11/18/1996 WWF: Steve Austin def. Mankind by DQ in 9:00. This was the night after Survivor Series, and while not quite the Russo era, a heel vs. heel match wasn’t uncommon in this timeframe of the WWF. They started brawling on the floor before the match started, and it took several backstage people to break up the action before the match finally got in the ring to get started. Austin was the most popular of the two, but not a clear-cut babyface with the crowd. Foley hadn’t shown any of his real personality in the Fed yet. The match was pretty hard-hitting, and Cactus hit the guardrail hard a couple of times. The action was pretty quick-paced, and the brawling was good, so overall, this worked. Near the end, Terry Gordy ran out as the dreadfully masked Executioner and helped his stablemate, Mankind, attack Austin. This brought out Taker, who was in the middle of a feud with Mankind and the Executioner. Taker cleared the ring, and Austin powdered before anything happened with him and Undertaker. They stared at each other after the match, in a foreshadowing of what would be a huge money-drawing feud over the years. The finish wasn’t good, but they were on their way to a good match before that, despite the two-heel handicap. **1/2