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The night after WrestleMania XII began with the long-awaited debut of a future WWE Hall Of Famer as Mankind debuted. The former Cactus Jack in WCW and ECW was unlike anything the WWF had ever seen before and ushered in a rather hardcore era into the company.
Just like he did the previous year, the night after WrestleMania, Bob Holly began the show by getting his butt kicked. Holly tried to outmuscle and outbawl Mankind, but the bizarre one was just too much and had no problems mixing it up with Holly inside of the ring and out. Mankind was an instant hit with the fans, and I mean instant!
The mask didn’t hide his identity from the smart fans however, as they quickly figured out who he was and began to chant, “he’s hardcore”. This, a reference to his hardcore days in the ECW. Vince McMahon, doing commentary, seemed more disturbed then impressed, clearly not realizing the millions upon millions this man would be making him.
It wasn’t the last time we’d see Mankind on this night however, as a little later he would attack The Undertaker after his match with Justin Hawk Bradshaw. The Mankind attack on The Undertaker was a sign of things to come as Mankind would get the best of the feud, to the point where Paul Bearer would switch sides, ending a six-year relationship with Taker and turning on him to join Mankind at that years SummerSlam in Cleveland.
The former Wildman Marc Mero made his WWF in ring debut on this night as he took out Isaac Yankem DDS. The deranged dentist would transition to the Fake Diesel by the fall and then eventually the character that would define him forever, Kane by 1997.
As for Mero, he was the current big money signing for the WWF at the time. The problem was, it was the women sitting outside of the ring, his wife Sable, that would reach much greater fame in the WWF then Mero. Mero signed for one of the largest guaranteed contracts in WWF history at the time, which really pissed off Mick Foley, who had signed shortly before that was Mankind for much less money.
As Mero went on to cruise to an easy win, it was HHH and Sable stealing the show outside of the ring. HHH, still upset about the night before, tried hitting on Sable as she was his escort to the ring for his ill-fated match with The Ultimate Warrior. He was desperate to get her back, but it was clear she would be with Mero as his giant push began.
A rare tag team combination of Barry Horowitz and Aldo Montoya, two perennial jobbers, would lose to the brand new WWF tag Team Champions, The Bodydonnas. Barry had met with success against Skip the past summer, but this night was much different in a walk through for the Bodydonnas.
HBK then came out to pander to the crowd and his clique for a eat your heart interview with Vince McMahon. It was your typical babyface interview as Michaels would use that, along with some passive aggressive tendencies to give us a peak at what the majority of the next year would look like. He went on to thank the Hitman Bret Hart, which would be the last time he did that for a very long time.
He then turned his attention to his next opponent Diesel and also Jerry The King Lawler. While “Kingfish” as HBK called Lawler, would come first, the big picture was on Diesel who would be challenging Michaels at April’s In Your House PPV a few weeks later. He skipped right over Lawler and hyped the Pay Per View match with Diesel.
The show would end with the pre-mentioned beatdown of Mankind on The Undertaker as it went for 8 straight minutes to close out the program.
Final recap
0 – Returns
0 – Heel or Face Turns
3 – debuts ( Mero, Sable & Mankind)
