Post by Lance Uppercut on Sept 19, 2005 18:40:09 GMT -5
I know this is an old question, but I was just passing some time rereading have a nice day and I was on the part where Mick was discussing with Vince the Mankind Character and it brought back so many memories, and I just remembered just how cool mankind was. And talk a bout a successful and drastic gimmick change. Way to reinvent yourself after almost a decade of Mr. Hardcore Cactus Jack.
I loved the Mandible claw, and when I was thinking about it, it would be an excellent maneuver for a littler guy these days, if he were playing a psychological heel, to pretty much take out anyone. Before the Cripple crossface, it was pretty much the only submission where you could the see the facials of both guys, and I loved how they initially sold it as he was choking them by sticking his fingers so far down their throats that they were gagging and he was doing something with their nerves or something.
I also loved the seperate entrance and exit music. How the first one was all scary dungeon like music, and after he kills his opponent, it'd be all beautiful and peaceful.
I also loved how he played the character. Rocking back and forth in the dark, pulling out his own hair and you could see the bald spot on his head from where he pulled it out, giving more self deprecating promos and scaring children in the audience just by singling one out and talking directly to them.
I loved the clever double meaning with the name too.
The squealing was weird though. But it was interesting to note that he was one of the few Undertaker villains to get over, and put on a good series of matches with him. Also, since Undertakers opponents were bigger than him in some way, he couldn't use the chokeslam or Tombstone much (which I didn't notice) for like 2 years. It was just fascinating, watching at the time, after all the giants sent after him, this little weird guy was the one would turned out to be Undertakers greatest foe and continually got the better of him.
I just haven't come across a lot of praise for the original Mankind persona since he became more popular during the attitude era as the goofy guy with the sock with the hardcore reputation. And few people were watching at the time of the original version.
I loved the Mandible claw, and when I was thinking about it, it would be an excellent maneuver for a littler guy these days, if he were playing a psychological heel, to pretty much take out anyone. Before the Cripple crossface, it was pretty much the only submission where you could the see the facials of both guys, and I loved how they initially sold it as he was choking them by sticking his fingers so far down their throats that they were gagging and he was doing something with their nerves or something.
I also loved the seperate entrance and exit music. How the first one was all scary dungeon like music, and after he kills his opponent, it'd be all beautiful and peaceful.
I also loved how he played the character. Rocking back and forth in the dark, pulling out his own hair and you could see the bald spot on his head from where he pulled it out, giving more self deprecating promos and scaring children in the audience just by singling one out and talking directly to them.
I loved the clever double meaning with the name too.
The squealing was weird though. But it was interesting to note that he was one of the few Undertaker villains to get over, and put on a good series of matches with him. Also, since Undertakers opponents were bigger than him in some way, he couldn't use the chokeslam or Tombstone much (which I didn't notice) for like 2 years. It was just fascinating, watching at the time, after all the giants sent after him, this little weird guy was the one would turned out to be Undertakers greatest foe and continually got the better of him.
I just haven't come across a lot of praise for the original Mankind persona since he became more popular during the attitude era as the goofy guy with the sock with the hardcore reputation. And few people were watching at the time of the original version.
