As a fan of both promotions back in the day, I'd say that Vader had more to do with getting Cactus Jack over than Sting in WCW. When it comes to WWF/E there's no doubt that the feud with Undertaker is what got Mankind over.
Sting was Foley's first big opponent down there and gave him some credibility and the rub Mick needed to get himself noticed and accepted down there. Sting was important in establishing Foley to the audience and giving Mick the crazy, unhinged character that Mick needed to establish him and also his character. I think Vader only heightened Foley's cred and character.
I think people forget how much Stone Cold Steve Austin has impacted Foley's career, remember Steve has been part of many of Mick's career defining moments, His first championship in WWE was tag team with Austin, the birth of Mr Socko was during bit Austin was in, The hell in a cell match, the following match with Kane and Austin included interruption from Foley, Austin helped Foley with first world championship by knocking out Rock, there's a few other instances as well
Back then, ECW probably had the only real “smart fans.” All of their guys had wrestled in other places, and judging from the signs at Brian Pillman’s ECW debut, some of them knew he was going to be there. In 1996, they were some of the only fans who used the internet with any regularity. I always thought the Mankind character was redundant and just a more cartoony version of Cactus Jack. The only reason it did worse was, like Mick said, the divide between northern and southern promotions. WCW still had some of the old, traditional NWA wrestling fans and WWF had been doing Disney characters since the 80s. It was known as “that fake wrestling” to NWA fans. For me, I was never a huge fan of the original Mankind. I preferred Cactus. I wanted that guy from ECW. I was only when Mick started dressing like a cross between a couch potato and a lumberjack with Mr Socko that I got into the character. The only reason I watched into 2002 was for Mick as the Commish. I could see they were burying good WCW talent in favour of big, boring guys who could barely wrestle. There were exceptions (the guys who left early), though. I’ll always respect Mick Foley for being a great wrestler and worker who put his body on the line even when he didn’t have to.
