spotlight: mick foley

today the spotlight is going to be shined on a true legend in the wrestling business, mick foley. whether you know him as mankind, cactus jack, dude love, or just by mick foley there is no denying he has left a permanent impact. mrs foley's baby boy is arguably the greatest hardcore style wrestler ever. the only problem is what do you write about a man that has 3 top selling autobiographies? well i don't claim to be on mick's level but i am going to try and do him justice.

mick foley grew up as a huge wrestling fan. he would go as far as video taping matches that he would have in his neighborhood with other friends, this was years before backyard wrestling was popular and is probably why it became popular. while in college foley traveled to madison square garden to see a steel cage match between don muraco and jimmy "superfly" snuka. it was in watching this match that foley would decide that he wanted to be a professional wrestler. he decided to train at dominic denucci' school in freedom, pa, even though he had to drive several hours a week just to get there.

after a few years wresting on the independent circuit in the northeast he went to wccw as cactus jack manson and joined skandar akbar's stable. he would have great success in this run. he was seen as a top heel in the company. he won tag team titles three times and even was the light heavyweight champion, i know mick foley light heavyweight i had to fact check and cross reference to believe it too. after this run foley would again wrestle in some independent organizations before moving on to wcw.

in wcw cactus jack would start off right at the top of the card. the first night there he attacked sting the promotions top baby face. foley would have feuds with van hammer and abdullah the butcher before finally meeting sting at the beach blast pay per view in 1992, he lost the match. according to foley himself this was his favorite match until a match with sean michaels several years later. in early 1993 foley would suffer a knee injury that required he take time off. for the story line vader porwerbombed foley onto the concrete floor after removing the mats. during his time away wcw would run vignettes about foley going crazy and developing amnesia.

cactus jack would return to save davey boy smith from being attacked by vader. he would go on to feud with vader. they had one of the bloodiest and most violent feuds in wcw's history. during a match with vader in germany cactus would do a spot in wich he got tied in the ropes. during this he would have 2/3 of his ear ripped off. after that incident a few months later he had the option of having reconstructive surgery to repair his ear or wrestle on a pay per view with kevin sullivan where they were scheduled to win the tag team titles. he chose to win the titles. during this time he was also wrestling in ecw as part of a talent exchange. he would throw the tag title down on ecw tv and get in hot water with wcw. foley would not stay much longer with wcw.

foley would go to ecw and begin what i think was the best run of his career, creatively. early on he would wrestle in tag team matches winning the tag titles twice with mikey whipwreak. he would split time between ecw, smw, and japan during his time in ecw. foley had memorable feuds with terry funk and the sandman. he would wrestle the sandman for the ecw title. during one match he would knock sandman out and be declared the winner only to have bill alfonso reverse the decision since the belt can not change hands on a knockout. foley would journey to japan and win iwa's legendary king of the deathmatch tournament.

when foley returned to ecw he began teaming with tommy dreamer. he would begin doing his anti hardcore promos during this time. he would say he was trying to save dreamer from going down the same path he had went trying to please the blood thirsty fans. cactus jack would turn on dreamer and join dreamer's arch enemy raven's stable. as part of raven's nest he would say he sees raven's higher purpose. part of foley's gimmick was that he would praise wwf and wcw on ecw. this generated a lot of heat for him with the fans. foley would sign with the wwf and on his last night in ecw he was noticeably choked up by the fans chanting "please don't go" during the match.

foley than took on the mankind persona upon joining the wwf. once again foley started off at the top of the card. he had a feud with the top star in the wwf at the time, the undertaker. foley has the best won/loss record of any wrestler against the undertaker. foley had another stellar match with sean michaels at in your house mind games. this cemented him as a top heel in the wwf. mankind would continue to feud with taker. jim ross would have a series of sit down interviews with foley. during these interviews mick's child hood character dude love would be brought up. these interviews helped transition him into a face.

stone cold steve austin and sean michaels were tag team champions, however michaels would get injured thus austin would need a new partner. austin turned down mankind when he asked to be his partner. the next week austin was wresting the british bulldog and owen hart alone when halfway through the match foley would introduce the dude love character to the wwf and become austin's partner. the team would have to vacate the titles when austin suffered a neck injury at sumer slam. dude love would feud with hunter hearst helmsley. during this feud he would have a falls count anywhere match with helmsley. before the match mick as both mankind and dude love would argue over who would face helmsley. the two persona's agreed that cactus jack should be the man and thus his third persona would make his wwf debut. foley's old nemesis, mentor, friend, terry funk would debut as chainsaw charlie. the 2 would feud with the new age outlaws leading to a match against them at wrestlemania xiv. cactus jack and chainsaw charlie would win the titles from the outlaws only loose them back the next night on raw when the outlaws joined dx.

foley would cut a promo telling the fans they do not appreciate him, thus turning him back heel. foley would wrestle as dude love and join vince mcmahon. he would try to take the world title from austin only to keep coming up short in his attempts. after his failure to beat austin mcmahon would fire him. foley began wrestling as mankind again. he also rekindled his feud with the undertaker. in one of the most famous matches in foley's career he would face taker at king of the ring in hell in a cell.

he would transition the mankind character into more of a goofy lovable looser type. he would stumble apon the mr socko gimmick in what was supposed to be a throw away segment visiting mr mcmahon in the hospital. mcmahon would manipulate foley and set up a tournament for the wwf title. it looked as if mcmahon was fixing the tournament to have foley win only to screw him at the end and call for the bell when the rock put the sharpshooter on foley, a play off the montreal screwjob that happened the year before. foley would fued with mcmahon's corporation faction.

on december 24th 1998, january 4th tv show wise and the date wwf recognizes as the official date, mankind beat the rock for his first wwf world championship. in a bonehead move by the rival wcw on wcw's monday nitro tony schiavone was told to tell the fans that foley would win the title on raw and stated "that'll put a lot of butts in the seats." there was a mass exodus of wcw fans to raw that night to see a man that was respected by almost every wrestling fan world wide finally win a world title. this is seen as the beginning of wcw's fall and ultimate demise. he would trade the belt back and forth with the rock and end up with two title runs. a few months after the feud with the rock ended they would form the rock n sock coconnection and win the tag titles three times. during this run foley would be involved in the highest rated segment in monday night raw history, a "this is your life" type segment with the rock.

foley would take some time off to have knee surgery. upon his return he would win his third and final wwf world title at summer slam in a three way match with steve austin and triple h. he would loose the belt to triple h the next night on raw. the two would feud all the way to no way out. at no way out foley and triple h would meet in a hell in a cell where if foley lost he would retire from wrestling. he lost and would wrestle one more match at wrestlemania 2000. over the next few years foley would serve as a commissioner off and on. after this he world not be on wwf/e tv for 2 years.

he would show back up in june of 2003. he would show up sporadically wrestle here and there and put over younger wrestlers like randy orton. eventually he would become the color commentator for smackdown. he didn't last long in this role. he was not happy with his commentator role and let his wwe contract lapse without resigning.

mick foley would join tna. he would first show up as a special guest. jeff jarrett would make an offer, storyline wise only, for foley to become co owner of tna with him. mick foley would make his return to being on active wrestler and eventually win the tna world heavyweight championship on april 19th 2009 at the lockdown pay per view. he lost that title to kurt angle at slammiversary. he went on to win the legends championship and is currently defending that title. foley is nearer to the end of his career and can not do the things that he once did, but he is still one of the biggest stars in wrestling and has been part of a very successful run in tna.

the future is still bright for mick foley. he is in the process of writing a new book and will hopefully stick around and help make tna a legitimate contender with the wwe. even if he never shows his face in a wrestling ring again he will go down in history as one of the all time greats. foley has managed to stay at the top of every orginization he has been involved in over the last 20 years.