Original subtitles

I believe every performer wants to steal the show. Certainly,

if you are on WrestleMania and your goal is not to steal the show, you don't

belong at WrestleMania.

I watched his career, and for him to not have that kind of moment at

WrestleMania, it's criminal.

I don't know. It's just not right.

He's put himself through a lot to help catapult and springboard talent who

aren't possible.

But nothing like this has been done at WrestleMania on that mainstream stage.

Fire, blood, exorbitant amounts of pain can definitely make for a great bonding

experience. I think it's probably the most violent match in the history of

WrestleMania.

I knew that wouldn't be forgotten.

Oh, my God, what's going to happen?

Oh, my God!

It's strange to smell your own skin burning.

We all good?

I'll start off. What's the power of the WrestleMania moment?

All of this is Shawn Michaels' fault.

Michaels, I think, really put a lot of emphasis on that need to have a defining

WrestleMania moment.

You may be 16 -0 at WrestleMania, but I am Mr.

WrestleMania.

And I started almost feeling like I could hear the whispers behind my back,

never had a magic WrestleMania moment. So as far as I was concerned, I did not

have that exclamation point, and I needed it.

Having a WrestleMania moment went from some sort of abstract idea that

fans were looking forward to and wrestling nerds cared about and became a

that the wrestlers themselves actually cared about enough to ask for when they

had microphones standing in the ring.

I mean, WrestleMania VI for me, I already knew I wanted to be a wrestler

point. But I mean, just feeling the electricity that day, it truly felt

Like you could almost see it in the air.

And I had just never experienced something to that level, to that degree

And I wanted it.

The WrestleMania moment is trying to catch lightning in a bottle because you

know that moment, if you catch it, that moment will be replayed well after

you're gone.

It will be a night forever etched in history.

A night heroes are created, careers are defined, and legends will be born.

Welcome to WrestleMania.

Mick Foley knows how important WrestleMania is.

We look back at the WrestleMania card every year. You know, the big moment

matters more than the big moments that happen on a random Monday night.

The first time I saw Mick was in the wrestling magazines.

You know, the Bill Apter magazines, the PWIs.

Yeah, it was really as much as you could be at the time without the Internet,

you know, on the pulse of what was going on around the wrestling world. So it

was world -class championship wrestling, and I'd see pictures.

I just saw the cheetah boots and, you know, the almost velvet letters and

down the side. And I went, I don't know what to make of this guy.

And then as you start to see tape.

And you start to see the promos and start to see the different cadence and

different way that he comes about a wrestling promo.

It was really intriguing.

Fear's nothing new in my life, you understand?

My fear is okay.

If you can put Jack this Jack down, then you do it. And then you start to see

what he does within the wrestling ring and outside of it.

And that's when I pretty quickly realized that...

There's a few screws that aren't necessarily screwed all the way in.

Deep down when I heard the screams, the suffering, the agony, maybe, maybe deep

down, I even loved it.

Oh, my God.

What about death matches really added to your reputation?

Oh, yeah, the death match.

To this day in Japan, I'm not known as the hardcore legend. I'm known as the

king of the death match because of something that I earned 25 years ago.

That was a big part of my career, and it was a big part of who I was when I came

to WWE.

WWE at the time was not featuring matches of that nature, and I think, I

nudged them.

in that direction i hope and feel like i

may have ushered hardcore into the mainstream

nick was such an interesting

he was he was really almost the last of the journeymen in terms of you know

plying his trade everywhere and pulling

From multiple resources and making it this fondue pot of what

Cactus Jack became.

Because there's a little Bruiser Brody in there.

There's a little Terry Funk in there. There's a little Abdullah the Butcher in

there. But there's more than that, too. And distinctly Mick in there as well.

And that made this thing.

that then becomes Mankind, that then becomes Dude Love, that then becomes

Jack again, that then just becomes Mick Foley.

There's truly no one like Mick Foley. There is one Mick Foley, and that to me

the ultimate compliment. No one else can do what he did.

And one thing that Foley and Edge have in common is that they're both pro

wrestling fans, first and foremost, right? I mean, they'll put themselves,

their bodies through all this masochistic torture because they care

wrestling.

I was always struck by Edge's earnestness.

I'm not sure that that's the adjective that people would use to describe his

character as he progressed, but he really, he loved wrestling.

Oh, my God!

He would do anything and everything it took to be the best.

And I got to see Edge really improve step by step, almost week by week.

And all of us guys sitting around the monitor say, this guy's going to be a

player in a very major way.

Well, here we go.

Again, the first ever tag team ladder match in WWF history.

Oh, yeah, you're right. Here we go.

So I remember after the first tag team ladder match with the

Hardy Boys at No Mercy in Cleveland, coming to the back and coming up to the

four of us and saying, you guys, you did it.

That can't be taken away from you now.

You just...

Made yourselves superstars.

He was just supportive.

That can be really rare.

And that's a lesson that I took with me.

That I wanted to conduct myself like that.

Edge was my crony at that time. He backed up everything I did with an

laugh. We had something we called the jumping white guy high five. I can't

That was part of the allure of it.

I think Mick and I clicked because we're goofy.

I think just that and riding roller coasters and going to theme parks and,

know, both of us I don't think ever really fully grew up.

And luckily, we found ourselves in a job where you don't necessarily have to.

It's almost a plus if you don't fully lose some of your childhood wonder.

I had come out of retirement in 2004.

I had not wrestled in four years.

And I teamed up with Dwayne The Rock Johnson to take on Evolution at

WrestleMania.

So now at WrestleMania, I'm forced to not only live up with what I actually

in the past, but with the expectations that people have for me. And it remains

to be seen whether I can do that. But if I didn't think I could, I wouldn't come

back.

It's three men versus two in this handicapped tag team match.

And here we go.

It's been four years since he's been in the ring.

The Rock was out of this world.

Ric Flair.

The Pizza.

Mandy Orton.

They were all great.

I just felt like I was lacking a little bit. Taco King to WrestleMania 20.

RKO. Beautiful.

And Evolution wins it.

Any time you feel like you wore out physically and weren't able to give your

best to the match, it's a little bit disappointing.

But I'm a firm believer in trying as hard as you can and not dwelling on your

failures.

It's not like I was trying to live off my past.

But I'm going to go back on a bunch of tapes and I'll see whether I deserve to

be disappointed or not. I started hearing the whispers. Whether they were

or not, I don't know. But I heard them nonetheless, the whispers that said,

never had a magic WrestleMania moment.

And it bothered me.

Because he'd had so many moments, I don't know, I guess I just kind of

well, one of them had to have taken place at WrestleMania.

And then realizing it hadn't.

Well, that's a gift.

Because now I want to be a part of helping give him his moment.

The best matches take place when two guys have...

goals that work together.

So for me, my goal was redemption.

For Edge, his goal was to be recognized as the greatest and biggest star in WWE.

You know,

I held the money in the bank for a long time, finally cashed it in.

is casting in and casting it in big time.

He got him.

You felt it that night. Something happened here.

Ratings go up. The day after I won the WWE title, over 25 million people got

onto WWE .com.

That means that I am the most watched WWE champion of all time.

Surely this has to start changing some minds.

His impression was, and here we go. I'm going to be the champion. I am going to

run with this, and we're going to run this show. This guy is absolutely on top

of the world.

The following contestant is for the WWE Championship.

The champion, Ed, defending against the former champion, John Cena.

because I felt like I was doing everything I could on my end, and I was

motivated.

And then in talking to Mick Foley, I realized that he was just as motivated

get that moment and to help me, to help me solidify myself as a main event

player here, to help me change the perception in the fans' eyes.

There was a perception that he was more of a pretty boy, and I think in a lot of

ways that translated as not tough enough.

There was still this question, because Edge was such a handsome guy and because

his character was kind of this backstabbing, hyena -ish type character,

might not have that level of fortitude.

Crazy thing is, Edge, by every known indicator, had proved his toughness.

the ladders and tables matches he'd had with the Hardys and the Dudleys, they

were second to none. Oh, my God!

And he and I both felt that we went all out, that I could redeem myself and that

he could establish himself as the guy in WWE.

So that's the perfect storm.

I remember...

This being one of the first things he got excited about, again, to go, that's

okay. If I'm not the champion, we're going to still steal the show because we

knew the three of us working together was going to be magic.

I believe Edge and I both separately went to Mr. McMahon with the idea that

could do something special together.

Just a matter of putting those steps into play.

My feud with Edge started in a match he had against John Cena. I was brought in

as a special referee.

The angle almost never happened because there was a blizzard on Long Island

where I lived.

Mr. McMahon flew me in on a private flight because things were being

left and right. I absolutely had to be there. There was no way to do this one

over.

That match was already scheduled. It was going to take place with or without me,

and he wanted to make sure I was there.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your special guest referee, Mick Foley!

So when he came back as the special guest referee, it was fun to see him

The last thing we were thinking about was...

You know, Cactus Jack was the deathmatch scene. Those early days of Mick Foley

that sort of put him on the map. Even Hell in a Cell was in the rearview

This was retirement era Mick Foley.

Will Mick Foley call it right down the middle?

Cena versus Edge, who takes the WWE Championship to WrestleMania?

Edge went down in WWE history as a transitional champion, and that is eaten

his gut.

Quick call by Mick Foley. And look at it. He's about to snap.

There's something about Russell the Challenger.

to go somewhere. It can't fault Edge. Edge would never accept that. It has to

someone else's fault.

You cost me my dream of walking into WrestleMania as the champion.

Edge wants the title more than anything.

He had it for three weeks. He tasted that glory, and that's what the entire

character of Edge is built toward.

Sometimes stories don't need to be very convoluted. They can be a very simple

thing.

So I'm going to make it real simple because I know you only got one ear.

Mick Foley versus Edge at WrestleMania.

Edge, Edge, Edge.

I'd like to challenge you to another match.

But there are... No disqualifications.

You and me, Mick Foley and Edge at WrestleMania in a hardcore match.

There's just this chemical reaction when we get microphones and stand across

from each other. And that's something that I was very excited about.

You see, Mick Foley isn't the hardcore legend anymore.

Mick Foley has gone from being a hardcore legend to a muppet.

Muppet. I forgot about that.

Yeah, I had become a Muppet. The original Mankind character that I

was extremely dark.

And over the course of time, the character had lightened up to the point

it was almost Muppet -like. You are the most overrated superstar in the history

of this industry.

Edge was bringing out the best in me.

I realized exactly kind of what we had backed ourselves into.

And there was no turning back.

Oh my gosh!

What? Look at the food tax!

Yeah!

When I was thrown into the bed of tax and tasted my own blood, I realized

the blood was somehow different.

There wasn't so much blood as it was Chinese food.

I remember Stephanie McMahon specifically writing a line about

Hours after tasting it, I was thirsty for some more.

Stephanie always had a good feeling for my character, and I went with it, and it

resonated as being real.

But no, no, no, Hedge. I wasn't thirsty for my own blood.

I was thirsty for yours.

You see, you've spoken the truth, but by doing so, you've awoken something

inside of me that was sleeping.

Oh, if it looked like I was chewing bar bar, I was chewing bar bar. I'll take

that pain in order to get that visual.

As a veteran, you never lose the ability to reach down and find what's inside,

and I think Foley has found it for WrestleMania.

One thing that has to be said is that this match almost never happened at all.

Mr. McMahon became involved in a match with Shawn Michaels that was going to be

a hardcore match.

And it was suggested that Edge and I do a steel cage instead.

And I was okay with that. Like, I was just a visitor coming back. And it was

Edge who said, no, this is what we were promised.

This is what we're going to get. And he went into Mr. McMahon's office by

himself. It was around that time that I had that realization.

You know, I can't just be easygoing Adam.

If I want this, I got to fight for it.

And I'm going to fight for every inch.

Edge came out and said, we've got our match.

And looking back on it, Edge and I could have had a really good cage match.

But I don't think I'd be talking about it today if Edge had not fought for what

he believed in.

There was always just an electricity to the Rosemont. It was a great crowd. I

mean, going back to my WCW days, I loved working the Horizon, and it seemed like

the fans in Chicago and the surrounding area were Cactus Jack fans.

They were always emotionally invested in what I had to offer.

I'm going to the bathroom.

And a number one.

And I had set my phone on the toilet paper dispenser, and it started

and fell into the toilet.

So I went, okay, well, that phone's toast.

Seriously, the first thing I thought is I just pissed on my phone.

I'm not going to be able to call my mom after.

And she is going to be so mad at the match itself, let alone if I don't

call her.

So, yeah.

I remember standing in catering and just having this conversation, but knowing

in just a few hours what I was going to be doing.

While I'm thinking of it, can I tell you about the pre -match ritual? So I had

this particular...

song I would listen to by Tori Amos, a song called Winter.

There's a line that says, when are you going to love you as much as I do? And

there's something about that line that makes me feel like I'm capable of being

stronger and tougher and braver than I could ever be without it. It was really

magical effect on me. And I listened to this song like five or six times in a

row to a point where I was almost in a trance. I mean, a very, very famous

wrestler just looked at me and said,

remind me not to F with you, because it takes a dangerous man to listen and get

inspired by Winter from Tori Amos. But I felt like I was in another world, like

I was almost on a cloud. And I remember walking up to Edge and Lita, and it was

the strangest thing that's ever come out of my mouth. I looked at them, I said,

I think we should say a prayer for our safety out there tonight.

And we all held hands, we closed our eyes, and then we went out there and did

things that would have gotten us arrested in most parts of the world.

Introducing first, from Toronto, Canada, weighing in at 250 pounds, Ed!

I was incredibly nervous leading into that match.

Can the father of four once again dig deep inside himself and find the evil

of a... who left it here in Germany, left burning flesh in Japan, left

of blood on five continents? I wasn't nearly as confident.

in my training as I was in 2004, hovering right around 300 pounds.

I didn't know how much I had in the gas tank. I really didn't know.

But I was going to put it all out there. I needed great.

I needed somebody to make me great that night.

I needed something to remind me of who I was. I had to jolt myself almost into

an alternate reality where I'm not a kind, benevolent human being, but I'm

Cactus Jack. I'm the hardcore legend Mick Foley.

And on that night, it was a really solid cookie sheet to the side of the head

and face.

Once I took that, ta -da, here I am.

I am Mick after Foley.

One

thing

you don't have to worry about when you're wrestling Mick Foley, you don't

to have any worry that your opponent isn't going to be able to create

He's measuring for Foley for that spear.

He's going to make short work of Mick Foley here.

Edge is looking to end this matchup. Could be this early on. He hit it. He

it. The spear.

And Mick, he just, like, he had this idea.

If you speared me and I was wrapped in barbed wire, that's my counter to the

spear.

And that, to me, was ingenious. You know, we got the ball rolling with that.

Working with barbed wire on my waist was a little bit limiting.

I guess I need to give a credit to Bret the Hitman Hart, who had done something

similar with, I think, a 10 - or 25 -pound weight that warded off the spear

Bill Goldberg in WCW. So I definitely give a tip of my cap to the Hitman for

that idea.

Oh, my God, no wonder!

He blew it mid to touch ball! Look at his shoulder.

People got it right away.

Anytime I wrestled the red and black final, I became Cactus Jack.

For

me,

Barbie was not just a weapon.

It was a friend.

So when I brought it out, it was like it wasn't just an object. It was the

object of my affection.

Oh, no.

Now look at Lita. There she goes once again.

Always the difference maker, Lita.

I would say the most dangerous part of that match was having Lita on my

back when I clotheslined Edge over the top rope.

So I kind of perfected this art of just ragdolling. Once the tumble happens,

just stay loose and get out of the way.

I knew it was a cool move.

I wasn't thinking about my safety. I was thinking about that being a

WrestleMania moment.

When I was rewatching this match right before I came over here, I pulled my

into the room.

When Mick Foley does the cactus clothesline, clothesline's edge over the

rope with Alita on his back.

That got more of a reaction from my wife. Sort of terrifying and just

awesome at the same time.

This was a different match in that it almost felt like

the audience was worried.

You could feel those moments where you were pushing the crowd.

just to the edge and slightly past their comfort zone.

And yes, it's entertainment.

And yes, it's all of those things. But these two maybe aren't wired correctly.

And it's the fine, delicate dance that this is.

Lita just pointed out that that barbed wire cover bet was still in the ring.

Ah, there are some times you just have to grin and bear it.

That's not something I would do on a house show, but it's WrestleMania.

There's no doubt the barbed wire hurts, but you're also aware that the reaction

is phenomenal.

That this is going to leave an indentation in my head, but that will be

The reaction will last forever.

It may not be the WrestleMania moment that Nick Foley wanted.

It was kind of an air of showmanship to just the unveiling of

the different things we used so that each object would get bigger and better

more menacing.

There's just a crescendo of reactions.

Thousands of thumbtacks!

Thousands of thumbtacks! Could it be time for some extreme acupuncture? I

Wile E. Coyote had a better conversion rate with Acme products than I had with

thumbtacks. But the big surprise here is that they did not backfire. Like, they

backfired on Edge when he tried to use them against me. Oh, take a look at

A lot of that match hurt in ways that wrestling

doesn't usually hurt.

Thumbtacks in the back of your head.

I've never had thumbtacks in my kneecaps before.

You can't explain what it feels like to land in a bed of thumbtacks.

I think the closest analogy I can think of is, you know, jump off a cliff into

the ocean, maybe 30 feet in the air and land on your back.

Maybe that covers it.

You just become a pain -infected pit -touching king!

Mr. Sacco was always a great pop, but it was a momentary, fleeting pop.

It's Mr.

Sacco time!

And in this time, we get that response, and all of a sudden, I go with the

barbed wire, and we just take it up to another level.

May not be hardcore, but it's effective!

Okay, now it's hardcore!

There was a lot of really fun elements, strangely, in this. You know, you have

Mr. Soccer, which is this fun thing, but you take this fun thing and make it

barbaric.

Oral surgery being performed by the man, Dr. Mick Foley!

A sweatshop with barbed wire isn't the first thing you want to sign up for in

the hardcore match.

But always wanting to be one of the boys, and if you can do it, I can do it.

only seemed fair that if Edge was going to get the barbed wire mandible claw

that I had to take part as well.

Yeah, barbed wire is no fun.

The barbed wire back to the stomach was pretty bad.

That was not fun.

It hurt much less to the back.

Mick was a proponent of, I mean, it's got to be barbed wire.

Okay, sure.

I didn't really think anything of it.

It was things that when you're in the heat of the moment, yeah, you're all in

and you're doing it. And you have to be.

Because otherwise there's no way you can pull it off.

Every hardcore match at its base.

is a contest of, like, who is willing to put themselves through the most pain,

through the most agony.

In WrestleMania 22, I mean, that was almost literally the story they were

telling.

Can't get any worse than this bridge.

We say holy... You know, obviously that comes from a very organic place.

Uh -oh, Nick Foley now.

That may have come too soon.

Foley seems to have turned his attention on that table.

Mick Foley goes out to the ring apron and starts spraying lighter fluid on

table, right? So he is there saying, everybody look right here.

It was set up at exactly the right place where everybody could see it.

Watch it, Mick!

You cannot have any part in a hardcore match if you don't bring it.

Lita is a real unsung hero because she knew...

the tempo of pro wrestling. She knew how to pull off these moves. She had

everything, everything, including the fact that the crowd hated her with a

passion to make her maybe the most compelling heel manager of all time. I

that saying a lot. She wasn't Bobby the Brain Heenan on the microphone.

She wasn't Paul Heyman with the facial expressions.

But pound for pound... When it comes to all of the managers in WWE history

swinging a barbed wire bat at somebody's groin, I want no one other than Lita

doing this.

Oh, my God.

Here we go.

When I lit the table, I was like, oh, God, that's really hot.

I had to fight through what I was really feeling inside, which was, holy, I hope

my friends are going to be OK.

Honestly, even until I was running towards Mick, it didn't all fully kind

land in my brain.

And it was as I was hitting the ropes and coming back and realizing, huh, he's

got a lot of clothes on. I don't have really any on.

I sweated off most of the flame retardant gel.

I'm going backwards into the great unknown.

I mean, I know on a certain level this is going to hurt.

There's going to be a great deal of heat involved, but I don't know how bad it's

going to be.

Edge, even more precariously, is coming full barrel through those ropes.

I just remember making contact with Mick and burying my head in his body as much

as I could because I thought, well, if my arms get burnt, that's one thing.

But I really don't want to burn my face.

Oh, my God.

I'm not sure that anybody who has not experienced that high, that pop,

can fully understand it.

That was really awe -inspiring. It really was.

As I'm crawling over to pin Mick, I'm looking at my arm because it's smoking.

And... That...

does something to your brain.

When I crawled over, I pulled the shoulder back and I put my arm over top

Michael and I loved him.

With Edge whispering, I love you in my ear as the three count was made, I felt

this giant weight lifted off my shoulders.

And I was like, I really remember thinking to myself, I did it. I did it.

my magic WrestleMania moment.

You know, blood was in my eyeballs. Everything is yellow.

There's so many emotions and so much, again, adrenaline dump.

All kind of leaving and you're shaking and again, everything is yellow and

you're... Kind of getting your bearings, and you can even see me doing that,

just trying to get my bearings, all while Amy's pulling thumbtacks out of my

back as we're walking up the ramp.

And I just remember getting to the top of the ramp and going, I need to turn

around.

That one visual can tell that tale of the war that just happened.

And also, if I'm looking at it from the arc of the character of Edge, that he

went through that, look out.

This is going to be the springboard.

I was wearing a crimson mask.

I'll just go out on a limb and say I did not dislike it.

I'm sorry. There's something really satisfying about it. I was very happy.

that's a legit smile.

There was no feigning happiness.

I mean, it's clear that I'd been through a lot.

I know special when I feel it. I know special when I see it.

I saw it in Edge. I felt it in myself.

And I think history has proved us correct.

So I just remember getting back and saying, can someone call my mom and just

her know?

Everything's good.

I just remember feeling almost

guilty. These two guys had just been through a full on battle and we're going

be feeling the repercussions.

from the choices they made in that match.

And then in talking to Mick, finding out

how concerned his wife was about me and not him.

I had an agreement with my wife that I would call home after every big pay -per

-view match because I've been known to do some extreme things.

And I'm waiting to be showered with sympathy. And the first thing my wife

is, Is that your K?

What do you mean, is that your K?

What about me?

What about me? Look at these shoes down here.

Pat Patterson autographed shoes. That's for a rib.

Pat Patterson autographed. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Can we put another one in?

No.

Not that vain.

Vic, you did what you wanted to do. Thanks, Pat.

How's it going, bud?

Awesome. There's a smell of forearm hair burning.

A little bit of skin as well.

You go take a shower. Thank you. Come back and put some new sport on.

Okay. All right, now let's go to the edge. I'm not due. It's not shower day

Doc. It's Tuesday.

You know what? Tuesday. You want to stay like that because the clot is good?

Yes. But I'll be kind of gross going to the WrestleMania party like this, won't

I? You can sit next to me. I'll sit there.

It burned.

It's still kicking.

And it can turn work, but it's going to blister.

Yeah, it's already blistering. So this is a second -degree burn.

And you can, if I touch it, does it hurt you? Yeah.

So as long as you feel it, it's a second degree. When you can't feel it, that's

a third -degree burn.

And again, it's almost like all of that adrenaline dumps out and you're

exhausted.

I remember walking in the dressing room, and Taker was in there, and he looked

up at me.

All right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay. All that drama, that's done with it.

Knowing that Edge and I created that moment together, knowing that I have

exclamation point at the end of my career, means I can appreciate it every

single day.

It means that WrestleMania season doesn't come with a cloud hanging over

me, that I can look myself in the mirror and realize that 15 years

ago I looked destiny in the eye and I did not blink.

It's your fault, Mac.

They're still stuck with me because of you.

No, I am more than anything. I don't think.

I don't think he can be said enough for so many reasons.

I'm always going to be thankful for Mick Foley.

The person he is, the talent he is.

I knew what we did.

I also knew how giving Mick was at that stage in his career to

go out there and try and knock all of the aches and pains aside.

To, yes, give himself that moment, but he also wanted me to be where I wanted

be because he felt I deserved that too.

And when you both work towards something like that and put yourselves through

something like that, that's a bond that you don't share with anyone else.

And that is one of those things that for the rest of our lives, we see each

other, we have that together.

Adam, thank you very much for being part of the greatest hardcore match ever.