[1997-04-20-WWF-Revenge of the Taker] The Undertaker vs Mankind

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Undertaker rips off Mankind's mask, and Foley takes a crazy bump through a ringside table after being hit with the steps by Undertaker. "Revenge of the Taker" seems like the appropriate tagline, as this is all about Undertaker getting even. The post-match is why this is here, as the fireball won't light. The planned spot was supposed to be Mankind accidentally lighting up Bearer. Undertaker tried to call an audible and do it himself and couldn't, but finally does it, but doesn't even make an effort to hide the flash paper. The angle still gets to the end result, but has to take a detour.

[Kevin Ridge]

Mankind loses his mask. He then takes a fantastic looking header of a bump into commentator's table. Taker gets the win with the Tombstone. Undertaker goes after Bearer. Mankind tries to do a fireball but the lighter his not working. They try again but no luck. I am glad Undertaker decided to just do it himself. Actually added more to things that he was behind it.

[soup23]

Mankind was bumping around like a loon. The chairshot and bump through the table was especially brutal. The aftermatch was a lot worse than I remembered with both Taker and Mankind looking weak. Fireballs are really cool but not at the expense of something this business exposing.

[BackToBionic]

I wonder if Lawler wanted to instinctively help them out with the fireball.

[PeteF3]

Pretty good closing stretch, with Mankind losing his mask for the first time and taking an absolutely insane bump headfirst through an announce table. The post-match is kind of a mess--Bearer is so hideously fat that he can't even do a proper chase, and then the disaster with the non-lighting fireball. Undertaker manages to cover this as well as he can and we eventually do get the payoff, but man oh man was that painful. Plus with him having to do it himself, he comes off as almost heelish. The original booking at least gave him an "out" and made Bearer the heel for blaming him anyway.

[Exposer]

Good match. Strong beginning & ending with a weak middle portion. Foley takes some insane bumps in this. The most memorable one here of course is his head first bump through an announce table. Crazy spot. Taker retains with the tombstone. He targets Bearer after the match & Foley is unable to get the lighter working for the fireball spot. It's an awkward minute or so before Taker gets control of it & throws the fireball in Bearer's face. Great payback angle. The execution is bad but the result is all the same & still very effective.

[cactus]

Mick Foley really brought out the best in Undertaker. Foley was so giving here, as he took some serious risks to make himself look fearless and get Undertaker over on his first PPV title defense. Mankind's head-first bump from the ring apron through the announce table was downright sickening. The first few minutes of this sees Undertaker kick all kind of ass as he violently slams Mankind's skull into the barricade. Mankind takes Undertaker's strikes well, by going all jellied-leg whenever Undertaker would land a big shot. Mankind is able to cut Undertaker off temporarily by striking Undertaker with the urn behind the referee's back. The constant rule-breaking happening right in front of the referee did eventually become tiresome, with even Jim Ross and Vince McMahon calling it out on commentary. With Undertaker mostly dominating this match, this felt quite one-sided, but I don't see that as a negative. Undertaker isn't the most compelling when he's down on his back selling and having him just throwing everything at Mankind made for much more interesting viewing. ★★★★