Mick Foley
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Michael Francis "Mick" Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American professional wrestler and author. He has wrestled under the names Cactus Jack, Dude Love, Mankind and Mick Foley.
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Wrestling career
Foley, who became a professional wrestler in 1983, was noted for his hardcore matches, which frequently left him injured. These injuries included eight concussions, part of his ear being ripped off, and over 300 stitches. While he is self-admittedly not one of the most physically-gifted wrestlers of all-time, Foley gained notoriety for his thoughtful and intense promos, in-ring tenacity, and willingness to put his body on the line for many dangerous spots. He was also known for having three distinct gimmicks as a wrestler: Cactus Jack, a maniacal and bloodthirsty Western outlaw, Mankind, a tortured soul who hid behind a leather mask and inflicted pain on others to ease his memories of his dark past, and Dude Love, a swinging "hip cat" and weenie. In addition to these, he occasionally also wrestled as "Mick Foley."
Foley first wrestled and gained popularity in Japan, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as Cactus Jack throughout the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s. In 1995, he won the Japanese IWA King of the Death Match Tournament. He achieved his highest success, however, in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Mankind, arriving in 1996 and winning the WWF Championship in 1998. On the night Foley's title win was to be broadcast, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone announced on WCW's competing Monday Nitro that Foley would win his first championship, which WCW knew because the WWF's Raw had been taped previously and Nitro was live. He then added the sarcastic remark, "That'll put a lot of butts in the seats." As a testament to Foley's popularity, Nielsen ratings showed that over 600,000 viewers switched from Nitro to Raw almost immediately. Foley later stated that he took great personal pride from this, and "Mick Foley put my butt in this seat" signs were seen in arenas for years afterward.
One of his most famous matches occurred during the WWF King of the Ring PPV in 1998. Foley, in his Mankind persona, was wrestling The Undertaker when he was thrown off of the Hell in a Cell cage (which is similar to a steel cage but with a mesh ceiling as well) and onto an announcing table, which broke under his weight and left him unconscious (a fall of approximately sixteen feet), and subsequently, after doggedly continuing the match after coming to, choke-slammed through the cage ceiling into the wrestling ring, an even more devastating fall, as a chair followed him downwards, landing on his face and knocking a tooth into one of his nostrils. Foley still cannot clearly recollect anything about the match after that point.
In 1998 Mick Foley was a contender for the TIME Magazine Man of the Year title, which was to be decided by an online vote. A huge turnout of wrestling fans gave Foley over 50% of the vote. However, before the final count Time removed him from the competition. "I was told that Time magazine did not feel that I had done anything to make me worthy of being man of the year." [1] (http://www.nzpwi.co.nz/interviews/2003/mick.foley/index.shtml)
After retiring from active competition, Foley served as storyline WWE Commissioner and later replaced Stone Cold Steve Austin as co-general manager of RAW. His performance as Commissioner and co-GM was always entertaining and often hilarious, and he reveled in his new role, but eventually tired of the day-to-day travel and left his full-time duties to write and spend time with his family.
Throughout his career, and under all of his aliases, Foley has proved extremely popular to his fans, even when he wrestled as a villain. Foley has always been accessible to his fans and will spend long periods of time with them signing autographs and posing for pictures. His hard work is often credited with helping to re-establish pro wrestling's popularity after the steroid and sex scandals of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Aliases
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Foley most famously wrestled as Cactus Jack in the independent circuit, at times billed as Cactus Jack Manson during those early years. He was just Cactus Jack when later wrestling in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, WCW, and ECW, however. When he joined the WWF he debuted as Mankind in March 1996, later becoming Dude Love, his former teenage alter ego, in early 1997, and finally bringing back Cactus Jack in a match against Hunter Hearst Helmsley in Madison Square Garden on September 22, 1997.
Dude Love first appeared on July 14, 1997 on an episode of Raw Is War. He came to the aid of Stone Cold Steve Austin in a match against Owen Hart and the British Bulldog. The Dude Love character was actually created by Foley when he was a teenager growing up in Long Island, New York. A big fan of pro wrestling, Dude Love was Foley's wrestling alter ego among his friends, and Foley appeared as the Dude in home movies, portions of which were later shown on WWF television. He admitted that Dude Love was not his favorite character to play. The Dude Love persona was different from his other characters. Foley last appeared as Dude Love in 1998.
Only on five occasions has Foley wrestled under his own name, a victory versus Terry Funk in a no holds barred falls count anywhere match on May 4, 1998; versus Triple H, The Rock and The Big Show in a fatal four way elimination match for Triple H's WWE Championship at WrestleMania 2000, being the second man eliminated; a forfeit loss to Randy Orton in December 2003; as the 21st entrant into the 2004 Royal Rumble match, eliminating himself and Orton; and in a loss while teaming with Rock in a handicap tag match at WrestleMania XX against Orton, Batista and Ric Flair in which he was pinned by Orton.
Foley's final match to date was as Cactus Jack once more, losing a street fight for the WWE Intercontinental Championship against defending champ Randy Orton at WWE Backlash 2004.
Author
Having experienced much during his long career, Foley, a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland in Cortland, New York, developed a desire to tell his story both to wrestling fans and non-fans alike as he became more popular in the late-1990s. Throughout most of 1998, Foley wrote out his autobiography, by himself, in longhand, as opposed to the easier ghostwriter method employed by most celebrities. The published book, Have a Nice Day!, was over 800 pages and became a huge success, topping the New York Times' nonfiction bestseller list for several weeks. While many book reviews refused to review his book because it was written by a professional wrestler, those who did noted what wrestling fans already knew: that Foley's unique story was told entertainingly, intelligently, and candidly, and despite its length, it was a captivating and worthwhile read. Foley followed the book with another bestselling autobiography, Foley Is Good (2001), three children's books, Mick Foley's Halloween Hijinx, Mick Foley's Christmas Chaos, and more recently Tales from Wrescal Lane (2004). Foley has also written Tietam Brown (2003), a coming-of-age type story aimed at young adults all of which have received favorable reviews. Despite his autobiographies going to number 1 in the American bestsellers list, many reviewers still refused to review his novel. Foley's next novel, Scooter, is scheduled for release in 2005. Foley's seemingly unlikely emergence as a gifted author has allowed him to start a new career, both as author, motivational speaker, and left/liberal political activist.
Profile
- Height: 6'2" (188 cm)
- Weight: 297lbs (134.7 kg)
- Birthday: June 7, 1965
- Hometown: East Setauket, Long Island, New York
- Trained By: Dominic DeNucci
- Professional Debut: June 24, 1983
- Movies / TV Series: Boy Meets World, Good vs. Evil
Previous Identities
- Cactus Jack
- Cactus Jack Foley
- Cactus Jack Manson
- Jack Foley
- Nick Foley
- Super Zodiac #2
- The Mutilator
- Mason The Mutilator
- Mankind The Mutilator
- Mankind
- Dude Love
- Mick Foley
- Commissioner Foley
Quotes
- "Bang Bang Bang, on the door Baby!"
- "Bang Bang! You're dead!"
- "Bang Bang!"
- "Oh, Have Mercy!"
- "Have a Nice Day!"
- "...and for the dozens...and dozens of Mankind fans..." (parody of The Rock's catchphrase)
- "...and that is FINAL!"
- "Sodas Rule"
- "You know, I can't do this to you but Cactus Jack will"
- "Right here, in (whatever city/state he's in)!"
Previous Managers
- Skandor Akbar
- Max Andrews
- Paul Bearer
- Mark Curtis
- Downtown Bruno
- Robert Fuller
- Linda McMahon
- Kevin Sullivan
- John Tolos
Finishing/Signature Moves
- Mandible Claw (heel)/ Mr. Socko (face)
- Double-Arm DDT
- Running Elbow Drop (from the ring apron to the floor)
- Pulling Piledriver
- Cactus Clothesline (Clothesline over the ropes to the floor)
- Sweet Shin Music (Superkick to Shin)
- Cactus Jack Crack Smash (Diving Somersault Splash)
- Running knee to opponent sitting in the corner
Signature Weapons
- Mr.Socko/Socko (sock puppet)
- Barbie (barbwire bat), sometimes on fire
Titles/accomplishments
- 3-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time WWF Hardcore Champion (first ever)
- 8-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Stone Cold Steve Austin once, Chainsaw Charlie once, Kane twice, Al Snow once and The Rock 3 times)
- 1-time WCW World Tag Team Champion (with Kevin Sullivan)
Extreme Championship Wrestling
- 2-time ECW World Tag Team Champion (with Mikey Whipreck)
- PWI ranked him # 46 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the "PWI Years" in 2003.
- Foley won three PWI Awards. He won Most Inspirational in 1993 and Match of the Year in 1998 (vs. Undertaker "Hell In a Cell") and 1999 (vs. The Rock).
Other Titles
- 1-time USWA Tag Team Champion
- 1-time CWA Tag Team Champion (with Gary Young)
- 1-time MCW North American Heavyweight Champion
- 2-time WCWA Tag Team Champion (with Scott Braddock & Gary Young)
- 1-time WCWA Light Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time IWA Tag Team Champion (with Tracy Smothers) (in Japan)
- 1-time King of Death Match Winner
- 1-time GLCW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time ACW Universal Television Champion
- 1-time NAW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time OMW North American Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time Mid-South Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time NWL Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time Steel City Wrestling Tag Team Champion (with The Blue Meanie)