Mick Foley
Michael Francis Foley is an American retired professional wrestler, comedian and author. He is best known for his time in WWF/WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA. Foley is widely considered to be one of the greatest hardcore wrestlers of all time.
Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, as well as numerous promotions in Japan. He is widely regarded as one of the biggest stars of the WWF's Attitude Era and one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling, and headlined the 16th edition of WWE's premier annual event, WrestleMania. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2013.
Foley has wrestled under his real name and various personas. His main persona during his time in WCW and ECW from 1991 to 1996 was Cactus Jack, a dastardly, bloodthirsty and uncompromisingly physical brawler from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, who wore cowboy boots and often used sharp metallic objects, such as barbed wire, thumbtacks, and trashcans. When Foley first appeared in the WWF in 1996, he debuted the persona known as Mankind, an eerie, masochistic, mentally deranged lunatic who was masked and spent his spare time dwelling in mechanical rooms. The following year, Foley debuted Dude Love, a relaxed, fun-loving, jive-talking, tie-dyed shirt-wearing hippie. These personas were known as the "Three Faces of Foley", with Cactus Jack making his debut in the WWF also in 1997. All three characters appeared in the 1998 Royal Rumble, making Foley the only competitor to enter the same Royal Rumble match three times under different personas.
Foley is a four-time world champion, an 11-time world tag team champion, a one-time TNA Legends Champion, and the inaugural WWF Hardcore Champion. Foley's Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker is regarded as one of his most memorable and controversial matches and widely acknowledged as the greatest Hell in a Cell Match of all time. Foley's dedicated and physical style of wrestling led him to often participate in violent and brutal matches that involved him taking dangerous bumps and putting his body through a considerable physical toll, eventually earning him the moniker "The Hardcore Legend".
Early life
Michael Francis Foley was born in Bloomington, Indiana, on June 7, 1965. He is of Irish descent, and has an older brother named John. Shortly after his birth, he moved with his family to the Long Island town of East Setauket, about 40 miles east of New York City, where he attended Ward Melville High School. At school, he wrestled and played lacrosse, and was a classmate and wrestling teammate of actor Kevin James. In October 1983, while a student at the State University of New York at Cortland, Foley hitchhiked over 200 miles to Madison Square Garden to see his favorite wrestler, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, in a steel cage match against Don Muraco. He has said that Snuka's flying body splash from the top of the cage inspired him to pursue a career in professional wrestling. He had a seat close to the front row and is visible in the video of the event.Professional wrestling career
Early career (1986–1989)
Foley formally trained at Dominic DeNucci's wrestling school in Freedom, Pennsylvania, driving several hours weekly from his college campus in Cortland, New York. He debuted on June 23, 1986, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, under the ring name "Cactus Jack". In addition to appearing on DeNucci's cards, Foley and several other students also took part in some squash matches as jobbers for World Wrestling Federation TV tapings of Prime Time Wrestling, WWF Wrestling Challenge and Superstars of Wrestling, where Foley wrestled under the ring names "Jack Foley" and "Nick Foley." Notably, a ring announcer once mispronounced Foley's last name as "Faley" before a match against Kamala on a 1987 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge. In another match, Foley and Les Thornton faced the British Bulldogs, during which the Dynamite Kid clotheslined Foley with such force that he was unable to eat solid food for several weeks. During these squash matches, Foley also faced other top-level talents at the time, such as Hercules Hernandez. His run would not last long, as he had not signed a contract with the promotion at the time. During this run, he was also billed from different hometowns and at different weights.After two years of relative obscurity on the independent circuit, Foley began receiving offers from various regional promotions, including Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation. In 1988, he joined the Memphis, Tennessee–based Continental Wrestling Association, where he teamed with Gary Young as part of the Stud Stable. Cactus and Young briefly held the CWA Tag Team Championship in late 1988. In November 1988, Foley left the CWA for the Texas-based World Class Wrestling Association. In the WCWA, "Cactus Jack", billed as "Cactus Jack Manson", was a major part of Skandor Akbar's stable. Foley also won several titles, including the WCWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and WCWA World Tag Team Championship. He left the company in August 1989 after losing a loser leaves town match to Eric Embry in nine seconds. He then briefly competed in Alabama's Continental Wrestling Federation.
World Championship Wrestling (1989–1990)
In November 1989, Foley began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling as "Cactus Jack". His debut match, which aired on NWA World Championship Wrestling, saw him partnered with a one-time jobber named Rick Fargo to face the rising tag team of brothers Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner – two of the stiffest and toughest workers in wrestling at the time. After taking brutal bumps from both Steiner brothers and losing the match, Cactus then began fighting with Fargo, and then jumped nearly off the apron to elbow Fargo in the abdomen, per Kevin Sullivan's instructions. Lead WCW booker Ric Flair, Sullivan, and other WCW executives were impressed with this to the point that they offered Foley a contract, and Foley finally found some financial stability after years of hardship. Over the following months, Cactus Jack would generally team with jobbers. When the jobber would lose the match for the team, Cactus Jack would attack his partner, throw them out of the ring, and deliver his infamous ring apron flying elbow drop onto the concrete floor.Foley's biggest match to date came in February 1990 against Mil Máscaras at Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout, where he took a particularly brutal bump backward off the high apron and landed on the concrete floor, with his head and back taking the impact. Later that month, he formed the villainous "Sullivan's Slaughterhouse" stable with Kevin Sullivan and Bam Bam Bigelow and began a long feud with Norman the Lunatic. At the Capital Combat pay-per-view in May 1990, the Slaughterhouse lost to Norman the Lunatic and the Road Warriors in a six-man tag team match. It was during this period that Foley was involved in a car accident that resulted in the loss of his two front teeth, adding to the distinctive look for which he is famous. Foley left WCW in June 1990 after a conversation with booker Ole Anderson in which Anderson critiqued his style.
Various promotions; All Japan Pro Wrestling (1990–1991)
After leaving WCW in June 1990, Foley briefly returned to the United States Wrestling Association in Dallas, where he wrestled both as "Cactus Jack" and under a mask as "Zodiac #2". In July 1990, he wrestled for Tommy Dee at the Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York, where he met his future wife Colette Christie. In September 1990, he began appearing with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–based Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, the precursor to Eastern Championship Wrestling, whose high-impact and violent wrestling style fit Foley well. In the same month he began wrestling for Herb Abrams' Reseda, California–based Universal Wrestling Federation, appearing on its UWF Fury Hour program. Foley wrestled for both the TWA and the UWF until March 1991.In March 1991, Foley made his first excursion to Japan, wrestling for Giant Baba's All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion as part of its Champion Carnival round-robin tournament. He scored zero points in the tournament, losing to Jumbo Tsuruta, Danny Spivey, Johnny Smith, Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue, and Danny Kroffat. In addition to competing in the tournament, Foley and Texas Terminator Hoss wrestled several tag team matches, facing opponents including André the Giant, Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, and Johnny Ace. During one bout, Foley accidentally broke the elbow of Ace – the favorite wrestler of Giant Baba's wife – which Foley attributes to his not being invited back to AJPW, coupled with Baba's reservations about Foley's dress sense and wrestling style.
Returning to the United States in April 1991, Foley resumed wrestling for TWA and the UWF. In May 1991 at the TWA's "Spring Spectacular II" event, Foley faced Eddie Gilbert in a barbed wire match – a sight not often seen in professional wrestling in the United States, and an object Foley would often be associated with. Barbed wire would be wrapped with the ropes all around the ring, and Cactus and Gilbert both bled heavily; the match ended when Gilbert threw Cactus into the ring ropes and he did a hangman — a planned move where a wrestler's head is tangled between the top two ring ropes – only this time his head was tangled with the ring ropes and barbed wire. The following month, at UWF's Beach Brawl pay-per-view, Foley teamed with Bob Orton in a loss to Wet 'n' Wild.
In July and August 1991, Foley appeared with the Dallas-based Global Wrestling Federation, where he formed a short-lived tag team with Makhan Singh known as "Cartel". Cartel took part in a tournament for the newly created GWF Tag Team Championship, losing to Chris Walker and Steve Simpson in the semi-finals. Foley also competed in a tournament for the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship, losing to Terry Gordy in the quarter-finals.
In August 1991 at TWA's Summer Sizzler event, Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert had three matches in one night: Cactus won a falls count anywhere match, lost a stretcher match, and then fought to a double disqualification in a cage match. These matches caught the attention of World Championship Wrestling promoters, in large part due to widespread photo circulation, and in August 1991, Foley re-joined WCW.