 After over two years of portraying a tortured soul character, Mankind began a transition towards a more comedic character.After his brief feud with Shamrock, which included an Intercontinental Championship match at Judgment Day that Mankind lost, he began aligning himself with Vince McMahon in an attempt to become his friend.This led to Mankind becoming McMahon's protege, and led to Mankind apparently being given an easy road to win the vacant WWF title.