WWE – For All Mankind: The Life and Career of Mick Foley
Three-Disc Set
Released: April 16, 2013

That’s right. It’s another WWE Blu-Ray review from my pal SlickSlack and I. He’ll be handling the documentary portions, interviews, and stories while I will be doing the match reviews. I apologize for the lengthiness ahead of time. This one reads like a dissertation, but is packed with all kinds of details, ladies and gents.

DISC ONE
BIOGRAPHY

A Happy Story: The trailer of the DVD shown on WWE television where Foley talks about his long journey and injuries/bloodbath, but how he achieved his dream and his story is happy.

Idyllic Childhood: Mick was born in Bloomington, Indiana home of Indiana University but moved to Long Island after he was only a few months old where he still resides today. He got into sports since his dad was the athletic director at his school. His friends growing up say he was quiet but a prankster and funny guy around them. Mick played lacrosse and was a goalie and ate worms to turn off opponents. Mick wanted to get in shape and be healthy so he wanted to do track but was suggested to try wrestling. The star wrestler of his high school was none other than the famous actor and comedian Kevin James.

Huge Fan: Ever since he was young, Foley would watch any pro wrestling show even if it was on at midnight. He watched the MSG shows with Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Ivan Putski, but his favorite was Superfly Jimmy Snuka. In 1983, Jimmy Snuka faced off against Don Muraco for the Intercontinental Championship inside a steel cage match. Foley got a great seat, but hitchhiked to the show and paid more than face value for the ticket. That match changed his life as it was the night Superfly did the splash off the top of the cage. Foley talked about how everyone had goosebumps and tears in their eyes in the crowd. He wanted to be the guy to move people like that one day. He’d watch and study various tapes of matches. Foley would make videos of himself wrestling in the backyard with his friends and make videos of himself as a character named Dude Love. We get footage of these videos and even as a teenager, Foley could cut some good promos as Dude Love. An indy wrestling event was being held at his high school and the promoter saw some of his tape and loved it. That promoter then got in touch with former WWF wrestler Dominic DeNucci.

Training School: DeNucci agreed to train Foley but first he had to set up the ring, which Foley hated and it was tough. Finally DeNucci agreed to train him. DeNucci appears and talks about early Foley and training. Foley said DeNucci was hard on them but not in a physical way. SHANE DOUGLAS appears on the doc and says that when he first saw Foley, he thought he would be done by day one, but he was definitely surprised. In that same class was the late Brian Hildebrand who is best known as referee Mark Curtis in WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling. We get video footage of training sessions from what appears to be a newsreel. We even get a young Foley being interviewed and talking about training. DeNucci’s school was in Pittsburgh so instead of partying in college, Foley would make the four-hour drive from New York to Pittsburgh every weekend to train or wrestle. In 1986, Foley had his first match ever in West Virginia as Cactus Jack Manson where he defeated Kurt Kaufman and then DeNucci trainees were called up to the WWF to be jobbers, so in his second match ever, Foley wrestled as Jack Foley and teamed with Les Thornton to take on the British Bulldogs at a Superstars taping in September of that year. Dynamite hurt him with a headbutt as well as a clothesline that Foley claimed wasn’t hard but that his bicep nailed his jaw. He couldn’t eat solid food for a month after that. Foley was used a few more times as a jobber in the WWF as he worked with Hercules, Kamala, and the Killer Bees.

Working the Road: Foley received his college degree and gained some experience wrestling on the indy scene in states such as New York, Ohio and West Virginia. DeNucci placed a call to the AWA who took him on in 1988. AWA had a partnership at the time with World Class and Memphis so Foley got TV exposure on ESPN and stayed on with World Class. Terry Funk talked about how goofy and crazy he thought Foley looked the first time he ever seen him on TV and that Dallas was desperate for talent but grew to like him when he watched him wrestle. We see clips of Foley promos and matches in Dallas and he would do crazy moves and bumps.

WCW: Having trained together and remaining close friends with Shane Douglas, they both kept a look out for each other to get opportunities in various promotions. In 1989 Shane Douglas had joined WCW as part of the Dynamic Dudes and invited Foley to come visit at a taping to try to get him on. Foley caught the eye of Jim Cornette who recognized him from Dallas and got him in a taping a few weeks later in a tag team match against the Steiner Brothers who were known as great wrestlers but stiff workers. WCW booker Kevin Sullivan asked Foley what his finisher was and Foley replied an elbow which puzzled Sullivan but Cornette put over how spectacular it was and Sullivan told Foley no matter how beat up he was after the Steiners match to attack his partner and do the elbow drop from the concrete which Foley did. Arn Anderson told Foley that after the match he had no sense. Foley replied with “No, I have no dollars.” which Arn said he would never forget. Michael Hayes thought Mick would be crippled by age 30 with all the insane bumps he was taking. Mike Rotunda was amazed how tough Foley was in doing insane maneuvers and still come back at ya. JR talked about how Foley had to be unique to get noticed which he did. Kevin Sullivan said he was a huge fan of Foley and his psychology and risks. Even though he was a heel, Foley was starting to get cheers not only due to the risks and style but due to his eyes/face despite the wildman Cactus Jack character. Foley left WCW in 1990 after Ole Anderson became the booker as he was not a fan of Foley personally or of his work. Foley talked about how he made triple the money than he ever had before in WCW and could have stayed as a lower mid-card face, but wanted Cactus Jack to be a serious character.

Sting: After a year and a half of wrestling in the indies and making a name for himself worldwide especially in Japan, Foley returned to WCW fifteen months later which JR called an easy layup. Foley talked about the increased confidence he had and wanted to be taken seriously and as a main event threat. JR felt Foley could be WCW’s #2 guy after Sting so they put them in a feud. Foley talked about the ideas he had and Sting was puzzled as Foley wasn’t a legitimate name yet while Sting had a several year run on top. Foley officially returned when he attacked Sting after coming out of a mystery package and did the elbow. Foley called it the biggest moment of his career that time as it was on live TV in front of a national audience. Foley loved the matches he had against Sting as he said it was a shot in the arm for Sting’s career and a career maker for him. Foley praises JR not only for making the feud but for his commentary during the matches. Fans started cheering Foley again for his risk taking and being easy on the eyes according to Foley. Vader said Foley was willing to risk himself being hurt to entertain the fans and they appreciated it. Paul Heyman talked about how some labeled Foley as a Abdullah/Bruiser Brody mold of brawler but he was much more than that. Foley said that while on TV they talked about he loved the pain he never actually did especially today.

Vader: Vader said Foley fought him blow for blow in their feud. JR praised Vader and called him the most agile super heavyweight ever. Foley loved the crowd reactions during the time. Vader said looking back he enjoys the moments and stuff they did during the feud. Foley recalls a story where Harley Race told him to nail Vader with a shovel so hard and if he didn’t, he’d hit him with it in the locker room. Vader said Foley hit him so hard and he was in great pain but told him if you hit me that hard you’ll expect it back. Foley called the Vader rivalry his best in WCW and he geared up for them as the biggest matches in his career. Vader called the feud the hottest thing in wrestling at the time. Heyman loved the brutal matches they had. In one match Vader blooded Foley to require stitches and broke his nose. During their Halloween Havoc 1993 match, Foley jumps on Vader’s back but Vader just falls back on top of him which looked painful! Foley was in so much pain and even tried to collect a Lloyds Of London Insurance Policy on it which failed. On a WCW tour of Germany in March 1994 Foley famously lost part of his ear during a match with Vader. It was caught and ripped in a rope spot. Vader tore the piece off in some punches back in the ring which Vader didn’t know he did until he saw the video on tape, which we get fan cam footage. Vader did indeed rip off the ear. The ref was French and couldn’t communicate to Foley he lost part of his ear so he gave it to ring announcer Gary Michael Cappeta who told Foley his ear looked like a piece of chicken with tape on it. After the match Foley had difficulty getting into a hospital being in Germany but got part of his ear attached after a four hour surgery. With a rival ripping an ear off, you’d think this feud would continue in 1994 as WCWs hottest feud right? Wrong! They did nothing to enhance the feud and dropped it which upset both Foley and Vader and the fans. After his dismay of WCW not doing anything with it and knowing he’d likely never see the main event scene in WCW Foley gave his notice to WCW and left in the Fall of 1994. A puzzling thing to me is we spend a whole documentary chapter on Foley vs. Vader rivalry and yet no match between the two is on this biography set!

ECW and Japan: Walking away from a guaranteed contract without telling his wife and having two young kids was tough, but Foley didn’t want this to be the end of his wrestling career as he had come too far. He immediately got picked up by ECW. Paul Heyman put over Foley and talked about how he raised the bar. Joey Styles talked about how Foley gave ECW legitimacy as while he wasn’t a top name in the sport, he was a well known name that had national television time. Foley’s goal was to make the WWF and he didn’t understand how he wasn’t given a shot when they had gimmick wrestlers such as Aldo Montoya and Isaac Yankem so Foley decided to show his real life emotions in shoot interviews in ECW. We see clips of the infamous “Cane Dewey” promo. Both Joey and Heyman knew they struck gold five seconds after filming it. During this time Japan was experiencing popularity in extreme hardcore matches and Foley took tours in Japan for IWA and had a series of extreme matches with Terry Funk which they had many hospital trips after. Foley talked about the painful injuries and burns he suffered in the matches and how awful the bus rides were being blooded and all. Funk vs. Foley were drawing big crowds in Japan including over 30,000 people at some shows. Their final blow off the King Of The Deathmatch is a popular match and Foley defeated Terry Funk. Terry praised Foley and said Foley was the right guy to pass the torch to and that he wouldn’t have done it for anyone else.

Mankind: In late 1995, JR finally convinced Vince to sign Foley. JR said he liked Foley not only as a wrestler but a person. Instead of the Cactus Jack persona however WWE came up with a masked gimmick for him. Shawn Michaels was surprised they didn’t bring him in as Cactus Jack, but knew Foley would make this new gimmick work. Foley wasn’t too pleased and sure about it at first but decided he finally made the big time and to make the gimmick special. He got a leather mask instead of an iron mask and after a list of names like Mason The Mutilator was decided to be Mankind The Mutilator but got narrowed to just Mankind. Foley pitched ideas like deranged entrance music and calm exit music which they did. After a series of vignettes, he made his debut in a big way on RAW the night after WrestleMania 12 attacking the Undertaker in his match against Bradshaw. Many wondered if Foley would be pressured and nervous having his first big feud against the Undertaker but he thrived. At King Of The Ring 1996, Foley thought he’d lose to Taker but he got the win which was a surprise. Foley thought it was a one-off victory and Taker would win the rematch at SummerSlam in the Boiler Room brawl but he didn’t. Michael Hayes talked about how brutal watching the Boiler Room brawl live was. Foley said he knows that not everyone cared for that match but it was a personal favorite of his. Foley talked about how some fans were upset that he was Mankind and not Cactus Jack, but that changed at In Your House Mind Games in ECWs backyard in Philly in September 1996 in a WWF Championship Match against Shawn Michaels. It was a classic match where Foley and HBK not only showcased fine wrestling but with a hardcore twist. Neck tangled in the ropes, table spot, suplex on the steel steps etc were some of the more memorable moments of the match. Foley called it his all time favorite and pleased that HBK loves it as well to showcase a different style for him. CM Punk praised the match and claimed its one of his all time favorite matches, too. In my opinion if it had a pinfall or submission finish instead of a DQ it would be a ***** classic. It’s a great match that every wrestling fan must see and it’s easy to find as its on many WWE DVD releases. In 1997, Vince thought that Mick Foley’s real life story would be more interesting than the back-story of the Mankind character so they started a worked shoot interview series with JR in May/June 1997 in which Foley answered and talked about real life things but in the Mankind persona. After the first segment Foley was riding with Stone Cold Steve Austin who asked was Vince planning on turning Mankind face? Foley said no and Austin told him that within two weeks he will be cheered throughout the building which he was and turned face.

Dude Love: Vince didn’t know that Foley had a character growing up named Dude Love and told Foley how about being Dude Love. Foley thought it was a one night only gig, but Vince wanted to go with it permanently. The plan was for Mankind to beg to be Stone Cold’s new tag team partner but Austin would refuse or give Foley a Stone Cold Stunner. In the vacant tag team championship match, Austin faced Owen Hart and British Bulldog alone. Foley then debuted as Dude Love and together they became the tag team champs. The look on Stone Colds face is priceless and Foley loved the Dude Love music but wasn’t sure if he could dance. HHH talked about how he was in the middle of a feud with Foley as Mankind and then it was changed to Dude Love but they went back to Mankind in a Steel Cage match at SummerSlam 97. Foley talked about how much it hurt when Chyna slammed the Steel Cage door on his head. At the conclusion of the match Foley had a Superfly Jimmy Snuka moment with an elbow off the top of the cage to win. The next month at MSG it was decided by Vince to have Mankind and Dude Love to have a video package to introduce Cactus Jack into the WWF. Foley called it magic. HHH talked about the chemistry he had with Foley and their best match at this stage of their feud. Foley said it was a great Falls Count Anywhere match that still holds up today.

Hell in a Cell: Foley likes X-Pac and considers him a friend but he thought he humiliated him on RAW the night after WrestleMania during a steel cage tag team title match with Terry Funk against the New Age Outlaws when the new era of DX began. Foley talked about the heel turn as he was being hurt yet the fans were chanting for Austin in his upcoming appearance. This led to Dude Love going heel on Austin and getting a series of WWF Championship matches at the In Your House events of April and May. Foley called both of these matches classics and among the very best of the Dude Love persona. Foley thought he had shifted through the 3 Faces Of Foley personas too often and that it caused him to lose some interest from the fans and be stuck on the same spot in the card. With a Hell In The Cell match vs. The Undertaker coming up at King Of The Ring 1998 he wanted to change that. First a conversation with Terry Funk, Foley was told to start at the top of the cage. Michael Hayes said hardly anybody in the locker room knew what was about to happen next. JR said he had no idea what was going on either. In one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history Undertaker threw Mankind from the top of the cell 18 feet down all the way crashing through a table. JR was legit panicking as he yelled they’ve killed him and ”we need some help out her quickly and I mean it”. JR said it would have killed a normal human being, but Foley was not a normal human being. Sheamus and Miz both talk about watching it growing up as fans and how their mouths dropped open as they never seen anything like that and thought Foley was done. After medical attention and being stretchered out Foley pushed off the help and went back up the cell to receive a BRUTAL chokeslam from the top of the cell down to the ring with a chair hitting him in addition to the bump. While he doesn’t say it here on the doc Foley has said before that this bump hurt worse than the toss. Terry Funk thought it killed him. Foley’s eyes were glazed over and you can tell he was out of it immediately afterward. Yet he still continued to have a match against Taker and and lost when Taker chokeslammed and tombstoned him onto thumbtacks. JR said during the match when Foley had a smile on his face despite bloody and a tooth in his nose that he loved the storyline and knew it was. Foley said after the match Vince thanked him for doing that for his company but told him he was placing a ”government” on him. Foley asked what he meant and he compared it to restricting the MPH on a car that he couldn’t do spots like that ever again and had to go to him on risqué spots. Foley said if the match had happened today it would have been stopped after the toss from the HIAC because he was knocked out.

Mr. Socko: The Mankind persona had started to show some humor especially towards Mr. McMahon. During one skit on RAW on October 5th 1998 Mr. McMahon was hospitalized and was paid a visit from Mankind. Foley wanted to bring Vince some gifts such as a cheap small box of chocolates, stickers, Yurple who was a real life comedy clown etc. Al Snow suggested Mick to use a sock puppet as a bad gift. Hence the birth of Mr. Socko. Mick believes that it wasn’t his delivery of Mr. Socko that got it over but how as the segment closed Vince sarcastically saying ”Mr. Socko”. The next night at television tapings (Generally in 98 RAW tapings happened on Monday and Tuesday night with the Monday one live and the Tuesday one airing the next week), Vince Russo asked Foley if he still had Mr. Socko as signs were everywhere. Mr. Socko became a part of Mankind/Mick Foley after that with the Mandible Claw and one of the mascots of the Attitude Era.

The Rock: At Survivor Series 1998, the Rock won the vacant WWF Championship in a tournament final against Mankind. Having thought he was Vince’s pick to replace Stone Cold Steve Austin as champion, Mankind was duped as they recreated the Montreal screwjob from the year prior giving Rock his first title win and the Corporate Champion was born. Rock called it a risky but successful double turn as both were great as a face or heel but when the turn happened it was done successfully. Everyone knew that the big main event for WrestleMania XV would be the Rock defending the championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was just a matter of who would face the Rock in the meantime. They went with a Rock vs. Mankind feud that started from Survivor Series 98 spanned seven big championship matches: four on PPV and three big TV matches. Two were on RAW and the other was the Halftime Heat special during the halftime of the Super Bowl. The feud was done well and Foley got his big championship win on a taped RAW that aired on January 4th 1999. Everyone talks about how happy they were for Foley and how big of a thrill it was. HHH even called it one of his unforgettable moments in his career hoisting Foley up after the title win. While not mentioned here, this is now generally looked at as the night that WCW started its downfall in the Monday Night Wars not only due to the Fingerpoke of Doom but Tony Schiavone mentioning that ”Mick Foley who used to wrestle here as Cactus Jack is going to win their world title that will put a lot of asses in the seats”. This announcement was done to get Nitro a ratings boost over RAW but did the exact opposite as 600,000 fans left Nitro to tune into RAW to watch the historic moment of Mick Foley’s first WWF Championship win. The most memorable match of the Rock/Mankind feud (and not in a good way) is the Royal Rumble 1999 “I Quit” match which is somewhat tough to watch where Rock pummeled Mankind repeatedly with chair shots. Foley said he wishes he had done that match differently but he and the Rock were caught up in the moment and wanting to have a brutal match. What was the result of the seven-match feud? Three wins for Foley, three wins for the Rock, and one draw. Completely even. A few months after that, the Rock was face again and soaring as a top star in wrestling and in popularity. They paired him with Mankind as “the Rock N Sock Connection”, which was a completely opposite tag team but they made it work. Miz said he thought the pair wouldn’t do well, but then they pulled out the famous “This Is Your Life” segment, which is the highest rated segment ever on RAW. Rock called it one of his favorite moments of all time and one of the best ever moments on RAW. Foley said while Rock N Sock didn’t have any standout matches as a tag team, they made up for it with comedy gold that entertained the fans.

Author: In early 1999, the WWF reached a three book deal with publisher ReganBooks. The deal was to include three autobiographies from WWF wrestlers. It was decided that Stone Cold, the Rock, and Mick Foley would be the three stars to release books with Foley going first. Foley didn’t like the direction his ghostwriter was going in so he asked publisher Judith Regan for a change in direction. She said he thought about getting another ghostwriter as it does happen when writing books, but Foley decided he wanted to tell the story of his life himself. She was skeptical at first but he wrote samples of his work and the wrestlers were mesmerized by it and she was impressed as well. Everywhere he had some down time in the locker room, on flights and in the hotel, Foley would write his autobiography on notepads. HHH recalled one time Foley handed him a story on a flight asking if he liked it. He did and told him to go with it and later found it in the book which he thought was really cool and he was the first person to read that story. The next battle was the length of the story as Foley had written around 700 pages of notepads. The publishers thought it should have been cut down as much as half! William Regal said even if they had cut it in half, it would have been an excellent book. But Foley persisted that all of it needed to be told in his life story and it got approved. He thought he’d hook the readers in the introduction by talking about losing his ear in the Vader match. Foley wanted it to be called Blood, Sweat, and Socks but that ended up being the subtitle. Have A Nice Day was decided on as the title and was released in November 1999. It debuted at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list and shot up to #1 in early December. Stock footage shows a Barnes and Noble manager talking about how the book was flying off the shelves and the huge turnout for Foley’s autograph signing. Everyone praised how great the book was. Michael Hayes mentions that he didn’t want the book to end. In my opinion, “Have a Nice Day” is the best ever wrestling autobiography and the only two that come close are Jericho’s first one (Foley-level comedy) and Bret Hart’s autobiography (as lengthy and detailed as Foley’s and written by Bret himself), which Foley would even tell you himself. This spawned three autobiography sequels, several children’s books, and even a novel by Foley. Judith Regan said Foley was among great writers in literature in terms of sales. While as great as this success was, we’ll see later how things unfortunately changed between Foley’s relationship with the WWF.

Triple H: Foley was wearing down and at one point had a brief memory loss. Vince said enough is enough and they agreed it was best for Foley to retire at Survivor Series 1999. Foley teamed with Al Snow on that card. However around this time Stone Cold Steve Austin’s neck needed surgery and he would be out for a year, so they needed someone to take Austin’s place in WWF championship matches against HHH so Foley volunteered to put off retirement a few months to face HHH. The Cactus Jack/HHH street fight at the Royal Rumble in 2000 is a classic and what Foley and HHH each call one of the best matches in their career. The match put over HHH as a bonafide worker and star. The Hell In A Cell rematch one month later in February 2000 was a solid match as well with HHH winning and the stipulation being that if Cactus Jack didn’t win the WWF championship, he would have to retire. He got a good sendoff from the fans and JR thanked him on air. However, just two weeks after the Hell In A Cell match, Mick Foley got a phone call saying they wanted him in the WrestleMania main event after all. Foley always had wanted a WrestleMania moment and to be in the main event. He refused at first as he was freshly retired. WWF had saved the planned main event of HHH vs. Rock for Backlash and wanted to do a Fatal Four-Way match between HHH/Rock/Big Show/Foley with a McMahon representing each one with Linda McMahon represented Foley. An interesting tidbit here not mentioned but Jericho talked about in his second book that he believed had Foley rejected the WWF’s offer, he would have been inserted into the match because there were WrestleMania posters of him with Rock, HHH, and Show together. Foley particularly didn’t care for his performance and said he regretted doing it. He said he must have been the first ever person to balk at being in the main event of WrestleMania.

Commissioner: After WrestleMania 2000, Foley thought he’d shave his head as a way to not get noticed. Of course, it showed off his bad ear which everyone knew about now from the autobiography and people recognized him all the same. The WWF called and wanted him to return in an on-air role. In June 2000, Shawn Michaels stepped aside as WWF Commissioner and Mick Foley was named as his replacement. It was only six months long but Foley was comedy gold especially with the heels. HBK put him over at how well he excelled in the role. He’d have makeshift offices either in carts or weird places in the arena. He loved his comedy segments as commissioner with Edge and Christian. His all-time favorite segment as commissioner though was on the September 7th 2000 Smackdown segment with Kurt Angle. Foley turned Angle’s words against him during a complaint about Eddie Guerrero and Chyna and booked him in a match against the Undertaker. Angle not amused said Foley he lied about the nice beads he had wore and Foley called him a jerk as he left. This segment in its entirety is an extra on Foley’s Greatest Hits and Misses DVD set. Foley called his time as the Commish the most fun of his career as he used comedy. He could arrive late, leave early, and never had to change or get beaten up. He wished it had lasted longer than six months but thought he made an impression in those six months. I’m surprised how they didn’t cover Foley’s most memorable declaration as commissioner in creating the TLC Match at SummerSlam 2000. I think many fans would agree that Commissioner Foley was the all time greatest face authority leader bar none.

Going Away: In 2001, Foley and the WWF had a falling out over Foley’s novel Tietam Brown. He published it with ReganBooks but not with WWFs involvement or cooperation. They wanted to but their deal with ReganBooks had ended and Foley and Judith Regan felt WWF’s involvement wasn’t needed in writing this novel. The WWF and Mick Foley agreed to part ways as he was told it would be better if he did than to stick around and do other projects because it might divide the relationship even further. He didn’t return back to WWE for a year and a half where he was honored at a RAW ceremony in 2003 where they retired the Hardcore Championship belt to him and he was the guest referee of a HHH/Kevin Nash HIAC match.

Randy Orton: Once again lured by having a WrestleMania Moment, Foley came out of retirement for the first time in four years as the Rock N Sock Connection reunited to face Randy Orton, Batista and Ric Flair of Evolution. Foley lost 70 pounds in preparation for this match but didn’t think his performance was good as he couldn’t shine like he wanted to in a multi-man match. After the match, he asked if he could have a hardcore no-holds-barred match with Randy Orton at Backlash 2004 the next month. It was a brutal match. Orton talked about how the match legitimized him as the legend killer and how he and Foley were doing stuff you wouldn’t see on PG TV these days. Foley loved the match and now considers it his best match ever. Foley said had he retired right there it would have been a perfect end to his career.

Making a Difference: Foley started doing charity work for charities like Make-A-Wish and Operation Smile. Foley claimed that doing the charity work was always one of his favorite things while in the WWF. He’s won many awards for the charity work he’s done for the sick and poor. One girl he started sponsoring at age three is now close to becoming a registered nurse. He even has a middle school named after him and his wife in Indonesia! Dee Snider of Twisted Sister said that Foley’s charity work and involvement got him into doing it and he’s won several awards himself but nowhere near Foley! Foley also appeared at indy wrestling events and wanted to give back to the biz. He felt if he would occasionally endorse guys to Vince it would carry a lot of stock and get them signed being a former WWE Champion and Hardcore legend. There were two calls Foley gave the call to Vince on: CM Punk and Samoa Joe. Punk said he and Joe had heard stuff like this before from others on getting them signed, but Foley did go to bat for them. Punk was honored to be getting advice from Foley and feels he played a huge role in the career he’s had. He wishes he could have had a match with him but was honored to even do promos with him last year on RAW. He felt like even then being a star he was learning things. WWE ended up not signing Samoa Joe who has been with TNA for the past eight years and while he’s had a run as their world champion, many fans have hated the way his stock has dropped.

Edge: Foley still wanted that WrestleMania moment as how could he call himself a legend without one. At WrestleMania 22, he returned to face Edge in a hardcore match. It was a solid match with barbed wire and blood and ended with a flaming table spot. Regal called the match a masterpiece. Foley loved the ending and felt he finally had his WrestleMania moment and solidified his status as a legend like after the hardcore match with Randy Orton when he should have retired right then and there. Foley admits his 2006-2007 run was due to the money. Big Show doesn’t blame Foley for coming back and having runs. HHH said that if a star retires and stays retired, fans respect that and think it’s cool, but would go watch them if they came out of retirement even if it was for one match only.

Retirement: We skip Foley’s 2008 Smackdown announcing stint that he hated (deleted scene as a Blu-Ray Extra) and 2 and a half year stint in TNA and go right to two doctors talking about retirement. JR said he feels Foley’s body was telling him we’ve made it this far and proud of it but can’t take anymore. Punk said he doesn’t want to see Foley falling off Hell In A Cells anymore, but wouldn’t mind seeing him back using Mandible Claws with Mr. Socko and doing his comedy stuff. Foley said he wished he could have shut the door on his career himself instead of having others do it for him. While not mentioned here, it was widely reported that Foley and Punk were to have a feud in late 2012 with Punk going over at TLC, but Vince was worried if Foley’s body could take such a marquee match. He’s still part of WWE though with projects like this set, a new children’s book, the WWE Hall Of Fame, charity work, and RAW appearances etc.

Stand Up Comic: With Foley being such a funny guy, it seems obvious that he would try comedy. He got the idea after doing public speaking after best sellers and would get reactions to jokes on guys like Al Snow. He said he didn’t want to sit there one day regretting not doing it so he tried it. He’s received praise for his comedy and has toured various places across the US and Europe. Regal said he went to a comedy show and thought Foley was a total pro at it. His beautiful daughter Noelle said that her dad is corny but that’s what makes him so funny. We see footage of Mick joking he’s wearing the same flannel shirt as his picture on the program, but that was taken 12 years ago. He also did a George W Bush impression after he met him where he did his bang bang.

A Complete One-Off: All the personalities interviewed for the documentary give their thoughts on Mick. HHH said he was a guy that achieved his dream despite not being athletic or having the look. He just would not take “no” for an answer. Many praise him as the hardcore legend/innovator and made it popular. Others praised him for his threshold of pain in order to entertain the fans. Kofi Kingston said Foley was a top promo guy in addition to the hardcore style he’s known for. Big Show said you know you’ve made it when you have signs saying You’re God. John Cena said Foley was like a common fan in the seats that made it big. Shane Douglas said Foley’s matches will still hold up fifty years from now. Regal called Mick Foley a complete one off in terms of style and personality. Heyman praises Mick for being a total family man as many in the business don’t have that yet. Mick loves his family and vice versa. Noelle said she wrote in second grade her dad was her hero and he still is today because he achieved his dream. Terry Funk talks about how thrifty Mick is except for when it comes to his family and charities. To close out the bio, Mick says while taking steps he feels pain at times but he’s happy how everything went and now he can spend time with his family.

DISC TWO
MATCHES

• WWF Tag Team Champions The British Bulldogs (w/Captain Lou Albano) vs. Jack Foley and Les Thornton – (WWF Superstars, 9/13/86)
  

This match is notable for two reasons: it’s the last match on the second-ever episode of Superstars AND Mick Foley’s first match in the WWF. He’s just 21 years old, below average build, and barely even a rookie. Naturally, Foley describes his experience in his first book much better than I could. Looking like the typical 1970s wrestler, Thornton starts the match doing his thing with Davey Boy. Now it’s time to give Mick a chance. He gets eaten alive by the Bulldogs taking their signature moves. Foley gets in one reverse elbow, which Davey COMPLETELY no-sells. Dynamite puts away Foley with the Back Superplex at 3:42. Foley would wrestle the next day for the Wrestling Challenge tapings in a tag match with Terry Gibbs taking on the Killer Bees. He wouldn’t return to WWF jobber duty until January 1987 when he was announced as Nick Fail-y.

• Cactus Jack and Gary Young (w/Downtown Bruno) vs. Scott Steiner and Billy Travis – (AWA All Star Wrestling, October 1988)
  

We’ve got Lee Marshall and Verne Gagne on commentary here. Just another stop for Mick on his strange journey to the top. Before he went to WCW for a cup of coffee in 1990, Cactus floated around the AWA, Memphis, and World Class territories. Probably the most well-known thing that he did in the AWA though was open the infamous SuperClash III PPV with the Rock N Roll RPMs when they took on the Guerrero brothers. What’s most interesting about this match is not really anything Cactus Jack is doing, but seeing a young, skinny, pale, kneepad-less Scott Steiner. He and Billy Joe Travis were also a regular tag team at the time. Cactus and Steiner start us off. Steiner won’t take a whip out of the corner and backdrops Cactus instead. This is probably the earliest I’ve seen of Scott. Watching this, you can already see he shows some promise. Powerslam to Cactus. He tags in Travis for a double back elbow for two. Cactus slams away Travis and reaches Young. He runs right into an a series of armdrags. Travis misses a corner charge and gets worked over. Tag to Cactus, a double back elbow leads to a knee drop from Cactus for two. Gorgeous Gary comes in and launches Travis into the air for the best spot of the match. Travis fairly easily fights out of the corner and hot tags Steiner. The babyfaces whip Cactus and Young into each other. While Steiner avoids a slam and O’Connor rolls Cactus, Young slips out and grabs a boot from Downtown Bruno. Young nails Steiner with the boot and Cactus lays on top of him for the 1-2-3. (4:15 shown) Nothing too amazing, but I was entertained for four minutes. *

• Cactus Jack Manson vs. Brickhouse Brown – (Wild West Wrestling, April 1989)
  

This is Dallas almost as DEAD as Dallas will get. If I’m not mistaken and very well could be because my knowledge of World Class past 1984 is sketchy at best, but I believe this is between WCWA ending and the USWA beginning. Anyways, Cactus Jack Manson is starting to show his maniacal side through his looks he gives the crowd and his personality here that we would come to know over the next bunch of years. There’s a test of strength early on with Cactus getting the better of Brickhouse, which is just a ridiculous visual considering how JACKED Brickhouse is compared to Cactus. No offense, Mick. Brickhouse does kick at Cactus and breaks loose to armdrag him over. Kind of an awkward exchange as Brickhouse dropkicks Cactus to the floor for a double sledge. Back in, Brickhouse Brown works the arm as ref Morty Seinfeld watches on. Cactus elbows Brickhouse back and levels him with a nice clothesline out of the corner. He hits Brickhouse with that jumping back elbow that Davey Boy no-sold in his Bulldogs squash match, but Brickhouse actually sells it. Cactus hammers the back and wants a suplex, but Brickhouse counters for one of his own. Oh, but a big jumping elbow drop misses. Cactus now grabs a chinlock. The crowd gets behind Brickhouse, but he fights up into a knee to the gut. Russian legsweep (!) by Cactus gets 1-2-NO! More chinlockage. Brickhouse makes one more comeback as he elbows out of the chinlock, somersaults away from a clothesline, and answers back with his own clothesline. One minute left in the time limit. Even in 1989, Mick Foley should not be coming off the top rope. He misses a flying headbutt. Brown nails a Swinging Neckbreaker and starts to get riled up just a little too late in the match. He lands a Jumping Headbutt seconds before the 10-minute time-limit has elapsed. (9:39) Not a real good match by any means, but it’s interesting to see Cactus Jack evolve. *½

• Cactus Jack Manson (w/Kevin Sullivan) vs. Keith Hart – (NWA Power Hour, 3/2/90)
  

We had seen on the recent Clash of the Champions where Cactus took a CRAZY back first concrete bump in a match with Mil Mascaras. He personally chose this match for this set to show us that he didn’t just take a good beating, but he could also dish one out as well. Kevin Sullivan in a Members Only jacket is at ringside watching the whole thing. With the J-Tex Corporation on its deathbed, Buzz Sawyer had recently joined up with Sullivan, who is mentioned on commentary. Also around this time, Cactus was beating up jobbers that he would get teamed with after they would lose their match. Keith Hart was not one of those jobbers though. Hart tries to make a match of it here until he gets blasted with a clothesline as he comes off the middle rope. Cactus sits him on the top turnbuckle and dumps him backwards on the mat. This turns into an old school heel squash as Cactus lifts up Hart off the mat during the count. To the floor, the Cactus Clothesline takes Hart over the guardrail. Cactus pushes the guardrail back towards the ring and nails Hart with a Cactus Elbow as well. Awesome. Cactus then rolls poor Hart back inside and taking the advice of Kevin Sullivan, he tightly hooks a half nelson and a leg for the pin. (5:37) Excellent squash and a nice finish to establish he’s got Sullivan in his ear for something important in the near future.

• Sting vs. Cactus Jack – Submit or Surrender Match (WCW Power Hour, 11/23/91)
  

This is like a submission, an “I quit”, and a last man standing match all wrapped into one. Since this was taped before the Clash, Sting still has the U.S. title with him. There’s no way the totally legitimate championship committee would allow this one to be a title match though. Cactus jumps Sting right as he slides into the ring. Not wasting a single moment, he unloads with the Terry Funk left jabs and hits him with a right. Sting ducks the Cactus Clothesline and we go to the floor with Sting in control. Lucky for him, there’s an empty Rubbermaid trash can at ringside. Sting wants to suplex him on it, but Cactus has other plans and drives Sting back into the guardrail. Cactus beats Sting with the trash can, but ends up taking a back suplex on it. GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY! GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY! THAT KILLED HIM. AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, HE IS BROKEN IN HALF. Nah, but there is concrete out there, and that is certainly painful to land on. Back inside, Sting beats Cactus with the trash can some more. He even sticks him inside the trash can before dropping an elbow on him. With Cactus stuck in the Rubbermaid, Sting flies off the top to splash him to make matters worse. Sting now gets Cactus out of the can and lays in the ten-count corner punches. Cactus misses the inverted atomic drop and takes a clothesline. As they run the ropes, Sting tries a leapfrog and takes a shoulder to the balls. Cactus now tries to keep Sting incapacitated as he kicks and chokes him in the ropes. Bulldog by Cactus and he covers, but you can’t win by pinfall! To the floor we go again. Cactus grabs a chair from over the guardrail and hits Sting over the back. JR – “If you saw the Clash and didn’t like it, there’s got to be something wrong with you.”

Back inside, Cactus works the neck. Sting fights out of a chinlock, but then takes a jumping headbutt followed by a running legdrop. Back to the chinlock. Sting escapes with a jawbreaker, but whiffs on a dropkick. DOUBLE-ARM DDT! Sting is up at I believe the count of eight. Cactus wants another Double-Arm DDT, but Sting backdrops him over the top rope to the floor. I feel like this match is not getting JR’s full attention. He’s too busy talking about the fallout of the Clash and whether or not Rick Steiner or Sting is singing the blues. Pescado by Sting takes out Cactus. He gives Cactus a snap suplex on the floor before bringing him back in the ring. Stinger Splash misses, but Sting catches himself to prevent any damage. He flies onto Cactus, but gets caught and dropped for a hotshot. Awesome! We go to the floor again as Cactus takes Sting over to the aisleway so he can drop the Cactus Elbow off the apron. VINTAGE FOLEY! Cactus finds a mic and asks Sting if he wants to give it up. “NOT A CHANCE!” What an ’80s tough guy thing to say. Wanting to cut off a possible comeback, Cactus finds a chair and throws the ref aside. He tries to whack Sting while he’s leaning on the ropes, but Sting moves at the last second which causes the chair to bounce back into Jack’s face. Ha! With Cactus a little loopy, Sting manages to dropkick him off the apron, causing Cactus to fall backwards up against the guardrail onto the concrete. Just a nasty bump. Well, he’s dead. Sting slaps on the SCORPION DEATHLOCK and gets the win as Cactus cannot answer the ref. (12:17) They packed in a lot of action and managed to tell a good story with the time allotted. If they had used maybe a metal trash can instead, the trash can spots wouldn’t have looked so silly. This is on par with the Beach Blast match, only except that match had more risks involved. ****

• Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer – Falls Count Anywhere Match (WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII, 1/21/92)
  

What the heck? Hammer shoots off some picks out of his guitar that BLIND Cactus and almost get him pinned within the first five seconds of the match. Hammer delivers a bunch of clotheslines, but Cactus catches him on one of them and puts Hammer out on the floor with his perfected Cactus clothesline for two. Cactus rolls up the padding around ringside and delivers a sunset flip off the middle rope for two. Hammer escapes out of a sleeper and powerslams Cactus on the rampway. They brawl up the rampway until Hammer tosses Jack down on the concrete floor! Sick bump that would make you cringe in 1992. That gets two for Hammer. Jack gets back up and they continue fighting to the dressing room to set up a commercial break. We’re back and now we see Cactus beating Hammer with a 2×4 out in an area that would be used in the future for a rodeo in this expocenter, which explains the saddles, hay bales, and all the rope. Missy Hyatt is out there for some reason. From the angle were given, it looks like Dusty Rhodes is interfering, but it’s only Abdullah the Butcher wearing a cowboy hat and a red cowboy shirt. Now Cactus has two guys to fight and during the mayhem, Abdullah blasts Hammer with a shovel to give Cactus the pinfall. (6:49) Cactus and Abdullah continue to brawl near a water trough. Somehow, Missy gets tossed in and it’s COLD OUT THURR! Definitely the best match Van Hammer was ever associated with in his career, but I don’t think it holds up as a classic or anything. **½

• ECW World Heavyweight Champion The Sandman (w/Woman) vs. Cactus Jack – Barbed Wire Match (Ft. Lauderdale, FL; 5/5/95)
  

Sandman proves that no amount of alcohol or drugs makes you so stupid, that you would walk right into a barbed wire match with Cactus Jack, because he is SUPER reluctant to get into the ring. Cactus avoids the wire off a whip, but Sandman’s footing is off as he slides, and goes balls deep go into the wire to become the FIRST victim here. On the floor, Cactus beats Sandman with a trash can and a plastic chair. Back inside, Cactus tries to push Sandman’s face down onto the wire when Woman saves Sandman by whacking Cactus in the shin with the cane. As payback, Sandman hangs Cactus out to dry on the barbed wire. Back on the floor, Cactus gets the cane away from Sandman and Cactus Clotheslines him over the guardrail. Sandman takes over and beats Cactus around ringside before abusing his arm with the barbed wire. With Cactus draped across the bottom wire, Sandman drops the leg. Cactus has now bladed his arm as they finally draw blood. Cactus is still on the floor, so Sandman gets a running start from inside the ring, and jumps over the barbed wire to nail Cactus with his cane. Yes, that just happened. Back inside, Cactus gets his face raked on the wire and blades. Now Sandman takes a tumble through the wire and gets his face raked in return. Sandman fires back by picking up Cactus and dropping him crotch first on the wire. Almost the entire top wire has fallen down. Sandman now wraps himself in barbed wire, but that backfires as Cactus pulls up Sandman’s shirt, and keeps it over his face using the wire. Sandman hotshots Cactus to regain the momentum. Just because that’s what he does, Sandman lights up a cigarette. He wants another hotshot, but Cactus drops down with a DDT for the pin. (12:14) It’s no secret that I do not care for the Sandman. I don’t really like these type of matches either because anybody who is crazy enough and understands very basic wrestling storytelling can do them – especially this one. The only reason the one they did at the ECW Arena in June 1995 was acceptable was because of the story. Anyways, Cactus Jack is the #1 contender to the ECW title, and becomes Sandman’s foil for the next several months. ¾*

• Cactus Jack vs. Shane Douglas – (ECW Cyberslam, 2/17/96)
  

Cactus comes out in his fancy clothes (an ugly jacket, jeans, and some boots) saying that he just got back from a wedding and had a little too much to eat and drink. Therefore, he would not feel good about putting the ECW fans out and giving them a poor performance tonight. Drink responsibly, folks. Don’t drink and drive. You know, being all non-hardcore and WWF friendly. Cactus then begins to laugh and asks for a Mankind chant. He even asks for somebody to toss him a beer, which happens. He says he’s never been drunk when he wrestled, but then decides to have a Cactus Jack going away party. That’s when Shane Douglas hits the ring and nails Cactus from behind. He’s only been back about a month now since leaving the WWF. To the floor we go! A crutch gets involved. Douglas then flies down from the top with a double sledge. Back in, Douglas gets on the mic and declares that class is dismissed before cursing at the crowd. The “Dean is dead!” chants begin. On the floor again, Shane gives Cactus a suplex onto the top of the guardrail. YEEOWCH. With Cactus in the crowd, Douglas flies off the top again this time with a plancha. Back inside, Douglas decides to Pillmanize Jack’s leg before that was even a thing. Cactus fires back with a chairshot and abuses Douglas as he’s draped on the apron. After Douglas falls on the timekeeper’s table, Cactus turns the table over top of him and splashes through it. Can’t fail to mention Cactus spitting a loogie into the air and swallowing it on the way down. Drop toehold onto a chair on Douglas gets two. Pullup Piledriver garners the same result. As Cactus corners Douglas and peppers him with forearms, ref Brian Hildebrand backs up Cactus and gives some handcuffs to Douglas. Cactus is KO’ed with the cuffs and then gets handcuffed with his hands behind his back. Remember Royal Rumble 1999 with all the no-hands chairshots to Foley? That’s exactly what happens here. Except here it’s only about eight chairshots instead of 20, which is still terrible. Hildebrand sticks a mic in Jack’s face asking if he gives up. Cactus just calls out to Vince. Two more chairshots. Even though he turned on him, Foley calls for Mikey Whipwreck. One more shot. No Mikey. Cactus charges at Douglas only to be met with ANOTHER chairshot. Douglas shoves him down and applies the Figure-Four. Cactus won’t give up. Here comes Mikey Whipwreck who looks to nail Douglas, but instead takes a knockout swing on Cactus. Luckily it was just a plastic folding chair, but still. That’s enough for Hildebrand to count the pin. (15:42) So Douglas hoped to bring the hardcore back to Cactus, and I would say this did it. Cactus would wrap up things in ECW with Mikey Whipwreck the following month in a heck of a sendoff. ***¼

• Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia – (WWF IYH: A Cold Day in Hell, 5/11/97)
  

THE ROCK N SOCK CONNECTION EXPLODES~! Since this was originally supposed to be Mankind against Psycho Sid, it certainly appeared from last week’s Raw that Mankind’s replacement opponent would be Goldust. Nevertheless, Rocky dominates to start working the arm. Mankind dumps him out for a CANNONBALLLLLLL. Back in, Mankind delivers the running knee in the corner and squeals in his face. Rocky snapmares Mankind out and meets him on the floor for a Rock Bottom on the rampway! Back in the ring, Rocky covers for 1-2-NO! No one cares about this match and it almost seems like Rocky is already beginning to have that attitude we would start to see once he joins the Nation. He just looks angry during the whole match. SHOULDERBREAKER connects, but Mankind rolls through the Flying Bodypress to clamp on the MANDIBLE CLAW for the submission. (8:07) Pretty flat match outside the last couple minutes. **

• Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Chyna) vs. Mankind – (WWF IYH: Canadian Stampede, 7/6/97)
  

This is the rematch from the KOTR finals as Mankind continues to ascension into being a babyface. He storms the ring and hits Helmsley early with a Double-Arm DDT. Mankind even does the Helmsley bow for added insult. HHH lands his signature facebuster, but charges Mankind and takes a backdrop to the floor. With Helmsley down, Mankind delivers the Cactus Elbow from the apron. Back in, that gets two. Meanwhile, Vince brags on Chyna’s deltoids. The man is a FREAK. Vince that is, not Chyna. Helmsley takes the Harley Race corner bump out to the floor and decides to fight another day, but Mankind won’t allow that. He runs Helmsley down and gives him a suplex on the ramp. Back in, HHH sunset flips Mankind, but now he’s vulnerable for the MANDIBLE CLAW, which I believe Jerry Lawler found that out during the KOTR. While the ref is REALLY close to Hunter, Chyna reaches in and blasts Mankind with a forearm shot to break up the hold. That brings out Mankind to chase Chyna for the obvious distraction, but he turns around and nails Helmsley just in time. As he goes to whip Hunter into the steps, Helmsley reverses and sends Mankind into a hiptoss by Chyna onto the steps where his left leg gets destroyed. To make matters worse, HHH hits Mankind’s leg real good one time with a chair while the ref is with Chyna. Back inside the ring, Helmsley takes Mankind to school and even locks in the Figure-Four. He uses the ropes and gets caught by the ref, but Mankind punches himself loose anyway. Helmsley tries for a PEDIGREE, but Mankind reverses. Hunter kicks Mankind off into the corner, but he ends up landing head first into HHH’s grapefruits. That usually works best after a collision. The way that was done just looked kind of silly. Anyways, Mankind fires back in the corner and like an idiot, delivers the running knee using his bad leg. Pull-Up Piledriver gets 1-2-NO! Mankind hits the Cactus Clothesline to take them both to the floor. A chair gets involved again. This time, the ref makes sure it isn’t used, but Chyna still lands a big clothesline on Mankind behind his back. Back inside, Mankind crotches Hunter up top and applies the MANDIBLE CLAW. There’s no way to get a submission like that being in the ropes anyways. Chyna saves her man by tripping up Mankind and pulls his crotch into the ringpost. Back on the floor we go, Helmsley beats Mankind all around ringside and takes him into the crowd for the double-countout. (13:14) They fight all through the crowd until the zebras separate the two. Foley was the first guy in the WWF that Helmsley had a chemistry together. They never had a bad match. You could maybe argue Marc Mero if you care to do so, but that’s about it. Later on in the show, Mankind and Hunter are STILL fighting outside by a big yellow bus. Agents and refs try to stop them, but they just can’t seem to separate the two. Mankind gets thrown into a bunch of beer kegs. Helmsley wants to PEDIGREE Mankind on some pallets, but Mankind backdrops him. Hunter is bleeding. It’s a mess out there. ***¼

DISC THREE
MATCHES

• Dude Love vs. Rocky Maivia (w/The NOD) – (WWF Raw is War, 11/17/97)
  

This is the night Rocky stole the IC belt from Austin. Probably the best thing to ever happen to wrestling, JR and Jim Cornette are on commentary. VERY loud “Rocky sucks” chants going on here. Dude is just being Dude here. Shucking and jiving all over the place. He embarrasses Rocky by sending him to the floor while he was holding onto a waistlock. Rocky comes back with a DDT. Lots of punches by the Rock. He slams Dude for the People’s Elbow just as we go to commercial. Hard to imagine there was a time when that could happen. When we return, Rocky lands the elbow for two. He must have been running the ropes for that whole commercial break, huh? Dude fires back with a bulldog and lands the Johnson Shuffle on Rocky. There’s a series of turnbuckle smashes to set up Sweet Shin Music followed by the Double-Arm DDT! Dude covers the Rock, but that’s when the Nation jump him for the DQ. (4:57 shown) After the Nation finish whipping Dude, they hold him up for Rocky to nail him with Austin’s IC belt. Here comes Stone Cold to save the day. While Rocky heads for the exit sign, Dude Love helps Austin fight off the Nation. Stone Cold Stunner to D’Lo! Rocky stands up at the top of the ramp with the IC belt held high above his head as they close the show. Match was just an excuse to get to an Austin and Rocky confrontation of sorts to end the show on a high note hoping to pull some ratings. ¾*

• The Undertaker vs. Mankind – Hell in a Cell (WWF King of the Ring, 6/28/98)
  

As cliché as it is to say, what can I say about this match that hasn’t already been said? It’s the most famous match from the most watched period in wrestling history. They first meet each other on top of the cell and Taker then throws Mankind off the edge down to the ground through the Spanish announce table. It’s the most brutal moment that I’ve ever seen in the WWF and should never be attempted to be topped. As if that wasn’t enough, Mankind gets off the gurney against the wishes of everyone with a heart or a brain, and climbs back onto the top of the cell to meet the Undertaker. With a dislocated shoulder, there’s not much Mankind can do here, but he’s determined beyond all comprehension. Undertaker wants to just chokeslam Mankind on a chair onto the cell, but Mankind misses the chair and goes through the cell and down onto the mat that is not exactly geared for a bump like that while also taking the chair with him that hits him in the mouth busting open his bottom lip. Now while going off the cage was pre-planned, the chokeslam through the cage was not. It’s been well-documented that both the Undertaker and Terry Funk thought that Foley had died after this bump. Trainers and refs swarmed the ring to check on Mankind. After the Undertaker came down off the cell onto the ring, Terry Funk tries to talk him out of finishing this match. Instead of listening, Taker punches Funk and chokeslams the former NWA world champ out of his sneakers. As everyone clears out but Foley and Taker, the match somehow continues. Mankind stops Taker from delivering Old School. With a tooth in his nose and his tongue sticking through the hole in his bottom lip, Foley continues on. Mankind tries to pick up half of the steps, but can’t due to his SHOULDER BEING DISLOCATED. Taker uses the steps instead and nails Mankind in the shoulder a few times. Mankind avoids a suicide dive, causing Taker to ram his head into the cage wall to bust him open. Back inside, Mankind delivers a Pull-Up Piledriver on a chair for 1-2-NO! Mankind stuns Taker with a Double-Arm DDT long enough to pull out a bag of thumbtacks. He spreads the tacks in one spot on the canvas as they tease somebody taking a fall on them. Mankind slips out of a TOMBSTONE and locks in the MANDIBLE CLAW. His arm drops once, twice, but not thrice! Taker hoists Mankind on his back and falls backwards onto the thumbtacks. Poor Mick. Chokeslam to Foley onto the tacks! Now the TOMBSTONE. Taker covers for the 1-2-3. (17:00) I know what I like about wrestling and this just isn’t it. First of all, I’m not saying wrestling needs to go back fifty years and everybody should be Verne Gagne, but I don’t think wrestling ever needed to go to this extreme. I mean, a guy fell off the top of a very tall cage, and now you’re going to wrestle? I don’t understand this philosophy if the point of wrestling is to have a great match and build towards your finish. Secondly, Mick is doing all of this so that you will NOTICE him. I’m all for guys working hard and trying to get noticed, but there’s a line that every wrestler must realize and never pass in order to get fans to respect you. The reason being that this match went too far and you start to feel more sorry for Foley than you do respect how tough he is. What’s even sadder is that this match isn’t even what catapulted him to being a real main event guy beside Stone Cold and the Rock, but was something that he had inside him all along: his sense of humor.

• WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws (w/Chyna) vs. Kane and Mankind (w/Paul Bearer) – (WWF Raw is War, 7/13/98)
  

People, this is TWO WEEKS after the King of the Ring and Mankind is already back in the ring for a match. Shawn Michaels made a surprise return and joined JR and the King for commentary throughout the whole evening. Undertaker shows up to watch over this match. There’s a lot going on here, folks. Mankind starts out biting away on Road Dogg, but the NAO quickly fight back and start working on Mankind’s shoulder. Gunn drills Mankind with an armbreaker DDT and then instructs him to “suck it”. Mankind rolls out and takes a belt shot to the shoulder by Chyna. Undertaker sees it happening, but does nothing about it. Back inside, Mankind misses a corner charge and runs his shoulder into the post, OBVS. Gunn tries a double sledge from the middle rope, but flies down into the MANDIBLE CLAW. Road Dogg punches Mankind in the face to stop that. Tag to Kane, Road Dogg prevents Gunn from taking a Chokeslam, but Gunn still gets nailed with a clothesline by Mankind. To the floor, Mankind whips Billy knees first into the steps. Meanwhile, the Rock and Owen Hart waltz down the aisle. Gunn and Mankind collide to set up the HOT TAG TO ROAD DOGG! JR hypes Austin and Taker meeting Kane and Mankind at Fully Loaded. HBK – “Worlds colliding! Worlds colliding!” Who is he now? George Costanza? Shake Rattle and Roll to Kane stuns him, but doesn’t knock him down. Gunn grabs Mankind for a nice piledriver. Together, the NAO punch Kane until he’s doubled over for the FAMOUSER. Hey look, Triple H and X-Pac head out to beat up Owen and Rock. As Mark Henry comes down to help out, Gunn goes out to even the score and help his DX buddies because he’s not in the ring to see D’Lo Brown come out of nowhere to give Road Dogg a Frog Splash while wearing his dreaded chest protector! While D’Lo makes a run for it, Kane delivers the TOMBSTONE to Road Dogg and picks up the win and the tag titles. (5:30) Interesting tidbit: despite Mick Foley becoming a three-time WWF tag team champion in this match, this is the first time he has won the tag titles as Mankind. Over the span of one year, he was able to secure the WWF tag title belts once with all three different personas. *½

• WWF Champion The Rock (w/Vince and Shane McMahon) vs. Mankind – (WWF IYH: Rock Bottom, 12/13/98)
  

Hmm, this is the only Rock-Mankind match I’ve yet to see. So it seems with this Rock-Mankind angle that Vince Russo pondered the question, “What would have happened had Bret Hart (if you believe that the Montreal Screwjob was real) stayed with the WWF after Survivor Series?” The comparison is all pretty strange. Mankind calls Vince McMahon “dad” to reference Bret’s father-figure relationship. During Sunday Night Heat, Mankind attacked Rock injuring his ribs, thus putting his WWF title match in jeopardy. Mankind brings out some contract stating that if Rock doesn’t defend his WWF title tonight, that he will have to relinquish the belt to him. He says he will put a line through that clause if “dad” will confess to the world that he did not say he quit back at Survivor Series when Rock had him in the Sharpshooter. Vince sticks to his guns, leaving Mankind no choice but to rip up the contract. As he walks towards Vince pointing his finger, Rock nails Mankind from behind and we are under way! Vince and Shane take a seat over by Michael Cole and the King. Loads of ringside brawling to start. It gets to the point that Vince instructs the ref to not be at all lenient towards what Mankind does and DQ him for any reason. It’s funny that the Attitude Era got us to such a point booking-wise, that following the rules of wrestling gets you tons of heat. More brawling on the floor though with Rock in control. He gives Mankind a suplex and brings him back inside. Mankind catches Rock with a big boot and throws him out in front of the announce table. He wants to jump off the second turnbuckle onto the Rock, but Shane gets up and grabs his foot to stop him. While Mankind tries to get rid of Shane, Rock comes over and throws Mankind down to the floor in a NASTY bump. While Mankind recovers as best he can, Rock puts on Michael Cole’s headset and does his trash talking thing. He spits water in Mankind’s face, which serves to wake him up and the brawl continues. Ref Mike Chioda stops Mankind from using a chair, but can’t stop Rock from giving Mankind a DDT on the same chair. Back in, Rock covers for two. Corporate Elbow connects to a HUGE pop for 1-2-NO! Now Mankind mounts his comeback and legdrops Rock in the balls, to which Vince sees as a DQ-able offense. He yells to Chioda to ring the bell, but then Mankind grabs Chioda and gives him a Pull-Up Piledriver before he can. Awesome. Vince looks over at the timekeeper Mark Yeaton to ring the bell, but Mankind throws him into the barricade before that can happen as well! As Mankind stalks Vince and Shane around ringside, Rock blasts him in the back with a chair. In the ring, the ROCK BOTTOM is delivered, but there’s no ref. Rock calls for a belt shot from Shane, but Mankind ducks and Rock gets laid out. Mankind covers Rock as ref Tim White runs down for 1-2-NO! They trade nearfalls hitting their own signature DDTs. Mankind brings Mr. Socko into the mix. MANDIBLE CLAW to the Rock! Since Rock isn’t answering the ref, he calls for the bell. (13:34) Vince grabs the microphone and tells everybody that while Mankind won the match, the only way the WWF title can change hands is via pinfall or submission. Rock didn’t tap out or say “I quit”, so the belt stays with the Rock. Afterwards, Mankind beats up Vince, Shane, and their stooges until the Big Bossman and Ken Shamrock come out to save the day for the Corporation. The purpose here was just to see how people would react to Mankind defeating the Rock. Since we have the gift of hindsight, they of course decided to go with it three weeks later and give everybody what they wanted to see. ***

• WWF Tag Team Champions The Rock N Sock Connection vs. Triple H and Shane McMahon (w/Chyna) – (WWF Smackdown, 9/2/99)
  

With Mankind coming out first and Rock second, Triple H and Shane beat up Mankind before Rock makes his big entrance. Rock helps out a little bit, but while the ref tries to get Rock to go back on the apron, Triple H nails Mankind in the back with a chair. Mankind is *your* face in peril as the crowd wants Rock. After Shane delivers the Bronco Buster, he turns back around into a right hand from the Rock. Triple H cuts off the tag though. Mankind gets a desperation MANDIBLE CLAW, but Chyna sneaks in a low blow from the floor while Shane distracts Hebner. Nevertheless, HOT TAG to the Rock. He lays the smackdown and plants HHH with a DDT for two. Out goes Shane courtesy of the Rock. As Shane stands up, Mankind baseball slides into him to send him clear over the announce table. While Hebner is paying attention to that, Billy Gunn comes down and hits Helmsley with the FAMOUSER. Earlier in the night, Triple H helped Chyna beat him for a shot at the IC title. As Billy runs away, Rock delivers the ROCK BOTTOM followed by the PEOPLE’S ELBOW for the win over the WWF champ. (6:56) Just another night of wrestling. This led to a RAW main event between HHH and Billy Gunn that *still* managed to beat Nitro in the ratings. When you’re hot, you’re hot. *½

• Mankind vs. Al Snow – Falls Count Anywhere (WWF Smackdown, 12/16/99)
  

So Al Snow is jealous of Mankind’s friendship with the Rock. The only way to deal with this issue is to settle it like men in a FIGHT, because three’s a crowd, I guess. Snow brings with him a ball bat to this one. Mankind tries to make this a regular brawl, but of course the ball bat turns the tide. Snow goes to whack Mankind with the bat up against the ringpost, but misses and the bat breaks in half. They fight around Cole and King. Mankind nails Snow with a chair tries to pin him on Cole’s chair, but only gets two! Snow finds a cookie sheet from underneath the ring to fight back. Hey, there’s a trash can lid, too! Snow whiffs swinging a big metal sign and takes a Double-Arm DDT on it. HERE COMES SOCKO! Al Snow sees it coming and head up the ramp. Snow kicks Mankind and gives him a suplex out there. Back inside, Snow puts on his bowling shirt and pulls out his bowling ball. I don’t know where, but Mankind finds some tongs and clamps down on Snow’s balls. He beats him down in the corner and rolls the bowling ball into Snow’s balls for added insult to injury. From there, they brawl backstage and head into what appears to be the DX locker room. You hear a big metallic smack and moments later, Al Snow collapses through the door. Mankind falls on top of Snow for the 1-2-3. (7:47) Cole and King question why DX would help Mankind in this situation, but then who comes peaking out the door but the Rock himself with chair in-hand. He rips off the DX door sticker to reveal this was indeed the Rock’s locker room, you piece of monkey trash. Fairly entertaining, but this felt like it needed more context because it doesn’t make much sense. *

• WWF Champion Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) vs. Cactus Jack – Hell in a Cell (WWF No Way Out, 2/27/00)
  

If Mick wins, he realizes his final dream and main events WrestleMania 2000 as the WWF champion. If he loses, he must retire. Triple H had already beaten him at the Royal Rumble in a street fight, so there was really no reason for him to have to face Cactus again unless Cactus put his career on the line. Cactus controls to start beating the heck out of Helmsley. He wants to climb back up onto the roof, but there is like ten padlocks and chains to keep that from happening. Cactus tries to bring a chair into the ring, but Hunter knees Cactus off the apron. After a nasty knees-first bump on the steps, Hunter runs the top half of the steps into Cactus. With the steps laid over Cactus, HHH beats the steps with a chair. Makes a loud noise and shouldn’t do very much damage at all. A chair shot to the back just makes Cactus madder, but a swing to the face knocks him silly. That gets two. Cactus stops HHH as he runs at him with the chair. Foley brings the chair up into HHH’s balls for some “barbaric birth control” says JR. Double-Arm DDT on the chair gets two. Cactus beats HHH down on the chair over in a corner. As he charges Hunter, HHH moves and trips Cactus to land face first on the chair. Out to ringside, Cactus counters a piledriver on the steps to catapult HHH into the cage to bust him open. Cactus then punches and gouges the cut before giving Helmsley the Cactus Elbow off the second rope holding a chair. HHH’s body starts to convulse. Once Helmsley stands up, Cactus heaves the top half of the steps at him, only to miss and the steps go THROUGH the cage wall. That creates the opportunity to do some extracurricular activities. Cactus takes Hunter up onto the announce table and gives him a piledriver. Foley’s arm is now bleeding somehow. Cactus wants to make the climb up the cage, but Stephanie manages to pull him down.

After that distraction is over, Cactus throws Hunter into the cage before dumping the timekeepers table over to find his 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire. WHAT CAN BE WORSE THAN A 2×4 WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE? We’ll find out. HHH understandably tries to leave through the crowd, but Cactus pulls him back and lets him have it on the forehead with the 2×4. Knowing the inevitable will happen anyway, HHH climbs up onto the roof first and punches Mick once he reaches the top. He even uses the 2×4 against Cactus and rakes the barbed wire over his face. With Mick still hanging onto the rim of the cage, Hunter steps on his hands to send Cactus falling through the Spanish announce table. After just a few replays, Cactus is back up trying to toss a chair up onto the roof of the cell. It doesn’t work. Cactus decides to meet Hunter on the roof, which he does. HHH is right there to torture him with the 2×4. They tease Helmsley going through the roof for a while, but of course nothing happens. Cactus ups the insanity by setting the edge of the 2×4 on fire. Okay, that could be worse than just a 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire. He nails Hunter in the face with the end that isn’t on fire. Now he wants to give Triple H a PILEDRIVER on the flaming 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire. Of course, this is the famous moment where HHH reverses and Cactus goes crashing down through the roof again straight onto the mat. Now the cell is shorter than the KOTR 1998 cell, the ring is clearly engineered with this bump in mind as it instantly deflates on impact, and Foley is clearly bracing himself for the fall. Still an insane bump, no doubt. Triple H then comes down from the roof and into the ring. Just when it looks like Foley is done, HHH kicks at his arm only to see him begin to move again. HE WILL NOT DIE. Hunter pounds him a few times and then delivers the PEDIGREE for the merciful three-count. (24:00) After Stephanie helps her bloodstained husband backstage, Foley refuses medical assistance and soaks up his final ovation as a full-time wrestler. Great storytelling here. Some was certainly rehashed from KOTR ’98 (especially the bumps), but the Cactus Jack character as an unstoppable force always pushing Hunter to commit acts of violence he didn’t even know he was capable of is pretty interesting. ****¼

BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVES
PROMOS

Sting’s Birthday Cake – (WCW World Championship Wrestling 10/5/91)
Paul Heyman interviews Foley and Abdullah who have a birthday cake for Sting and wish him happy birthday and scarf down the cake like madmen. Its brought up that it isn’t Stings birthday and Foley says we missed his last one because that IS his last one. In the introduction Foley puts over the promo and credits Heyman for coming up with it. 

No Ear Surgery
– (WCW Saturday Night 9/10/94)
Near the end of Foley’s WCW run here as we close Saturday Night with a promo on how he doesn’t care for Kevin Sullivan and talks about losing his ear and didn’t have surgery. Foley mentioned in the intro that he studied German in school and could carry small sentences even if the grammar wasn’t correct. He did study the injuries in German especially his specific ones.

Barbie – (WWE Raw, 4/5/04)
I never actually seen this promo because I was on vacation on a Carnival cruise to Key West and Cozumel Mexico! Speaking of Carnival 2013 and ”Best Year Ever” doesn’t apply. but back to the promo Mick says he didn’t say anything catchy in this promo that would make the fans pop every few seconds like the Attitude Era but that this promo was his favorite promo leading up to his all time favorite match. Foley is sitting in a chair vowing that he would never return to hardcore, and that hardcore meant giving it your all for the greatest match possible. He mentions his Japan stint of hardcore paid his bills. He opens up the gift he has and says he’ll bring it to Backlash which is Barbie which is a barbed wire baseball bat! Foley then proceeds to smash the set up.

Cutting Edge – (WWE Smackdown, 8/1/08)
Foley talks about why he didn’t put any matches as Blu-Ray extras that he felt stories and promos are just as important to the career as just matches. This was his last WWE appearance for over 3 years as he quit WWE for TNA the next week. He wanted to go out on top with a great promo and knew Edge would be the guy to bring it out of him and felt Edge did great himself. This was the closing segment of Smackdown for the night as Edge promised a Cutting Edge with a very special guest. On commentary JR and Foley speculate its Undertaker in preparation for their main event Hell In A Cell match at SummerSlam or WWE Champion Triple H who had not made an appearance yet on this episode of Smackdown. Edge talks about wanting inner peace in preparation against The Undertaker in the HIAC match. He asks Foley to be his guest on the show as he’s the one person who can help him survive Hell In A Cell having had classic Hell In A Cell matches including against The Undertaker and Triple H. Foley acts surprised and enters the ring weary of Edge. Edge tells Foley he knows that he still has torment from that match everyday and that if he helped prep him that it would go away. Foley admitted to having torment from that but Edge doesn’t have his word because despite saying Edge was the greatest superstar in the WWE that he took short cuts and the fans think he sucks. Foley tells Edge the only person who can help him is Edge himself and asks where was the Edge that broke through the glass ceiling of WWE. Foley says that today’s Edge would get torn apart by Undertaker in the Hell In A Cell match. Edge snaps and him and Foley start brawling Edge kicks a chair into Foley’s face and speared him onto the floor where Foley’s head hit the ring steps. Foley slowly crawls back in while Edge sets up a table and a ladder. Mandible Claw attempt is blocked and Edge places Foley on top of the ladder where Edge climbs the ladder and nails Foley with a chair sending him crashing through a table to end the show (and Foley’s WWE/commentator stint) Great segment that I enjoyed as it aired and set up Edge to have a great HIAC match with Taker. I’m surprised Foley and Edge never had a TLC match in 2006 or 2008.

Relevancy with CM Punk – (WWE Raw, 9/24/12)
Foley helped Punk get into WWE so this was one of his favorite recent moments and Punk talked about how much it meant to him on the documentary. Foley admitted he felt he’d lost his touch in promos and was worried he might be on his way to a nostalgia act but this promo and all the positive feedback gave him confidence and felt he still could give relevant promos. This was during a stint where Hall Of Famers such as Bret Hart and Jerry The King Lawler questioned why Punk went heel and went with Paul Heyman. RAW special guest Foley comes out to do a promo. Foley mentions he’s not here as the Hardcore Legend but as a member of the WWE Universe. Foley talked about how Punk emerged as a star a year ago but how that has since changed and that he’s become the voice of the voiceless and how he should stop attacking/initiating officials and being influenced by Paul Heyman. Cult of Personality brings out Punk and Heyman Punk asks Foley why bring it on the air if he had a problem with him why didn’t they do it in a text or in private but Punk speculates Foley just wanted airtime to shill another children’s book. Punk is angered the most though by Foley saying he follows Heyman and would talk about him being a slime ball. Foley said that isn’t the case it’s just that Heyman looks out for himself and Punk doesn’t need him because he is the best at promos in the business today. Punk thinks they’re finished but Foley says no and brings up the upcoming Hell In A Cell PPV and his past matches in it with Undertaker and HHH. Punk sarcastically thanks him for the speech and Foley tells Punk to really prove he’s ”The Best In The World” to face John Cena at Hell In A Cell. Punk said he heard the talks about it at SummerSlam and Night Of Champions and doesn’t need to prove anything. Punk does have a point here logistically as he defeated Cena many times over the past year. Punk blasts Bret and saying Foley’s trying to latch on to him and says all he does is tell the truth and that he’s beneath him and doesn’t care about the fans or do death defying things in matches that he uses the mic to do it. Today is his 309th day as WWE champion in this reign and tomorrow will be 310. Foley counters that he still is remembered today by fans despite only being WWE champion only 29 days over 3 reigns. He asks Punk does he want to be a statistic or a legend? Mick tells Punk he’ll have a decision later on tonight on Hell In A Cell to face Cena and to ”Have a nice day” Unfortunately while Punk took the match Cena got legit injured and was replaced by newcomer Ryback. Rumors were this was supposed to lead to Foley defeating Punk in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match and then putting him over in a WWE Championship match in a street fight at TLC in December as a big win leading up to his hyped match against The Rock but Vince was worried if Foley’s age/injuries could hold up for 2 main event caliber matches and nixed the idea.

STORIES

Frank Foley: After a date with a girl he liked at a WWF TV taping in 1983 the girl he liked called him ”Frank” instead of Mick. Sounds very Seinfeld like. So Foley started making movies of promos and action called ”The Legend Of Frank Foley” which we get clips of. Foley could cut great promos even back then and a little surreal seeing him as a Superstar Billy Graham type character as well given what he became as Mankind and Cactus Jack. He started growing his hair out and a beard to resemble more of Superfly Jimmy Snuka. This also spawned the Dude Lover character which Vince seen and took notice and brought him into the WWF as a character in 1997.

Snowed In: Shane Douglas talks about his first ever meeting with a guy who he was told was ”Mikey Foley” he imagined a skinny babyface guy like Mikey Whipwreck but this was during a snowstorm where Pittsburgh was hammered with 7-8 inches of snow. He discovered Foley long hair beard and looked homeless sleeping in his car. Douglas would let Foley stay with him at his place every Friday night during training.

DeNucci Training School: 15 minutes of footage and interviews during a Dominic DeNucci training school session in 1987. The 3 most famous students were of course Mick, Troy Martin (Shane Douglas) and referee Brian Hildebrand (Mark Curtis) Mick mentioned this was part of a co-documentary he did with a female friend of his for a school project that got an A+ but she also lived the Foley experience of weekend 4 hour drives, cheap food and sleeping in car/cheap hotel.

Arrested in Italy?: Shane Douglas talks about their first ever overseas trip was in Rome in 1988 and loved the history there as it was stuff you’d see in the books. Him and Mick were on the opening card and thought they’d do something to get attention. They went to work out in a gym and slowly built to stage an altercation like grabbing the same weight etc. After the altercation Mick left and the Italians knowing that these guys were American wrestlers clapped like a theater performance. Shane ribbed Foley and told him 20 cop cars came after he left and had Foley on edge and paranoid during the rest of their trip. Foley got him back in the states by faking an appendix attack and while Shane was stretching his legs started to do setups. Shane said he knew Foley planned for weeks to get him back somehow. Shane warns everyone that if you rib Mick Foley once he’ll get ya back 50 times.

Cactus Jack – The Name: Mick did it in honor of his Jack who in old school wrestling games named himself Cactus Jack while Mick was Mick Big Train Foley. Foley admitted he planned to use the Cactus Jack character then morph into Dude Love but Cactus Jack he ended up using for the next 12 years.

Africa: I remember this story well from Have A Nice Day Mick went on a tour of Burkina Faso as their government brought them in for more entertainment. Foley talked about how some got sick during the trip with malaria. 2 weeks later his dad asked him where was it he went again and he said Burkina Faso and his dad showed him the New York Times headline of their government overthrown. Mick knew the new government wouldn’t pay him then. He thought he was done with Africa but went to Nigeria and didn’t feel intimidated despite threats and warnings of passports etc. It was notable for being the first ever match he was busted open in and said the fans rush to ringside during the endings.

Birth of Bang Bang: During the elbow to the concrete spot in a match against Nasty Ned in WCW Foley had the classic B52s Love Shack song on his mind which was a hit song around this time and went bang bang on our way to war which was later shortened to just bang bang when he did it later. We see the first ever time he did it and a montage of Bang Bangs.

Losing Teeth: Mick first lost some on his way to a friend’s bachelor party and also had a bad injury to his leg just 2 weeks after being on WCW TV. Mick was down because he liked his smile and just got his big break in WCW. His friends encouraged him though that it was a wrestler look and he told them his days were long over. He got a flipper to wear for his matches but JR told him he liked that look for Cactus Jack and his wife also called the toothless look sexy. Mick said in arguments even on the losing end he’d put in the flipper to upset his wife! He put them in a ashtray and didn’t use them again till 98 when he became Corporate Dude Love and talked about his smile. They came out at Over The Edge 98 after a chair spot vs. Stone Cold who threw it into the crowd. 6 months later when back in Milwaukee where the PPV was at the fan gave Mick the teeth back in a package which Mick compared to getting a foul ball back from a fan.

On the Spot: Heyman tells the story of how Mick was doing one of the old school local TV promos for WCW. It was for an event in Alabama and Cactus started singing Sweet Home Alabama and said but I’m from Truth Of Consequences New Mexico and I don’t have to sing a song for it bang bang! Heyman said that it was an on the spot moment that wowed WCW officials and made the realize that had a unique and special character.

Wanted T-Shirt: Corporal Kirschner told Mick how he’d make more $$$$ from t-shirts than wrestling in Japan so Mick created the Cactus Jack Wanted Dead T-Shirt. Mick talked about how the indies t-shirts especially ECWs at the time sucked and looked like a kid drawn them. The t-shirt was a hot seller and Heyman said that’s how Mick was able to survive financially while working in Japan and ECW. Joey Styles says he knows Austin 3:16 is the all time best selling but the Wanted shirt has to be up there. If I personally had to guess I’d say top 5 I’d say NWO and DX shirts might have sold more than the Wanted. You can still get the Wanted shirt today on WWE.com but being PG it now says Wanted Dead Or Alive. Mick’s son Hughie said his dad made him wear that shirt for his interview for the set even though he wanted to wear Rey Mysterio’s shirt.

Smoking Flight?: Foley burned and battered in death matches in Japan was picked up by his dad. He had burns and blooded and a deep gash on his arm. he hid the injuries and withheld talking about it to his dad who dropped him off. His wife Colette even asked him what that smell of smoke was and asked was he on a smoking flight. After his dad left Foley admitted to her the awful smell and blood was him. They show a photo of Mick a few days after the injury and part of his arm is a big right red patch. He’s still proud that in Japan however he’s known as the King Of The Deathmatch.

Anti-Hardcore ECW: A fan in ECW had a sign that said Cane Dewey regarding Mick’s oldest child Dewey who was only 2 at the time. The sign sickened his wife. It sparked an idea by Mick and Heyman for Cactus Jack to take an anti-hardcore persona. Heyman said nobody took a role and ran with it more than Mick. He refused to take risks or do hardcore moves in the ring instead going for scientific maneuvers. He also did some of the best promos you’ll ever see in wrestling such as the Cane Dewey Promo, the Anti-Hardcore Promo, and chanting I’m hardcore while riding a ride at Santa’s Village. Heyman talked about how every1 watching the filming of the Cane Dewey promo had their mouths open even the cameraman. Foley said that promo gave him relief like being on the couch with a psychologist.

Farewell in ECW: Foley was pleasantly surprised and appreciated the ovation he got from the fans during his last ECW match especially for the last several months playing an anti-hardcore character and how most ECW fans felt betrayed when a wrestler left them for WWE or WCW. Foley thought strutting out of the ring with Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie was one of the coolest exits ever.

Vicious Suplex: Regal said during the Cactus Jack/Paul Orndorff falls count anywhere match from SuperBrawl III in February 1993 he was watching from the curtain and the spot where Orndorff suplexed Cactus on the railing and he flipped over it took his breath and he had to turn away because of the way Foley’s backed bumped off the guardrail and the fall.

Kevin Sullivan – Mentor: Mick said he considered Kevin Sullivan one of the few mentors he’s had in wrestling. Sullivan put over Foley as 1 in a 1,000 kind of talent. One of the reasons he think they gelled was because Sullivan had some out of the box ideas when booking. Mick talked about how they had 2 runs together one in 89-90 where Sullivan played his mentor and he’d slap and yell at him after matches. 3 years later in 1994 they were a tag team and won the WCW tag team titles. Mick and Sullivan talked about how the Nasty Boys were brawlers and how brutal their tag title win against the Nasty Boys at Slamboree 94 was.

Rock ‘n Sock Jacket: Mick gave his Rock N Sock jacket to a sick kid who he was told was wheelchair bound and wouldn’t speak but when he greeted the wrestlers he talked so much his dad couldn’t keep him quiet and was up walking! Sadly while the kid passed away he lived 3 years longer than the doctors gave him. He was buried in the Rock N Sock jacket Mick gave him. Another sick kid that passed away is buried with Mr. Rocko. Mick said The Rock N Sock connection not only gave fans great moments but also touched lives.

Disneyland: HHH tells the story how at WrestleMania 2000 Mick was all focused on going to Disneyland and not wanting to get hurt instead of having a classic match at the main event. He thought it would be cool to work with HHH during a table spot on the Rock in the match. Foley was sure he could reach it, but HHH said when he got on the top rope his expression changed like he was unsure. HHH and Rock didn’t think he could make it either, but Foley tried with all his might and HHH said laughing nope when he knew Mick couldn’t reach it and just clipped the edge of the table and it hurt him. When HHH eliminated Foley in the match he was injured and was told him there goes Disneyland.

Loogie Heard ‘Round the World: Orton talked about how Mick had all these notes and ideas to build and develop their feud and one of those was the loogie spot in RAW in December 2003 after Mick walked out of a match against Orton. Backstage Orton spit a loogie at Mick before he left the arena. Orton said not many guys in the back would let them do that and Mick said many in the back were not wanting him to let Orton loogie him as that’s what he would be remembered for. But Foley’s plan was to return 7 weeks later and let Orton loogie him again then go berserk on him which he did as Foley said in the promo if you loogie on me you loogie on the legacy of Mick Foley as well.

Commentator: At a movie premiere in the spring of 2008 Vince offered Foley an announcing position to start 4 days later at Backlash 2008 as Jonathan Coachman was leaving WWE for ESPN. Foley doesn’t know if Vince had thought of this for months or spur of the moment but Foley accepted the gig thinking he had found a new niche for around 10 years or so. Foley thought his in ring expertise and comedy would be a plus and his debut at Backlash 2008 received good reviews. However he had known that Vince was very hands on the announcing and could be very aggressive in his critiques. Foley said that Vince was known for yelling/cursing in your ears and wanting certain things plugged/certain terms to be called. Michael Cole thought Mick would be great in the role until he got his first lashing from Vince. Cole says that what Vince says isn’t personal and after the show is focused on many other things. Foley did take it personal however as he compared it to sports coaches who are encouraging and pat you on the back or the ones that are aggressive and yell and curse at you. Mick didn’t think it was necessary but that its Vince’s company and he can do what he wants. He had never been talked to like that before and took to drinking that night which shocked his wife as she and others knew he rarely drank. He called Vince who apologized and Foley just wanted a break to Disneyland. However Vince did it to him a 2nd time and Foley had enough and was done not only with announcing but left WWE for TNA. Foley said that he loves Vince and one of the most important people in his life but at times he can be unbearable. Cole and Foley both believe though that he would have grown great and lasted a long time in the role had he adjusted to it and with more experience. Foley’s stint as a commentator only lasted less than four months.

Mr. Socko vs. The Cobra: Foley and Santino talk about the Mr. Socko vs. Cobra duel at Royal Rumble 2012 ultimately Mick was thrown out and surprised he got a standing O in the back like did a classic match however he was pleased with it and his kids got to see him in action so maybe that was a good way to close the door.

Comedy Show: Five minutes of clippings at a Mick Foley comedy show.

Favorite Mick Foley Persona:
Cactus Jack: JR, Michael Hayes, Randy Orton, Michael Cole, and William Regal
Mankind: Sheamus, Big Show, The Miz, and Vader
Dude Love: Mick’s Childhood Friends, His Daughter Noelle, and Kofi Kingston.
The ones that chose Cactus Jack say it’s due to the longevity that is what he was known for. The ones that said Mankind because most successful run/character and Dude Love for that’s what he wanted to be and the fun loving corniness of the character. Kofi admitted he’d used to do the Dude Love dance all the time and would jam to the Dude Love theme song driving.

Sheamus Meets Mick: Sheamus recalls WWE tryouts in London with him, Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre among others and they met Foley and was the most down to earth guy to them. The next time he sees Foley he was in WWE and he introduced him to his family. Sheamus is impressed because he plays all these different characters even Santa but yet he’s the most down to earth guy and he’s real.

Christmas Cheer: Mick’s favorite holiday is Christmas and even after he found out Santa Claus isn’t real he’d enjoy the Christmas spirit. Mick loves the kindness and holiday cheer people give during the holidays. He’s written children’s Christmas books, is a huge fan of Santa’s Village, and even has a Christmas room in his house!.Judith Regan calls Mick a big kid at heart.

Wardrobe: Mick started wearing flannel shirts in 8th grade and has kept wearing them since. Vader said since 1980, Mick has probably spent only $100 on clothing. His kids talk about how he only wears flannels/sweatpants and sometimes for days in a row like he’s homeless. His childhood friend says on many occasions even he wears the flannel and would be surprised to see him in something else.

Thrifty Mick: Vader and Big Show talk about how Foley would ride with them to shows and sleep on the floor of their hotel room. Heyman recalls him and Rick Rude seeing Foley crouched asleep in a small rental car. HHH said in Newark Foley would always sleep in the hotel lobby instead of getting a room. HHH also said in 6 hour drives or less Foley would redeem his flight tickets for $$$ and get the cheapest rental cart and take with him a big bag of popcorn to eat. He only did necessities for his family to have money. Vader said Foley saved thousands of dollars a year doing this maybe even 6 figures at times. Paul Heyman says Mick has to have $20 million dollars in the bank for how thrifty he was. According to celebritynetworth.com, Mick’s Net Worth is a reported $15 million dollars.

Great Dad: Road Dogg calls Mick the best dad he knows. While many guys went out partying after the matches Mick would have his kids on the road or at least talk to them. In many trips he’d plan to take them on trips to amusement parks.

Final Thoughts: I’m glad that WWE finally released a documentary on Mick Foley. The only drawbacks are Foley has written well over 1,000 pages about his career in 4 autobiographies and to have a COMPLETE Mick Foley documentary would be hours. Thankfully the Blu-Ray version has 2 extra hours of deleted scenes/stories despite a 2 hour 15 minute doc. Many of the stories and known and nothing new or earth shattering is revealed but it’s great to have nearly everyone that was a part Mick’s journey tell their thoughts and experiences of Mick. There are a few personalities I wish could have interviewed for the set namely no Vince, Austin, Edge, or his wife Colette and it’s too bad we couldn’t have Sting, Al Snow, or Kurt Angle as they are in TNA. Some of the match choices are puzzling as well as time on the documentary is spent Mick’s feuds with Vader and Terry Funk and yet no matches between them are on this set despite many still haven’t been released on DVD yet. The documentary is well done however for what it’s worth and a must watch for any fan of Mick Foley, the Attitude Era, or just a man that had his dream come true. I give the Mick Foley thumbs up and cheap pop with a smile for the For All Mankind Documentary.