, dirty boiler room and begins the search for Mankind, who always hung out in Boiler Rooms. ‘Taker makes his way into the main area of the Boiler Room and continues his search. As he gets about halfway through the boiler room, Mankind emerges from behind a huge white pipe holding a medal pipe and attacks ‘Taker from behind and the match officially starts. These two make ample use of the boiler room and all its many objects from trash cans, wooden pallets, trashcans and various other things you would expect to find in a boiler room. Mankind and ‘Taker do brawl back to the entrance of the boiler room before Mankind is able to get out of the boiler room and make his way to the locker room area. Mankind tries to barricade the door as a battle-weary Undertaker staggers up the narrow hallway only to realize Mankind is blocking the door with a medal rack and a trashcan. Undertaker tries to open the door but is unable to. Finally, Undertaker steps back and puts all three hundred plus pounds behind him and knocks Mankind down and tosses the debris out of his way.
Mankind then crawls and staggers throughout the locker room with Undertaker not too far behind. Mankind grabs a bucket of hot coffee and dumps it on the Undertaker as he makes his way around a corner of the hall. While Undertaker rolls around in pain, Mankind can enter the arena, but instead of using this as an opportunity to get to the ring and win the match, Mankind waits on the Undertaker with a 2x4 in hand. Undertaker rushes from the locker room into the arena, hitting Mankind with a clothesline then busting the 2x4 across Mankind’s back. Mankind and ‘Taker then reach the ring which is surrounded by four television sets on top of medal platforms which allowed the audience in the arena to see the action that was happening in the boiler room. Mankind dumps over one of the platforms so he can then lift up the mats to expose the concrete floor. Mankind is on the apron and it appears that he is going to enter the ring and get the urn to win the match. Undertaker gets to Mankind before he is able to enter the ring and slingshots the three-hundred-pound Mankind off the apron then sends him crashing to the concrete with a sickening thud.
Undertaker enters the ring and the crowd begins to roar as he kneels before Paul Bearer as he had for the last six years and outstretched his hand, all Paul had to do was give him the urn and the match would have been over. Instead, Bearer refuses to hand Undertaker the urn and allows Mankind to get back up. The crowd is angry and confused, they cannot believe Paul Bearer had betrayed the Undertaker. Mankind locks in his dreaded Mandible Claw on ‘Taker and lays him, but before he is able to get the urn, Undertaker sits up. Mankind attacks ‘Taker then holds him for Paul Bearer who paintbrushes ‘Taker, adding insult to injury. Undertaker still tries fighting back and getting the urn but as he crawls up Bearer’s leg and looks at his one tome friend, Paul Bearer crashes the urn down on ‘Taker’s skull cementing his betrayal. Paul Bearer then happily hands the urn over to Mankind and gives the deranged one another pay-per-view victory over the Undertaker. After Paul Bearer and Mankind exit the arena, the druids come out and carry the Undertaker out of the arena leaving many to speculate if this was the last we’d seen of the Deadman.
August 19,1996 Monday Night Raw: After the events of SummerSlam Paul Bearer and Mankind had proclaimed the Undertaker was gone for good, Mankind was the new phenom of the World Wrestling Federation. In an interview with Jim Ross, Mankind and Bearer mock the Undertaker and repeatedly say he is gone. Ross then tells them the arena is getting cold and that he knew both Mankind and Paul could feel the presence in the Undertaker. As Bearer again goes to proclaim this was all from Mankind the familiar gong hits signifying the Undertaker was there. The druids again carry the Deadman out just as they had at SummerSlam, this time leaving him in the aisle way. Still in denial, Paul Bearer says he had the Undertaker’s lifeless corpse brought out so the fans could give him a farewell. Moments later the Undertaker sits up and Bearer and Mankind both look horrified, like they had seen a ghost. Undertaker leaps up into the apron and raises the lights as Mankind and Bearer exit the ring and Raw goes off the air.
October 20, 1996 In Your House Buried Alive: In the weeks leading up to this event, Undertaker had promised to bury Mankind alive and get revenge on Paul Bearer for his betrayal. Undertaker did this by shooting a series of vignettes in a cemetery where he was digging a fresh grave. Mankind also shot a set of vignettes from this grave proclaiming to “Uncle Paul” he did not want to be buried alive and Bearer promises him that would not happen. This was another crazy stipulation match and again the WWF thinking outside the box as they had the two most unique characters in the history of wrestling, so they took advantage of it. The object of this match was just as it says, to bury your opponent alive in an open grave set up in the arena. Again, Mankind and Undertaker engage in an all-out physical war that saw them brawl in the ring, out of the ring, into the audience, up the aisle back into the ring then back to the open grave.
Early in the match Undertaker Clotheslines Mankind off the top rope on the outside. Mankind uses chairs and the steel steps to attempt to wear down the vengeful Deadman, but he is unable to get him in the grave long enough to bury him. After another grueling match-up, Undertaker delivers his trademark Tombstone Piledriver to Mankind on a chair and carry him back up to the graveyard. Before ‘Taker can place Mankind in the open grave, Mankind battles back but ‘Taker delivers a chokeslam then places him in the grave and throws dirt on him as the referee signals for the bell and gives the Undertaker his first win over Mankind. Even in defeat however, Mankind was a step ahead of the Undertaker as a new ally, the Executioner whacked Undertaker in the back with a shovel as he was continuing to bury Mankind. Soon Mankind, Paul Bearer, the Executioner and a host of other superstars all joined in and put Undertaker in the grave then burying him alive. As the superstars stood around the presumably buried Undertaker thunder strikes in the arena, this scares off all but Mankind, Bearer and the Executioner. Mankind then drives the shovel down into the dirt hoping to put an end to the Undertaker once and for all. As the menacing trio celebrates a bolt of lightning hits the headstone of the grave and then the purple gloved hand of the Undertaker emerges signaling that he would not rest in peace.
November 17, 1996 Survivor Series: Despite this ominous warning from Undertaker we would not see the phenom again until this night. It was Madison Square Garden and another mega pay-per-view event and Undertaker and Mankind were a featured match on the card. A stipulation to this match was Paul Bearer would be elevated above the ring in a shark cage and if Undertaker won, he’d get Bearer in the ring for five minutes. Paul Bearer and Mankind enter the arena first and Bearer is refusing to get into the cage, then the gong hits and seeking safety, Paul gets inside the cage. Undertaker came down from the ceiling of the arena dressed in all black leather with batwings giving him a Batman like appearance. The all Leather clad phenom unleashes a barrage of punches to Mankind as the two again engage in a knock down, drag out fight. Only this time, Undertaker was showing more technical wrestling, using a drop toe hold at one point and even an armbar. Undertaker also targeted Mankind’s Mandible Claw hand.
Undertaker gets the win over Mankind again and watches as the shark cage is lowered and finally it looks like he will get his hands on the turncoat Paul Bearer. Just as Undertaker grabs Bearer by his blazer, the Executioner attacks ‘Taker from behind and rushes Paul Bearer to safety. As Mankind, Paul Bearer and the Executioner scurry away, a frustrated Undertaker walks around the ring, slamming the shark cage door in frustration. Even after a captivating entrance, a new look and modified style, Mankind remained one step ahead of The Undertaker. It was becoming clear to everyone, Mankind possessed the greatest threat to the Undertaker and the army to end the Deadman was growing.
December 9, 1996 Monday Night Raw No Holds Barred Match: On this episode of Monday Night Raw, Undertaker and Mankind were the main event in a No Holds Barred contest. As was always the case when these two men fought, the fight started off quickly and went all around the ringside area, both men using the ringside objects to punish their opposition. In the ring, Undertaker delivered a flying clothesline to Mankind then delivered the move now known as Old School before setting Mankind up in the Tombstone Piledriver. The Executioner rushes the ring before Undertaker can connect, ‘Taker then chases the Executioner to the back as Mankind comes up from behind him. They then battle outside the ring where Undertaker bodyslams Mankind onto an announce table. Back in the ring, Undertaker is finally able to give Mankind a Tombstone Piledriver for the win, but as soon as the referee counts three the Executioner returns and assaults ‘Taker yet again.
December 15, 1996 In Your House It’s Time: Undertaker vs. Executioner. While this was not a match between Undertaker and Mankind, Mankind would play a pivotal role in this match. This was an Armageddon Rules match, which was another form of the classic “Texas Deathmatch” stipulation where pinfalls were basically meaningless, the object of the match was to keep your adversary down for the count of ten. As expected this was a wild melee style match that saw Undertaker, The Executioner and Mankind battle in the ring, out of the ring, up the aisle and even outside the arena where the Executioner took a dip in a pool. Mankind got involved very early in this one, chop blocking Undertaker from behind as he was assaulting the Executioner. Mankind, Executioner and Undertaker all battled up to the staging where a mock house was set up at least until Undertaker sent Mankind sailing through plastic window and slammed him through the door, basically rendering the set useless for the rest of the night. Mankind’s interference was so heavy in this one they actually put him in a straight jacket at one point while ‘Taker and the Executioner battled outside the arena. After tossing Executioner into a pool, ‘Taker made his way back into the arena where a straight jacket clad Mankind still tries to assault him. Undertaker quickly gets rid of Mankind before getting back in the ring followed by the Executioner. Undertaker delivers a Tombstone and finally gets rid of Mankind’s ally. Now the Deadman could turn his focus back to Paul Bearer and Mankind.
After this wild encounter, the Executioner would disappear from the then WWF while Mankind would team with Vader, Paul Bearer’s newest protégé. While Undertaker and Mankind had branched off into other rivalries, fans knew the battles between Mankind and the Undertaker were far from over. Undertaker was able to defeat Sycho Sid for the World belt at WrestleMania 13 and it only made sense his first challenger for his newly won championship would be the deranged Mankind. This time the deranged one would really HEAT things up in the rivalry.
On an episode of Monday Night Raw Undertaker had interrupted Paul Bearer’s interview in the ring and conspicuous by his absence was Mankind, we would soon find out why. There was a brown casket at ringside and as Undertaker had Bearer by the shirt, Mankind came from beneath the coffin, throwing a fireball in Undertaker’s face, burning the phenom severely. Undertaker would take a few weeks to heal, but when he returned at the next pay-per-view aptly named “Revenge of the ‘Taker” the Deadman would get just that!
April 20, 1997 In Your House Revenge of the ‘Taker: Ironically this is probably the least known match of this historic feud, and yet is the only time the World Wrestling Federation championship was on the line in any of their matches. Setting the tone, Mankind entered the arena with a fire extinguisher in hand, Undertaker came out next and was in no mood for games as he quickly took off his coat and tosses his championship belt at the referee as he and Mankind slug it out in center of the ring. ‘Taker tosses Mankind outside the ring and proceeds to toss Mankind into the guardrail backwards causing his head to strike the steel railing and making a sickening thud as it did. Despite the early onslaught by the Deadman, Mankind can fight back and gain the advantage coming close to defeating the Undertaker yet again. Over the next twenty minutes Undertaker and Mankind use chairs, stairs, water pitchers and tables in an attempt to end each other’s careers. Undertaker throws Mankind into the ropes causing his head to get tangled in the ropes allowing Undertaker to rip Mankind’s mask off. As Mankind gets his head untangled, undertaker is far from finished punishing him, he grabs the steps and runs at Mankind with them, launching the three hundred pounder head first through the announce table! After this Undertaker delivers a tombstone for the victory and a successful championship defense.
After this match, both Undertaker and Mankind would enjoy a separation period. They had been battling for the better part of a year and a half and the physicality was raised each and every time they squared off against each other. Undertaker would lose the title to Bret Hart at SummerSlam while Mankind through his rivalry with the Undertaker and after a fantastic interview with Jim Ross would find himself being beloved by the fans. However, this honeymoon period would be relatively short lived as Mankind would soon be manipulated by Vince McMahon and become a glorified corporate lackey for the WWF chairman. This would eventually lead to a renewal of the Undertaker/Mankind rivalry, but nobody could have predicted the catastrophic consequences of this feud being rekindled.
June 26, 1998 King of the Ring: History is made Perhaps the most infamous match in the entire history of professional wrestling/sports entertainment, if you have not seen this match no words I will say could do it justice, but I will try. At Badd Blood 1997 Undertaker and Shawn Michaels competed in the very first ever Hell in a Cell match in WWF history. The cell was a chain link fence which surrounded the ringside area and had a chain link roof on it to keep everyone in and everyone out. In one of the greatest matches in the history of the WWF Shawn and ‘Taker redefined what a cage match could be. On this night, Undertaker and Mankind redefined what violence could be. Once we found out Mankind and Undertaker were going to be locked inside Hell in a Cell, fans were excited to see what these two monsters would do and how would they up not only their own physicality, but the tremendous standard set by Michaels and ‘Taker at Badd Blood? It would take about ninety seconds for us to find out.
Mankind entered the arena first armed with a steel chair which he the tossed-on top of the sixteen-foot cell. Mankind then climbed up top, daring Undertaker who was now entering the arena himself to start the match on top of the Cell. Undertaker obliged his twisted foe and we had two three hundred-pound beasts battling on-top a chain link fence. Undertaker and Mankind battle near the edge and ‘Taker soon sent Mankind dialing off the top, through the announce table which didn’t break as much as it exploded from the weight and force of the three-hundred-pound Mankind. Time stood still for the next several minutes as replay after replay of the hellacious toss in shown while in the arena medical personnel are loading Mankind onto a stretcher. About a minute into the match and Undertaker had thrown Mankind off the freaking thing!
Somehow, Mankind pulled himself off the stretcher then…CLIMBED BACK UP TOP! Proof that Mankind/Mick Foley is insane, its on video folks! Undertaker also climbs back up and seconds later chokeslams Mankind through the Cell! In less than ten minutes of action Mankind had fallen sixteen feet twice and still wasn’t done? Is this man human? Mankind with a separated shoulder, a tooth hanging out his nose (Yes you read that right) and internal injuries was fighting the most sadistic entity in the World Wrestling Federation and somehow, he had the advantage. Mankind’s suffering was not done though as the sicko would grab a sack full of thumbtacks and empty them onto the canvas of the ring. After trying to toss Undertaker into them, Mankind found himself on the back of the Deadman who them threw his legs out from under him and sent Mankind down onto the tacks! ‘Taker was not done yet however, as once Mankind got back to his feet Undertaker choke slammed him into the tacks then delivered a tombstone piledriver finally putting poor Mankind out of his misery.
This match is more of a train wreck than a display of athletics. Its violent, its vicious and its nasty and a match you must watch at least once to fully appreciate the lengths Mick Foley went through to give the fans a night and match they’d never forget. A lesser talked about fact about this match as well is that Undertaker had a broken ankle so both guys were the walking wounded yet gave a spectacle to end all spectacles. From a “wrestling” stand point this match is nothing special, but as a show of guts, heart and determination, I’m not sure any match has ever displayed those traits anymore realistically than this match did.
This was not the last time Undertaker and Mankind would face off, but it was for all intents and purposes the end of what is to me, the greatest rivalry in WWF/WWE history. These two men bridged the gap between the cartoony, family friendly WWF and the Attitude Era, you could make the case that Undertaker and Mankind ushered in the attitude era with their rivalry and the level of violence they brought night in and night out. All of these matches are available on various platforms and one will only cost ten dollars a month (So I hear) Do yourself a favor, watch these matches and watch some of the promos that led up to them. Undertaker and Mankind are two of the greatest characters in wrestling history and both elevated one another in a two-year rivalry that helped shape an era. Until next time, have a nice day!