Line #21 Awesome/MickFoley


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5	[[caption-width-right:350:[[InsultBackfire That's gonna put some butts in the seats.]]]]
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7	Thanks to being a badass {{Determinator}} and still being a hell of a NiceGuy, Mick has more Awesome moments than a normal wrestler could dream about.
8	----
9	* Many, many insanely brutal matches, too many to count. There was just something incredibly badass about how Mick Foley could have tacks sticking out of him, blood running down his face, clothing torn and ripped and be smiling like a '''lunatic''' that made you wanna get up out of your seat and cheer. Or at the very least think: "There goes the toughest son of a bitch that ever lived."
10	* His steel cage match as Mankind against Wrestling/TripleH at Summerslam 1997. After enduring a top of the cage superplex and constant interference from Wrestling/{{Chyna}}, near the end of the match where he was close to escaping the cage, when Chyna was trying to pull Hunter out through the cage door, she sudden stops and leaves the cage, leaving Hunter in the center of the ring, with the fans going crazy. Mankind then takes off this mask, climbs back up to the top of the cage with fans chanting [[Wrestling/JimmySnuka "Superfly"]] and elbow drops Hunter from the top of the cage. He then proceeds to climb over the cage again and wins the match before Chyna can drag Hunter out the cage door.
11	-->'''Wrestling/JimRoss:''' ''GOOD LORD!'' Three hundred pounds, off the top!
12	* His legendary Wrestling/HellInACell match with Wrestling/TheUndertaker at ''Wrestling/KingOfTheRing 1998''. Mankind lost, but still looked strong.
13	** First, Mick was thrown off the sixteen-feet tall cage into the SpanishAnnouncersTable, then after (not) being wheeled out on a stretcher, was thrown ''through the roof of the cage onto the mat''. Though seriously injured, with a tooth visibly sticking out of his nose, he fought 'Taker to a standstill and covered the mat in thumbtacks before being dropped onto those tacks and writhing in pain for minutes. He took so much punishment, scripted ''and'' [[ThrowItIn accidental]], that he got carried out in a stretcher... but got up and kept wrestling. '''[[MadeOfIron Twice.]]'''
14	** The Undertaker was extremely reluctant about the first stunt, which was scripted, and in an unused camera shot that has since appeared in retrospectives, for perhaps the only time in his career, he ''[[{{Kayfabe}} broke character]]'' seeing Foley come back down the aisle with a look of utter shock.
15	*** If the match had simply ended with Mankind taken out the back on a stretcher after that first fall, the crowd would have been satisfied solely by the sheer shock value. But just ''listen'' to [[ShockingMoments the crowd reaction]] when [[WhamShot Mankind rises from the stretcher]], literally tears himself free of the desperate, restraining hands of the staff and Wrestling/TerryFunk, and charges back down the aisle to start climbing the cage again...
16	---->'''Jim Ross:''' How in the ''hell'' is he still standing?!
17	** And later that night, Foley came back '''again''' to cost Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin his championship match against Wrestling/{{Kane}}.
18	** The match was so brutal that Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, whom Mick had to convince to allow the first cage spot, personally said after the match:
19	---> ''"Mick, you have no idea how much I appreciate what you just did, [[EveryoneHasStandards but I never want to see that again.]]"''
20	** This match is so legendary, it's one of only three individual WWF/E matches to get [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mankind_vs._The_Undertaker their own page]] on Website/{{Wikipedia}}, the other two being the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob (for obvious reasons) and Wrestling/BretHart vs Tom Magee (for its curiosity status as a "holy grail" lost match).
21	** To celebrate the match's 25th anniversary, the two men [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl2m9exy4lU met up to rewatch it for WWE Playback]] and provide their commentary and thoughts on it. Mick states, with immense pride, that the match has become the go-to match that wrestling fans will show their non-wrestling fan friends to get them to understand what the sport is all about, despite the fact that it's almost as far from a "conventional" wrestling match as you can get. Mick also mentioned that he'd previously come to resent the match because it felt like it was the only part of his career that anyone ever talked about, until ten years earlier when Taker had told him that the two of them had done something that would live on and be remembered for years after both of them were long gone, letting him make his peace with the match.
22	* [[http://www.cc.com/video-clips/yl3k4c/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-gaywatch---peter-vadala---william-phillips Being declared]] the bodyguard of a boy who stuck up for gay rights by [[Series/TheDailyShow Jon Stewart]] and vowing to bring a world of pain upon those who would give him trouble.
23	* Being honored at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, DC in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
24	* Also, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v155e8k1Xx4 his final promo on WWE programming.]] Hell of a way to go out.
25	* And if you're going to mention Mick Foley promos, there's only two words you need to know: [[https://youtu.be/wgyG68uEpVA "Cane Dewey"]]. It's widely considered the best promo in Foley's career, and some have even gone as far as to call it the best in the history of the industry, due in large part to the massive blending of {{Kayfabe}} and RealitySubtext. While Mick himself wasn't initially bothered by the sign (the signmaker [[https://www.wwe.com/classics/mick-foley-recalls-cane-dewey-rant actually asked permission from him first]]), his wife was justifiably horrified at the prospect, which helped inform the promo.
26	* The 1998 Royal Rumble, where Foley would eventually (through getting eliminated) wrestle in ''[[https://youtu.be/kk-LeFpw8Wc all three]]'' of his personas -- Cactus Jack (#1), Mankind (#16), and Dude Love (#28). JR said it best: "Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy is having himself a triple-header!"
27	* The first RAW of 1999 was taped December 29, 1998.[[note]]Until the debut of Wrestling/WWESmackdown in August 1999, WWE did two RAW's in one night, with the first one live, and the second one taped to air the following week.[[/note]] It was the build to the Royal Rumble, and Mick found himself on the outside looking in, especially after being screwed out of a qualifying match to Wrestling/TripleH. However, Trips decided to [[ThrowTheDogABone throw Mankind a bone]]; after Pedigreeing special referee Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon, he left Shane-O to Mick, who clamped on a submission hold and forced a No-DQ title shot out of Wrestling/VinceMcMahon. Cut to the match: The Rock (with the Corporation) vs. Mankind (with DX). The crowd was at a fever pitch, but fully expected Mankind to be screwed again. However, they were so invested that they forgot one thing: At the start of RAW, then-Commissioner Shawn Michaels announced a "Stone Cold Surprise". Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin hadn't been seen since burying Undertaker alive at the previous PPV, Rock Bottom. With everyone brawling at ringside, and the Rock having put down Mankind... glass shatters. Many, many times you will hear fans say "Oh, the loudest pop (that's fan-speak for crazy cheering, FYI) was this moment when…" and it might seem like they're exaggerating. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KybuIy0wKXk Not this time]]. The crowd knew. That can't be understated enough; the second the glass shattered, '''THEY.''' '''KNEW'''. And it became the biggest sustained roar in RAW history, compared only to Triple H's return from injury three years and change later. On that night, Michael Francis Foley finally won the big one.
28	** There's something incredible about the fact that despite having the assistance of D-Generation-X and Stone Cold Steve Austin, it didn't feel like Mankind was handed the win. He poured his blood sweat and tears into that match and all the others did was make sure Vince couldn't cheat him out of the victory he deserved.
29	** And of course, with the famous comes the infamous. WCW Nitro ran live from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta a week after the above, in front of over 40,000 people (RAW would run from the Skydome in Toronto a month later and also got 40K people). At the end of the first hour, following a [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Hollywood Hogan]] promo setting up the night's "main event", Wrestling/TonySchiavone, who would later state he had been ordered to state the following, uttered this to the camera with about as arrogant a tone as you can get:
30	-->"Fans, as Hollywood Hogan walks away and you look at this 40,000 plus on hand, if you're even thinking about changing the channel to our competition, fans, do not, because we understand that Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as Cactus Jack, is going to win their world title. Ha! That's gonna put some butts in the seats, heh".
31	** The second the above words left Tony's mouth, literally ''over half a million viewers'' switched to ''Raw''. And to really put the icing on the cake, what did fans see if they chose to switch back over to Nitro? The FingerPokeOfDoom. The ratings were slowly tipping in RAW's favor at that point, but many consider this to be the catalyst for the ratings free-fall that led to WCW's demise two years later.
32	** Foley later mentioned that he did feel some hurt by Schiavone's comment (which was confirmed to be orchestrated by Wrestling/EricBischoff, to be fair), until he saw what happened with the ratings.
33	** Schiavone would call Mick a few days later to congratulate him and apologize for his comment. He also admitted that he would have changed the channel to see Foley win the title as well.
34	** Wrestling fans in general get one here as well. For years after Schiavone made those comments, it was not uncommon to see fans at WWE events holding up signs reading “Mick Foley put my butt in this seat!”
35	* Foley's catchphrase during his first two title reigns, in the face of Wrestling/TheRock and Vince's desperate scramble to try and get the title back from him. "I am the World Wrestling Federation Champion... ''until I'm NOT!''"
36	* His "I Quit" match at the 1999 Royal Rumble was an absolutely ''brutal'' match for Mick Foley. During the ''Sunday Night Heat'' before the Royal Rumble, Foley had a "warm-up match" with the 500 pound Mabel, who gave Foley a huge splash with all his weight. Despite this, Foley went on to the I Quit match, where he would be thrown into the steel steps, hit by the ring bell, put through a table, miss an elbow drop onto a ladder, knocked off a twelve foot drop into an electrical circuit board[[note]]Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon actually tried to stop the match at this point, but The Rock refused[[/note]], handcuffed, and took nearly a dozen ''unprotected'' head shots from a steel chair[[note]]In which only ''five'' of them are scripted - Mick was supposed to be at two-thirds up the entrance ramp when the fifth chair shot was delivered[[/note]]. Despite it all, [[{{Determinator}} Foley refused to say "I quit"]], even going so far as to say "You'll have to kill me!" and it took a played recording of Mick Foley saying "I Quit!" to give the Rock the win. Even more amazing? Despite all the abuse he took, [[MadeOfIron Foley showed up at the very next RAW]] and demanded a rematch with The Rock.
37	* An often forgotten one happened at the 1999 Summerslam where he won the WWE Title for a third and final time from Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin (Wrestling/TripleH was also in the match). While Austin had lost a handful of matches since his first title victory, it was usually by either disqualification or by getting screwed (usually by the [=McMahons=]). Foley became the first wrestler since Wrestlemania XIV to CLEANLY pin Austin. He lost the belt the next night to Wrestling/TripleH,[[note]]Apparently WWE wanted to put the belt on Triple H but Austin flatly refused to put Trips over, while being willing to do it for Foley, which says quite a lot, to be honest.[[/note]] but the moment stands.
38	* His [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnqHCvoqVkA punching out of Bubba the Love Sponge]]. Seeing how Bubba was the CreatorsPet of Wrestling/{{TNA}} (and a colossal real-life {{jerkass}}), it just made it that much sweeter.
39	* His work with Music/ToriAmos and RAINN counseling rape victims, being named Volunteer of the Month. And his videos for Jezebel.com, teaching self-defense for women and answering questions about feminism and self-confidence. Yeah, that's right. Mick Foley is a ''feminist''.
40	** When Wrestling/{{Chyna}} was debuting in the WWF, none of the wrestlers wanted to sell any of her attacks because she was a woman (who was bigger than over half the boys on the roster). The only guy willing to sell for her was Mick. Eventually, the other guys warmed to the idea of her as a threat. Chyna had a career because Mick Foley was secure enough in his manhood to get knocked around by a girl.
41	* Writing multiple best-sellers. As in ''actually writing them'', not using ghostwriters (or at least relying on them to a far lesser degree than other celebrity writers).
42	** He is the first professional wrestler to write a book that would end up number one on the ''New York Times'' best seller's list. The kicker? His typewriter died just before he began working on the book, and being uncomfortable with word processing programs, and unhappy with what his ghostwriter was doing, he wrote the whole damn {{Doorstopper}} ''longhand, by himself''. That's the kind of dedication that earned him the right to be called a legend.
43	** A third of ''Foley is Good'' would be taking critics to task over criticism of the WWF. The research he conducted to expose the hypocrisy of MoralGuardians such as the PTC was incredible, and an off-hand comment on [[RedScare McCarthyism]] so impressed Linda [=McMahon=] he ran with it and showed that as racy as professional wrestling was, it was nothing like pushing for a preemptive nuclear attack on Moscow like one of the chief antagonist's fathers wanted.
44	* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_TPEPxSUbc Cactus Jack]] promo preceding his Royal Rumble 2000 match with Wrestling/TripleH. Hunter selling it like he'd just seen a ''[[OhCrap ghost]]'' was the cherry atop the sundae of awesome. For that matter, the match itself, and the Wrestling/HellInACell follow-up one month later, are both awesome themselves.
45	-->'''Foley:''' ''His name is '''Cactus Jack!'''''
46	** In his book ''Foley Is Good'', Mick gives a lot of credit to Triple H for how he reacted to Cactus Jack's return: if Triple H had laughed it off, the angle would have been dead before it got started. But by selling it as if Death Incarnate was coming to ringside, the angle ended up becoming the stuff of legends.
47	** Merely calling the subsequent Street Fight at the Royal Rumble "awesome" is ''massively'' underselling it. To put it bluntly, this was the match that ''made'' Triple H and legitimized him as a top-tier performer. Years on, many still consider it the best match The Game has ''ever'' been in, thanks to the incredible work both men put in.
48	*** Even though Triple H won the match (barely), Cactus Jack still came out looking like the most dangerous man alive. After ''kicking out'' of the Pedigree (one of the most-protected finishers in WWE), Triple H gave Jack another one ''face first onto thumbtacks'' before pinning him for 3 and practically collapsing. Completely incapable of gloating over his exhausting victory, the champion practically ''crawled'' out of the ring, his panicked wife Stephanie rushing to his side and helping him onto a stretcher to be taken for medical help. Then [[EnemyRisingBehind Cactus Jack rose up like some kind of unstoppable monster]], shoved his way through the staff, grabbed the stretcher and ran it back against the side of the ring, as if everything Triple H had done to him was nothing more than a slap on the wrist. ''Don't cross Mrs Foley's baby boy.'' Even if you win, you'll ''lose!''
49	*** Additionally, it turned out that Triple H's absolute shock when Cactus Jack kicked out of the first Pedigree was [[EnforcedMethodActing completely real]]- that was supposed to be the end of the match, but Mick kicked out on his own initiative and called an audible in the ring because he'd decided right then and there that he wanted to be slammed face-first down onto a pile of thumbtacks to make Triple H look like the most vicious and evil heel in the business.
50	*** It should also be noted that, on a non-Kayfabe level, Vince had told both of them there were to be no thumbtacks used. They audibly agreed but as soon as Vince left the room, Hunter turned to Mick and asked, “You already put them under the ring, right?” which Mick had. After the match, apparently Vince wasn’t even really mad, acknowledging the two were just trying to put on the most entertaining match they could.
51	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ohpJkHp-U Cactus Jack's Debut]] three years earlier certainly counts. Again, with this in mind, the reaction Hunter gives three years later before the Royal Rumble is most definitely justified.
52	*** The debut is so famous that [[https://youtu.be/t4E9bgHQxgE?t=144 it was recreated almost word-for-word, image-for-image]][[note]]aside from the removal of Wrestling/{{Chyna}}, who was [[UnPerson not popular with the WWE]] at the time the game was released[[/note]] in ''WWE '13''.
53	-->'''Wrestling/JimRoss:''' Drastic times call for drastic measures! And for a man that has wrestled on nails and barbed wire and set himself on fire, this will be a day in Central Park! Bang! Bang! He’s back!"
54	* A couple weeks before ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} 2000'', Vince decides to have the scheduled main event for ''[=WrestleMania=]'' (a triple threat between Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/TheBigShow, and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] for the WWF Championship) free on ''Raw''. The match commences with Triple H just barely squeezing out a victory but happy he doesn't have to compete at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' now. Then, [=Linda McMahon=] comes out and declares that Triple will instead compete in a Fatal Four Way elimination match against Rock, Big Show,... and Mick Foley. The crowd becomes positively unglued as Foley comes out and beats the crap out of Triple H and Big Show and hoists the WWE Title high above his head.
55	* In 1998, Time Magazine decided to have an online poll to determine who would be their "Person of the Year." Mick Foley ended up winning by a landslide, to the point that they decided to pull him from the poll so someone "proper" would end up winning.
56	* His promo with CM Punk on the 9/24 edition of RAW? In so few words: [[Quotes/DareToBeBadass "DO YOU WANT TO BE A STATISTIC OR A LEGEND!?"]]
57	* His hardcore match against Randy Orton at Backlash 2004 was truly something special. Foley accomplished two important goals that night; putting over the up-and-coming Orton and looking great in defeat, and reminding the fans what it means to own the title of "The Hardcore Legend."
58	* A few weeks before ''Wrestlemania 22'', Foley and Wrestling/{{Edge\|Wrestler}} get into a brawl. Edge drops Foley '''face-first''' onto thumbtacks and celebrates... until Foley rises, thumbtacks sticking out of his face, and beats Edge down.
59	* A recent episode of RAW shows Foley calling out CM Punk and Paul Heyman for mocking recently-returned [[Wrestling/JerryLawler Jerry "The King" Lawler]] about his heart attack. What's even more is that he supervises the main event of the night and prevents Paul Heyman from interfering in the match!
60	* Him ''finally'' being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 and finally being able to beat Wrestling/ChrisJericho!
61	* Tearing the WWE a new one after the anti-climatic finish to Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2014, which didn't feature Wrestling/DanielBryan as one of the surprise participants despite numerous hints in the week building up to the PPV, the crowd chanting for him throughout the ''whole night'' and Bryan being the ''most over wrestler since Stone Cold in 1998.'' Foley summed up his frustrations, tweeting an ArmorPiercingQuestion to the WWE that was retweeted over 20,000 times within ''24 hours'':
62	--> '''Foley''': Does the WWE really hate their own audience?
63	* Mick Foley's appearance at ICW's ''Fear and Loathing VIII'' PPV. Brought in as the "Commissioner" of the Show. 'Nuff said.
64	* Cactus Jack vs Triple H at the ''Royal Rumble 2000.'' Mick Foley vs Randy Orton at ''Backlash 2004.'' Mick Foley vs Edge at ''Wrestlemania 22.'' Even though he lost all three matches, Mick is the ''poster child'' for what it means to "put an opponent over". When WWE wanted to give a up-and-coming star serious badass credibility, they'd put him in a hardcore feud against Michael Francis Foley. They'd enter the ring as boys and leave as battered, bloodied, scarred '''men.'''
65	* His appearance, which he voiced himself, on ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' where he fought and killed Creator/ErnestHemingway! On top of that, he ends his night in the Deathmatch arena with a death drop ''from the arena ceiling'', which he had just headbutted his way through, taking out the entire ring, along with Mills Lane, [[Music/{{Metallica}} James Hetfield]] and the dead remains of [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]]. The way he kills Hemingway deserves special mention - he uses his Mr. Socko/Mandible Claw attack to ''TEAR THE JAW OFF HEMINGWAY'S SKULL!!''
66	--> '''Mankind''': [[CatchPhrase HAVE A NICE DAY!!!]] tears Hemingway's jaw clean off, causing his brain and eyeballs to fall out of his skull
67	* For weeks, if not months, people had been seriously bothered by how willing Foley was to bow to Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon's desires and directives, as it seemed to indicate that he'd lost his spine and his charisma. Thus, his decision to stand up to her -- in epic fashion, no less -- on the 3/13/17 edition of ''Raw'' was ''immensely'' satisfying. Toward the start of the show, Stephanie had tasked Foley with the duty of firing one member of the ''Raw'' roster, a mere three weeks before ''Wrestling/WrestleMania''. After agonizing over it for the whole show, during the closing segment, he revealed he had, in fact, come up with a name. That name? ''[[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Stephanie McMahon]]''. Stephanie thought he was tired, then grew angry when he was clearly hellbent on pointing out that [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech she, and no one else, was responsible for bringing down the show]]. At one point, Stephanie even tried to cut him off to deliver one of her signature emasculating tirades, but Foley then cut ''her'' off, shouting, "I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!" It came down to Wrestling/TripleH himself coming out to the ring to deal with Foley. And even then, every point Triple H made, Foley argued right back ("You want to go back to traveling the world and telling stories of a broken-down man?" "Maybe! After all, I LOVE traveling the world and telling my stories!") Ultimately, however, HHH would silence Foley by using his own grown children against him (Dewey being part of Creative in Stamford and Noelle with her aspirations to be a wrestler) and terminating them in addition to him, then order him out of the ring. But on his way out, Foley stopped, reached down, and when HHH approached to push him along, he spun around and grabbed HHH in the [[FinishingMove Mandible Claw]]. He ultimately would not emerge on top in that segment (thanks to a timely [[GroinAttack low blow]] by Stephanie), but it was nevertheless ''extremely'' cathartic to watch him stand up to the Authority after all those months.
68	* In ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter's'' yearly awards, Mick won the "Wrestling/BruiserBrody Memorial Award" for "Best Brawler" for ''the entirety of the 90's!'' Literally every year for ''10 years,'' from 1991 to 2000, Mick was hailed as THE one guy you didn't want to get into a knock-down drag-out slugfest against![[note]]It was Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin who finally unseated him in 2001.[[/note]] The only person to even come ''close'' to this in the award's almost 40 year history is ''Brody himself.''[[note]]7-time winner before his tragic early death.[[/note]]

Context Awesome / MickFoley