Mick Foley: Madman Unmasked | Full Documentary | Biography

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[theme music playing] [heavy metal playing] [audience cheering] [narrator] Seeing professional wrestler Mick Foley in action is seeing dementia unleashed. [announcer] This is unbelievable. [yelling and grunting] They're beating the living hell out of each other! I'm telling you, the cat's sick. 'Cause there's nobody that thrives on it like he does. Every night, that man takes an unbelievable beating. Sports entertainment, no sports entertainment. He is getting his brains rocked. And he loves it because he shows up to do it all over again the next night. [narrator] He said he was addicted to pain. Something that is evident at any of the sold-out wrestling events in which Foley performed. [Steve Austin] We got a little blood, we got some beer. We got one hell of a show going on right now. [narrator] The 6' 2" 300-pound Foley is an icon to legions of fans of the billion-dollar industry of professional wrestling. [heavy metal continues playing] [announcer] Oh, my God! [narrator] He's been known as Dude Love, Cactus Jack, Mankind, and now a successful author. But perhaps the least understood persona in Mick Foley's bag of personalities is the man himself. [man 1] Mick Foley is an intelligent, articulate man, who cares very much for his family. And his characters have nothing whatsoever to do with Mick Foley. [narrator] Those who knew him before he graced the covers of magazines say the seeds of Foley's fame were planted in a middle-class upbringing in New York's Long Island. His mother, Beverly, was a studious woman who encouraged young Mick to hone his creative talents. Foley wrote vivid short stories and songs. He loved cartoons and the Chicago Bears. His father, at the time a high school athletic director, says Mick was a boisterous, self-assured kid passionate about sports. Mick grew up in this house and one of the great things we had, we had a bunch of kids about his own age right here in the neighborhood. And they got together one summer, and they set up their own baseball league. And they played-- just about every day they played wiffle ball. And I used to watch 'em, and they'd play self-directed, no adults involved. [narrator] As a child, Mick always wanted to be number one. [man 2] We had completely different interests. Growing up, we both liked different sports, had a different group of friends, and so on. I think the biggest thing with my brother is that everything was a competition. You know, if we had-- if my parents got pizza for dinner, it became a pizza-eating contest. [man 3] There's a kid like that in every junior high school that's got a shine in their eye, that you know there's just something a little askew and that this kid is gonna go on to do something great. [narrator] He tried playing several organized sports: basketball, football, and track. But Foley liked wrestling, especially professional wrestling. The spectacle of the sport intrigued him. He saw his heroes like Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka getting the glory and the women. And Foley wanted the same. He joined the wrestling team his senior year in high school. Because of his size, 215 pounds, he won most of his matches. Losing was a painful experience. To be pinned in front of your friends, you know, in front of girls that you were interested in, it was a very humbling experience and a great growing experience, and obviously without that little background, I wouldn't have pursued my... my dream of being a pro wrestler. [narrator] But there was a darker side to the bright kid from Setauket. Foley, built like a bowling pin, tested his limits through outrageous behavior. [Danny] He used to come over to my house and he would start by-- he'd come over and get on his fours and eat dog food. Or actually go to the fridge, "What do you have for lunch?" Instead of grabbing a sandwich, he would grab Alpo and spoon it out of the can and eat it. Now, that's not physical pain, but in a sense it's... pain 'cause it's so nasty. He played lacrosse. He was a lacrosse goalie. And he never wore a jockstrap, and so-- And he never wore shoulder pads, always would get hit and would be proud of his black and blue marks 'cause he never wore shoulder pads or a cup or any chest protection so that those balls come pretty hard and they are hard, so he had these big welts on him. [narrator] The lumbering teenager felt awkward around girls and wanted desperately to impress them. He used bizarre antics to get attention, not so much from his friends, but from the girls. He was friends with them, but they weren't interested in him sexually. And that, like with any kid, would frustrate you. His reaction to that would be these episodes to say, "Well, you know, I am not a loser. This is what I do, I can inflict pain upon myself, I can take it more, I'm crazier than anybody else." And in turn, that wound up pushing him away more than it would bringing them closer to him. Even with the athletics, I couldn't make any headway with the girls, and that was a recurring theme in my life. I couldn't figure it out. Uh, I thought I was a nice guy, borderline charming, you know? Could tell a story. And there was no interest. [narrator] Foley responded by getting creative, a tactic that would serve him well throughout his life. [Mick] I created a character who, to me, was everything that a guy should be. You know, he got the girls, he looked like a million bucks, he had a big heart-shaped tattoo on his chest, and I created him and made him in a home movie. [narrator] The movie was shot following a particularly horrifying date Foley had when he was 18. Great talk and it was great being around her, and I walked her home, I held her hand, and she gave me a goodnight kiss. And she then said goodnight and called me by the wrong name. [Danny] That sent him crazy. He always used to get called the wrong names and people never got his name right. They called him Nick, they called him Rich. She called him Frank. That hit home with him and he said, "Well, I need to do something to let people know that I'm not Frank. I'm Mick Foley, I'm not a loser, I'm a potential superstar." So he came up with this idea, and Mick wrote the script. It was "The Legend of Frank Foley." [heavy metal playing] [narrator] The movie and the sequel, shot six months later, was about a professional wrestler named Dude Love, a persona created by Foley to combat his insecurity with women. Dude Love was always the man, always had the right answers, always knew the way with the ladies. [narrator] The big finish of the second film comes when Foley, playing Dude Love, climbs on top of Danny Zucker's garage. [audience cheering] Foley wanted to imitate a move made by one of his wrestling heroes, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. [announcer speaking indistinctly] [narrator] Weeks earlier, Foley had hitchhiked to Madison Square Garden to see Snuka perform his famous cage leap. [Mick] Sure enough, he dove off the top of the cage onto Don Muraco, uh, and it was at that moment that there was no doubt in my life that I was going to be a pro wrestler, or at least give it my best try. [narrator] But Snuka was a professional, leaping less than a dozen feet to a canvas ring. Foley, not even an amateur, was about to jump 16 feet to an unsecured mattress placed on boxes on top of an asphalt driveway. But Foley wanted to capture the daring stunt on film. His friends put down cardboard boxes and a mattress and waited. And he goes up for the big swan dive, and he jumps off the roof and he lands on the boxes, and we are all flabbergasted that he did this. But the bad part about it was the guy who was filming it never got it on tape. So he goes back up on the roof, and we kind of pop the cardboard boxes back together again, and this time, you know, we make sure we have the camera set, and he does this dive... [grunts] [Mick] I was not athletically gifted, so I could not jump high, but, uh, I could jump off of high places. [narrator] The tape began circulating among Mick's friends and professional wrestling fans on Long Island. It was a cult hit. [Jack] When the movie came out, they sort of kept it away from us for a while, but finally, we looked at it, I looked at it, and know a little bit about sports medicine, I'm saying to myself, "There but for the grace of God goes a quadriplegic." [narrator] The dangerous movie stunt would soon prove to be the spark to ignite Foley's fledgling career. A promoter saw the tape. Anyone crazy enough to jump of a roof, he thought, might have what it takes to become a professional wrestler. [narrator] During his early 20s, Mick Foley relentlessly pursued his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. He attended matches, he watched countless hours of televised battles. We all liked it, but he was over the deep end. Like, "Come over, let's watch these matches. I've taped 17 hours of wrestling. Let's go over and watch every little match." [narrator] Wrestling was in his blood. The spectacle, the attention, the women. Foley wanted it badly. [John] I remember telling my parents, "When is he gonna give this up? It's obvious it's not gonna amount to anything." And I never thought he was gonna make it. [man] Mick obviously wasn't born with the, uh, greatest genetics in terms of physique and things of that nature. So he couldn't do some of what the physique guys do. He's not necessarily nice to look at, although he really is underneath all of that. [narrator] It turned out the film Foley made when he was 18 would be his big break. A copy of the home movie had made its way to wrestling promoter Tommy D. [Mick] He thought he'd just discovered the next big star. Didn't realize that I had a half a thimble-full of actual talent. It takes a lot more to be a wrestler than just to dive off Danny Zucker's roof. [narrator] Tommy D. told his friend, wrestling coach and former professional wrestler Dominic DeNucci, about Foley. DeNucci, who had been a star of wrestling in the 1960s and '70s, agreed to meet with Foley, but wasn't sure that Mick had the skills to make it as a professional. What Foley lacked in skill, he made up for in determination. DeNucci agreed to take him on as a student under one condition: He honor his family's wishes that he stay in college. I said, "Mick, one thing I want you to please continue and get an education, so if something doesn't go as well as you hope it might go, that you'll have something to fall back on." And he kept his part of the deal. [narrator] The requirement was a tough one. Foley was pursuing a communications degree at Cortland College in Upstate New York. DeNucci's school was in Erie, Pennsylvania, a five-hour drive away. Foley would leave college on Friday night, drive to wrestling school, and sleep in his car until the doors opened. [man] Sometime he was taking the old road, but the road was long, five, six hours to come in. It was very, very hard. But he was-- never complained. Never complained. And when he sleeps in the car, under the snow, he looked like a bear when he came out from there. Because many, many time, I said, "Jeez, why don't you come to my house?" He said, "Yeah, but I arrive here five o'clock in the morning." I said, "What's the difference?" [Mick] I can't state enough just how helpful Dominic was in that he realized I was terrible. And, uh, but he wanted to see me be a success. He knew how much I wanted it. He knew how that I was sleeping in my car. Mickey never quit. He always there. I mean, he was fighting. And a lot of times I was beating the hell out of him. [chuckles] You have to... Once in a while, you have to punish, see if you don't come back the next week. If they come back, you know they have something. And I did to Mickey, I did a few times, I put him to the mat, and the face in the mat, and everything else. But the next... the next day or the next week he was there again. He said, "Okay, kid, let me, uh, show... Let me see a forearm." So I had Dominic in a corner and I just reared my forearm back, and I raised my foot for the big stomp, and I came back, boom! Barely touched him, but I had the big stomp, and I thought, "I showed him, I know what wrestling's about." He said, "So you think that's wrestling?" I said, "Yeah." And he turned me around in the corner, he proceeded to pelt my chest with about 15 forearms, and I didn't hear any feet stomping the ground, but I heard a whole lot of, uh, forearm hitting flesh, and I heard a lot of breath leaving my body, I heard a lot of oohs and aahs. He said, "That, my boy, is wrestling." I will never forget that. He didn't hurt me. He never went out of his way to injure me, but he made sure I had a healthy respect for what the guys go through. [announcer speaking indistinctly] [narrator] To get real-world experience, Dominic would offer his students as fall guys for professional wrestling matches. [announcer] You see Dynamite Kid does a snap and quick suplex. Davey Boy Smith with the more traditional higher driving suplex. And Foley... [narrator] For two years, Foley learned the tricks of the wrestling trade: How to fall, take a punch, and get tossed into the ropes. [announcer] And down again! [narrator] After finishing college and his training with DeNucci, Foley headed out on the road as a professional wrestler. [narrator] After finishing college and his training with wrestling mentor Dominic DeNucci, Mick Foley headed out on the road. The small Midwest venues were a far cry from Madison Square Garden. It's almost like, "Congratulations, you've now earned the right to star." And it was-- man, we'd get our checks every Wednesday in Evansville. It'd be 100 people in the audience, and it was a real dingy, dark arena and, uh, it was not a fun time. [crowd clamoring] [narrator] But Foley refused to give up. He was determined to become the most extreme wrestler ever. It was the start of hardcore wrestling, requiring severe violence and intense pain. To accomplish his goal, Foley needed to create a more ominous persona, and Cactus Jack was born. The story the way I remember it, and I'm pretty sure the way it is, is during basketball games during high school, Mick's dad as the athletic director would stand against the wall, and he would just stand there and not move, and he was big and thick, and he'd put his hands by his side and he looked like a cactus. And we would always say, "Look, it's Cactus Jack. It's Cactus Jack." [Mick] And it was just an attempt to see if one of my friends, namely Danny Zucker, could come over and say, "Hey, how's it going, Cactus Jack?" And look at my dad's facial expression. [narrator] After one of his early matches against the Dynamite Kid, his parents woke up to the harsh realization that the blood of professional wrestling was real. [mellow rock music playing] It was a month before I could chew food again. Uh, they gave me a concussion. I tore a ligament in my jaw. I showed up the next day in Hartford, and, uh, my parents were waiting for me outside the building. My mom was smiling because she thought like everybody that nobody got hurt in pro wrestling. And they took one look at my eyes and, uh, they could see that the lights were on, but no one was home. And I don't think my mom has enjoyed watching a match since then. [narrator] In 1989, his life would forever change. Not because of a lucky break in wrestling, but in love. I worked for Tommy D. at Riverhead Raceway in Long Island, and I saw a beautiful woman sitting there watching the races. Being the gutless coward I was, I didn't go up and say hello, I asked some-- a trucker who was a wrestling fan if he would... if he would make an introduction. And I guess the beautiful young lady said, "Who's Captain Jack?" You know. So, I went over there and, uh, I guess three days later we had our first date. And that was Colette. [narrator] They were married a year later, and though Colette wasn't a wrestling fan, she knew her husband could do more than be the fall guy for bigger stars. The nice thing about my relationship is I know she didn't marry me for my name because she didn't even know what it was, and she didn't marry me for my money because there was none of that either. Uh, but she was able to look at my matches, and I thought they were great and, by and large, wrestling fans thought they were great, and she said, "You're better than that. Is that the way you wanna be remembered? As the guy that's slapped around?" And I went, "I never really thought of it that way." So we made a conscious effort to make Cactus Jack a monster. And when I returned to WCW in 1991, you know, I was-- I was a monster, you know? Still didn't have any muscles, but people feared me. [narrator] Foley would ride the sinister Cactus Jack character throughout the first half of the 1990s as a member of the World Championship Wrestling organization. That would change in 1995 when Foley decided to become an independent. [Mick] I just felt like if I stayed there, I was in a dead end. And I felt trapped there. So I gave my notice, I walked out of my six-figure job, without telling my wife and with a five-month-old baby, and, uh, went my own way. And, uh, slept on the couch for about a week because of it, but, uh, I was actually able to make Cactus Jack a bigger name independently than I had been working for a national company like WCW. And I did that through hard work, sacrifice, and a lot of blood, a lot of sweat, and a couple tears. [narrator] If he was going to make it to the top of the professional wrestling world, he had to do it on his own. Foley kept going. He agreed to wrestle anywhere, anytime. [yelling and grunting] [indistinct chatter] [narrator] The place was an arena in Japan. Foley and his friend Terry Funk put on a wrestling match that fans would not soon forget. In a ring encircled with barbed wire, they decimated each other. [indistinct yelling] [narrator] With chairs... With fire... [heavy metal playing] [indistinct yelling] [narrator] Until both men lay bloodied and broken. [indistinct yelling] But what Foley didn't know was that taking a risk would pay off in ways even he never dreamed possible. Mankind, Foley's disturbed wild child from hell, was about to be born. In 1996, Mick Foley was pursuing his wrestling career as an independent... without the backing of a major organization. Within a year, he caught the attention of officials at the World Wrestling Federation, the WWF, the sport's top touring company. [McMahon] When I first saw Mick performing, he would do these daring things, and sometimes it was like I would watch and say, "Oh, this guy must be absolutely insane." And as a matter of fact, he would do things that were so risky, I thought, that it's like, I don't even know if I ever wanna meet this guy, much less have him on our roster. [narrator] McMahon liked Foley's style but not the Cactus Jack character. He told Foley he wanted him to be a part of the WWF but he needed a new look. The WWF staff fitted Foley with a Hannibal Lecter-style mask once used by The Undertaker when he had fractured a bone in his face. Foley had several meetings with Vince McMahon to come up with a name for his character. The WWF leader said the league had Crushers, Destroyers, and Bruisers, but never a Mutilator. [Mick] And right there, I saw my career sliding down the tubes, you know, "The Mutilator"? And then he said, "And then we're gonna call you Mason the Mutilator," and when he asked me what I thought, I told probably the biggest lie of my life, "I like it," all the while I was looking for a backup, and just somewhere in my mind, I came up with, "Vince, what about Mankind the Mutilator"? And he said, "I'm not sure I understand." And I said, "Well, it's like a double meaning. I could talk about the destruction of mankind and the future of mankind." And he said, uh, "I like it." And, uh, that was the last that was said about it until my debut with the WWF and I came out and I was Mankind. I guess he liked it enough, they scrapped "The Mutilator." [narrator] The Mankind character was grotesque. He dressed in rags. He talked of being raised in a basement with rats. He ate worms. He was repulsive both in and out of the ring. [interviewer] Probably not. Do you think girls wanted to kiss a boy who had worms on his breath? I'm a good kisser! [Undertaker] He raised the level one more time as Mankind. The things that he came in and did is just... You know, I hate to keep going back to that, but really that's the one thing that stands out in my mind is the trauma that he inflicts on himself for the love of this... of this business, I guess. Unless there is some kind of demon inside of him that says, "You know, you need to go out every night and get the living hell beat out of you." [indistinct commentary] [pyrotechnics exploding] [Mick] Pro wrestling is like a three-ring circus. You know, if you don't like the tightrope walker, then maybe you'll enjoy the 13 clowns piling into the back seat of a Pinto, you know, and, uh, you know, maybe my role in that is I'm the guy who gets shot out of the, uh, the cannon. [narrator] The fans responded. Mankind soon became a favorite of the WWF circuit. His interviews were notorious. You make me sick! A man of integrity?! I ought to smack you! -[grunting] -[girl screaming] [crazed grunting and screaming] [narrator] Mankind developed his own special move, -the Mandible Claw. -[Ross] The Mandible Claw! [narrator] He would jam two fingers down the throat of an opponent, causing them to gag into unconsciousness. The Claw led to one of Foley's most memorable creations, a dirty sock puppet named Mr. Socko. Mr. Socko was born during a bit when Mankind visited the injured Vince McMahon in the hospital. I can tell the difference it's making... [Mick] I went into my tights, came out with Mr. Socko, and crawled underneath Vince's bed and proceeded to do the worst ventriloquist act of all time, which therefore made it the best ventriloquist act of all time. If it had been good, people would've hated it. Say hello to Mr. Socko. Mr. Socko knows you've been feeling mighty bad, so he's gonna give your boo-boo a big kiss. -Hey, nurse. -[Mick laughs] -You're gonna what? -[kissing sound] Hey, hey, ah! No, Mick, please. -Please just leave. -Mr. Socko! Please leave, please. [noisemaker whistling] Damn it, leave. [Mick] Uh, and, uh, when we were done and Vince had thrown us out of the room, he kind of sealed Mr. Socko's fate when he turned to the camera and went, "Mr. Socko." -[machines beeping] -Mr. Socko. And, uh, the next day, I showed up at television tapings, and there were Mr. Socko signs and there were Mr. Socko chants, and it suddenly became the biggest thing I had ever done, and it was completely by accident. [The Rock] As small as that idea is, putting a sock over your hand, um, it's-it's meant the world in terms of millions of dollars marketing-wise, and things like that, so, um, Rock's hat goes off to him and his little bitty sock. I guess maybe one of the voices in his head or whatever it is has told him to, you know... I don't know if one day he lost his-his leather covering and had to resort to whatever he could find, I guess he had to put something over his hand, so he pulled a sock off, and ever since then, now, it's, uh, he gets out there, and if they're not yelling "Mankind," they're yelling "Socko." It's just a way for him to go into his finishing maneuver, which is the Mandible Claw. Now it's Socko and he talks to it. You know, go figure. -[bell ringing] -[crowd cheering] [narrator] The fans loved Mankind, but even Foley admitted that the character was so dark that he couldn't do it all the time. ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ [narrator] Instead, the WWF encouraged him to rotate between all three of his personas, Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love. ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ [narrator] In 1997, the kid from Long Island had reached the top of his game. He and his wife were raising their children. He was an international celebrity. And he had become a WWF superstar. But there was one more thing Foley wanted to do before calling it quits, something no one would ever forget. [Ross] Mankind is climbing... [narrator] In the summer of 1998, Mick Foley was at the top of his game, but to cement his status as a hardcore legend, there was one thing left to do. It is known as the most violent match in the history of professional wrestling, the Hell in a Cell. It was scary, and it was frightening. I think it was frightening for everybody in wrestling. It's kind of like, uh, asking Napoleon if he wants to be remembered for Waterloo. [narrator] It happened in Pittsburgh on June 12, 1998. The event: Lower a large fenced cage over a wrestling ring, put two men inside, and let them fight it out. [Ross] It's beyond description. [McMahon] Mick wanted to do something special that night. He had an extra twinkle in his eye, you know, and there are lots of twinkles in his eye, but he had an extra one that day. Uh, and he made reference to wanting to try something a little different, and when you hear that from Mick, you say, "Mmm, different? How different?" [Ross] Yeah, The Undertaker is almost... and I hate to say this, but he's almost satanic in his... in his attitude. [narrator] But instead of getting inside the cage, Foley, as Mankind, and The Undertaker climbed on top of it. [Ross] Their bodies on the line here. You never know what the psycho's gonna do. -[Ross] The Undertaker says... -[Lawler] He's doin' it! [Ross] "You want me up there? You wanna come up there and fight? I'm gonna come up and whip your butt!" [Lawler] Oh my gosh. Before the match even started, we were on top of the cage, which is no easy feat getting up there to start with. But there we are, trading blows in front of 20,000 people, and, uh, there we are fighting off the side of the cage. [Lawler] The hair on my neck standing... [narrator] Though planned, what happened next stunned even veteran wrestling observers. [Lawler] Oh my God. -[Ross] Look out! -[Lawler] Oh no! -[crashing] -[Ross] Good God almighty! Good God almighty! That killed him! [crowd cheering] -[Lawler] Oh my God. -[Ross] As God is my witness, he is broken in half! [narrator] The Undertaker tossed Foley off the top of the cage, sending him flying 25 feet to a table below. Everything happens within split seconds, usually, in the wrestling ring, it's an action and reaction. But as I tossed him off there, it seemed like everything slowed down, you know. It seemed like it took forever for him to land, and he landed with such a, uh, violent impact, I never, ever expected him to get up from that. I thought that, uh, actually I thought his career might've been over. Just try even falling out of bed the two and a half feet to the floor, you recognize that when you multiply that by a factor of ten, it's not something that anybody should try at home, and you would argue that perhaps this is not something that anybody should try anyway, anywhere. But this guy does it for a living. [narrator] For several minutes, Foley did not move. A stretcher was brought in, and the match appeared to be over. But in typical showman style, Foley refused help, stumbled to his feet, and went for more. [Lawler] You're kidding me! [Ross] How in the hell is he standing? -[Lawler] Oh my God. -[Ross] And look-- He's got a smile on his face, for God sakes! [Undertaker] That cage is regular cyclone fencing, and it takes a lot of strength just to get up the thing, you know, with how big we are. So not only did he take that fall off the top of the cage, he climbs back up there. There was a lot of the supports snapping off as we were up there just from our own weight, and, uh, I ended up giving him one of my finishing moves, a chokeslam. -[Ross] And a right hand. -[Undertaker] He never stopped. The... the fence section gave... gave way. -[fence rattling] -[Lawler] Oh! -[crowd cheering] -[Ross] Good God! [Undertaker] It was even more violent than the first one, the fall that he took. [Ross] Will somebody stop the damn match?! [Undertaker] I don't believe that he was expecting that fence panel to give way. When he landed, it looked like... I don't know, I'd have to liken it to a car wreck. When Mankind was thrown from the top of the cage onto, uh, the table and it crashed, he was pretty much in control. I-I think that he-he knew what was happening and he was able to protect himself. But when he was chokeslammed, I think what everybody expected to happen, including Mankind, was he was just gonna get chokeslammed onto the cage, but instead, the cage broke, gave way, and he fell all the way through, completely out of control. You knew it was real serious the way the doctor jumped into the ring, I mean, I've never seen anything in wrestling like that. I mean, the doctor they have, he basically dove in the ring within about five to ten seconds to see if Mick was even gonna be alive. All of us, you know, in-in the back that were watching it just went, "Ugh..." You know, we didn't know if he was gonna be alive after that. Uh, I'm not so sure that that wouldn't have broken a normal individual in half. Not Mick. [narrator] Unbelievably, Foley continued the match. He had kidney damage, he had a separated shoulder, and a tooth had been knocked out through his nose. [Blaustein] One of the things I find interesting about Mick, that here's a guy who's willing to go out and really brutalize his body in order for the sport, and, you know, there's a price that he pays for that. [Lawler] What is that? [Ross] Thumbtacks. [narrator] A trick Foley learned in Japan, dumping thumbtacks on the mat, backfired. [John] He got a concussion, and from what he's told me, he doesn't remember a thing that happened the rest of the match, and I guess the most humorous part of that is, after the match is over, he's sitting there with about 50 thumbtacks in his arm, and he's telling The Undertaker, "I really don't remember. Did I ever use those thumbtacks?" [narrator] When the match ended, WWF officials decided the violence had gone too far. [McMahon] After that night was over and he somehow survived, literally, you know, it was like, "Okay, Mick." [ripping noises] Never again. Not in the World Wrestling Federation. Never do you ever put your body at risk like that ever again. Don't need to. You're far more entertaining other than that. Just don't need to do that." And no one... no member of the audience would want him to take those kind of risks. As much as they appreciate the daredevil aspect of what he does, that's too much. [narrator] But Foley told friends it was his defining moment. Hardcore wrestling like the world had never seen. [Zucker] He called it the best match he's ever had, and although he doesn't remember much after the fall through the cage, he goes back and looks at it, and I'm sure that to Mick and to most in the WWF, that's... that's the best. You can't get any better than that. That's the kind of guy he is, to want to give the crowd that much, and that almost sounds crazy, but, man, sometimes you get out there and, you know, that's-that's the limits you go to to do that for that crowd, and, you know, he's a competitor all the way, he wants to steal the show. -And that night he did. -[Ross] That killed him! [Mick] It's nice that everyone, uh, likes it so much, uh, but my general feeling is if, uh, the kids that come up to me and say, "Hey, I've watched Hell in a Cell a dozen times," my feeling is that they probably don't have a girlfriend. [narrator] There were repercussions other than the physical injuries which took two months to heal. Foley is a devoted family man and always told his children that Daddy was just acting. But after his kids saw the Hell in a Cell match, he said they knew he was lying. I think it's important that, uh, that parents do, you know, monitor everything your child watches, but if your child is a fan of wrestling, make sure that they have wrestling in the proper context in their minds and they're not looking at it as something that, you know, "Gee, I want to do this. I want to play like this." Because otherwise, they could-- you know, kids could get hurt. [narrator] If Mick Foley were going to continue being a wrestler, it was time for him to make peace with his demons. [rock music playing] Following the brutal Hell in a Cell match, Mick Foley seemed to slow down. His body had grown weary from the abuse. He had suffered hundreds of injuries, including having his right ear ripped off in 1994. To me, a good match for Mick is when he doesn't get hurt. [narrator] Though he wasn't able to equal some of his past exploits, he remained a crowd favorite. In the billion-dollar business of professional wrestling, Mick Foley and his Mankind character continued to generate millions. Foley was not only hugely popular with the fans, he also became known as one of the most approachable and friendly wrestlers on the professional circuit. [Blaustein] This is why Mick Foley is successful. You go to a wrestling match and you don't see posters, "Go, Mankind," "Go, Dude Love," and "Go, Cactus." They say "Mick Foley." [narrator] Outside of wrestling, he starred in low-budget movies and also appeared on network television shows and commercials. Come on, everybody, one more time! Sing along with Mick! ♪ Alouette ♪ ♪ Gentille alouette ♪ [laughing] That is Mankind, dude! [announcer] The herbivore and the boyardee-avore known as Mankind of the WWF! Have a nice day! The best thing about Mick is, as a performer, is when he's on the microphone, 'cause Mick can be very funny on the microphone, and he can be very glib, and glibness is not something that one associates with wrestling. And, uh, that's when I enjoy him. There has always been a vague sexual tension between us. [crowd cheering] [narrator] Foley, who lives on Long Island with his wife and four children, says he keeps tabs on what his kids watch, but wrestling is okay. [Mick] My feeling is, I let my kids watch it, and if there's something I'm not personally comfortable with or that my wife is not comfortable with, we'll change the channel for that time being. We monitor that show. And the end truth is, if I wasn't on the show, I probably wouldn't let a five- and a seven-year-old watch it. I don't think they can... There's too many questions. Uh, what does this mean? There's double entendres there. I don't think it's a filthy show. I mean, I would say that, uh, if you looked at most films that have won Academy Awards, most of them have very bad language and very violent themes. So I don't apologize for that. I mean, it's, uh, it's wrestling, you know? [Fagan] If you believe that... that violence and sex and that type of imagery is bad for kids, then this is it, this is the lightning rod. This is the thing, this is the place where it is being pushed furthest on TV, and, you know, if you accept that belief that these things are automatically bad for children, then you have to sort of wake up to that, that that's what wrestling is. It's-- It is about pushing the envelope. [Mick] Wrestling will do just fine when I'm gone. Be a lot of people that miss me, I hope and I think, but I'm just a... I'm an important part of the machine, but the machine will run fine once I'm gone, so I take it in perspective, I think. I'm very lucky to be where I am. I'm lucky enough that my career lasted long enough to see the upside. [narrator] Foley left the ring full-time in 1999, but his popularity has shown little signs of waning. Mick himself says there is no real retirement from wrestling, and he still makes an occasional appearance. Certainly realized his goal that he doesn't want to be known as Dr. Foley's son anymore. Now, you know, my father's known as Mankind's father, and, uh, and I'm Mankind's brother. [McMahon] I think Mick Foley has lived his dream, and there are not too many people in this world who can say that. Uh, Mick can, he can say it with a great deal of pride and dignity. And even starting out as a teenager leaping off the garage onto a mattress and taking that risk to taking the kind of risk that he took in Hell in a Cell, it has come full circle for Mick. He has realized his dream. At the same time, I think he also realizes now that, wait a minute, you know, "I thought that was my dream, and maybe it was, but now I have other dreams, and the dreams don't stop." [narrator] The man who gave us Dude Love... Me, Dude Love! [narrator] ...Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Mr. Socko has created yet another successful persona, Mick Foley the writer. In 1999, he wrote his first autobiography, Have a Nice Day. It was written without the assistance of a proven writer, made it to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, and Foley called it his greatest professional achievement. Foley says his strength in the wrestling world was the depth of the characters he created, and he simply went from telling stories in a 20-by-20-foot ring to telling stories on the page. In 2001, he wrote the bestselling follow-up to his life story, Foley Is Good, and has expanded his work to include two children's books and a critically acclaimed novel called Tietam Brown which hit shelves again as a paperback in 2004. [McMahon] Mick Foley could go anywhere he wants to now. I mean, he has that kind of talent. If Mick Foley wanted to be a leading man in Hollywood, he could be. If Mick Foley wanted to be the best game-show host of all time, he could be. If Mick Foley decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life here in the World Wrestling Federation behind the scenes helping others and things of that nature, the vastness of his knowledge that he would impart to... You can't calculate what that would mean. I'd like to be known as, uh, um, somebody with a thimble full of talent and a... pickup truck full of... intestinal fortitude who, uh, made some people smile and, uh, you know, caused some... created some real emotion. Just like a good movie. [shouting] [Ross] And he's smiling! Ungodly match. [Lawler] Oh, man! [commentator] That was impressive! [Lawler] I've never seen anything like that in my life. [upbeat music playing]

Info

Channel: Biography

Views: 28,983

Rating: undefined out of 5

Keywords: bio, biography, life story, documentary, history, historical figure, celebrity, famous, Mick Foley, mick foley theme, mick foley wwe champion, mick foley wwe debut, mick foley intro, mick foley interview, mick foley biography, wrestler, wrestling, professional wrestling, wwe smackdown, wwe raw highlights, best of mick foley, Mick Foley wrestling, wrestling match, Mick Foley biography, Mick Foley documentary, Mick Foley full documentary, mick foley bio, mick foley interview biography

Id: QASTOrLZdBE

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 42min 39sec (2559 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 19 2023