Original subtitles

When you begin to write the story of your life, sometimes it's best to forego

grand plan and just put pen to paper.

A lot of times, I'll just go back and think about all the questions I was

over those 20 years.

Does it hurt?

Are you some sort of psychopath?

Some sort of masochist?

You seem like such a normal guy.

Why would you do that to yourself?

I used to answer all those questions the same way.

I'm Nick Foley.

This is what I do.

But June 28, 1998, that was the first time I came face to face with my own

mortality.

And now I was the one asking the question, is it worth it?

Our neighborhood was a great place.

It was small, but we had some close -knit families.

My parents have been here for almost 60 years.

Really, it hasn't changed that much. It still looks like a good place to grow

up.

My mom and dad used to always use the word sweet to describe my demeanor.

I wasn't like a tough kid or a bad kid.

I was a sweet kid.

To me, this was an idyllic childhood.

I would leave at 9, 9 .30 a .m. We were swimming, playing frisbee, playing

wiffle ball, basketball, football in the street, and my mom would ring a bell

for us when it was time to eat dinner.

We just got into so much trouble, but, you know, good trouble.

When I was 8 years old, we were playing kill the guy with the ball. That was an

actual game.

In diving for someone who had the ball, their heel kicked me in the bottom of

the lip, and it bled profusely. And I remember seeing the reactions of people

when they saw my blood and not disliking it.

My dad worked long hours.

He was the director of health, physical education, and recreation for the entire

school district.

I was pretty shy in high school.

I was playing football and basketball, lacrosse, and I was definitely living in

the shadow of my dad, trying to break out. I was becoming a peculiar young

very imaginative, very creative.

It's funny because he wasn't a macho, tough guy. He was just, he was a gentle

spirit. I was a running back on the football team, and they said they needed

another heavyweight.

I would wrestle with Mick every day. You know, we were in there training

together and just kind of beating each other up, and it was a blast. We had a

lot of fun.

He was quirky.

Always a weird look, weird haircut.

One of the parades, he was on a prom float and all that. He was just crazy.

You're gross. Everybody thinks you're disgusting.

You wear the same clothes every day. You never comb your hair. You're fat.

You're an animal.

You're the body of a bowling pin.

I guess I've always been self -deprecating. I was never really

the way I looked, especially physically. I was always heavyset. And I got teased

a lot about it. So I was beating people to the punchline before they could make

their own punchline about me.

Was that a tough period for you and your dad?

Yeah, it was.

We both struggled a little bit to find ways to...

and it was really wrestling.

That was like the glue that held that relationship together through that three

-year period. That was the one thing, you know, maybe we didn't get along the

rest of the week, but when it came time Saturday night, you know, hey, Dad, you

want to watch wrestling with me? And the answer was always yes.

You know, when we were kids, if you watched Ivan Putski and, you know, Billy

Graham and Andre the Giant, all these wrestlers had something.

Mickey didn't have any of those qualities, none of them.

We would go outside, film little matches.

And I think I gave you a backbreaker and someone snapped the twig. And then I

did the convulsions.

I had

it on my mind all the

time. It's really all I wanted to do or watch was professional wrestling.

You walk out these doors.

And you're in the heart of the Big Apple.

The whole world revolves.

And my thoughts revolve around how I snuck up in a cage.

Jimmy Superfly snuck at the end of the Magnificent Morocco.

I had a great feud, and it culminated with a steel cage match, and I knew,

I absolutely had to be there.

I was going to college in upstate New York, but I hitchhiked to be there and

paid for a seat right up front.

And I just vividly remember the way I felt when Superfly gets up to the top

rope. You could feel that buzz, right?

Which is good, but we all felt like there was something better.

And even though I'm all by myself, I now feel like I'm in a community, like

there's a feeling of togetherness.

I remember thinking to myself that one day I wanted to make people feel the way

that I felt right then.

I went back to school, and when I told my housemates that I wanted to be a

wrestler, they all called me a weirdo.

I told my parents, too, and they actually supported the idea, but it

something they would allow me to drop out of school for.

So even though I was obsessed with this wrestling dream, I still tried to have a

normal college life.

There was a young lady I was really fond of, and you could see it in her smile,

like her face would light up when she saw me. And I walked this young lady

I believe we held hands, and I think there was a nice parting kiss.

And I said to her, I had such a good time. Joanne, she looked at me and said,

had a good time too, Frank.

and I just felt my little heart break.

I had no way to deal with the pain that I felt except to write this story.

And when I got home for summer break, my friends and I recorded The Legend of

Frank Foley.

I had a good time tonight. Thanks a lot, Frank.

My name is Mick.

Oh, I'm sorry. Good night, Mick.

So I create this fictional character of Dude Love who is essentially everything

that I was not.

Let me tell you something about me.

I am the molten lava of lust, the object so many women's desires long ago I

refused to count them all.

It was a fairy tale. It was Dude Love, one of the greatest performers in the

history of wrestling.

I may have been kicked around as Fat Mick Foley, Fat Ugly Mick Foley, Mick

with no chicks, but let me tell you something now. I'm telling you people

the audience, out there in TV Wonderland, Dude Love is another name

And I will get that respect, brother. I need respect.

And I found that I was more natural. Like, I was portraying a character, but

wasn't acting.

I was feeling it. My brother says, hey, Teddy, we're doing a movie about Mickey

as a wrestler, and we need you for a scene.

For like 15 minutes, you're going to wrestle Mickey in the backyard. I'm

okay. He tells me these different moves we're going to do, and then it's going

to finish by Mickey puts you down on this mattress, and he's going to jump

the roof.

I just remember thinking, that's got to be 20 feet high. I'm like, this is not a

good idea.

And this is where the magic took place, right? Yeah.

I stay

up there an inordinate amount of time trying to gather the courage.

Instead of leaping, I kind of just went like.

You know, you're so lucky because when you watch that video, the matches, they

separate. They separate, yeah. And you, you know, the roof is here, buddy. Want

one more try?

Absolutely not.

There was a charity wrestling event at the high school and Mick came to work

security on it. I was really fortunate.

My dad told the promoter that his son wanted to be a wrestler.

He pulled me aside.

and asked me if I wanted to join his ring crew.

And that meant when I went back to college, I would come down at about 250

drive, a couple weekends a month, and if I got the ring set up before the fans

arrived, he would have a veteran wrestler, Dominic DiNucci, work with me.

I did not like the pain.

I liked the fact that I seemed to have a hold over it, and I had an ability to

make my opponents look good, and that was something that every promoter was

looking for.

I turned pro after a year of training, and I was just awful.

It looked like a mating ritual of two bull elk.

I knew there was so much more I had to learn.

So on the weekends, I was working the independents, and I did that all the way

through graduation.

It didn't matter to me that I was getting $10 for a 900 -mile round trip.

And while other college students are going on their spring break, I'm in

West Virginia, in front of 26 people because I could feel myself getting

every time I went out there.

This was my life now, and anything was possible.

I don't make it a point to practice my hygiene while leaning on somebody else's

truck, but it's not the first time. Yeah, I mean, I've

changed clothes many times in cars.

There was a place called the Admiral Perry Motor Lodge that was $15 a night

I broke in. I would stay there every Saturday night, but every Friday night

car night.

And I would pull over no matter how cold it was. I had two sleeping bags in the

backseat of my car.

It felt pretty good to me.

I wanted to be dude love.

But I was realistic enough to know that I wasn't there yet.

So I thought, let me just find the most generic, vanilla, homogenized name I

could find.

From Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, 260 -pound Cactus Jack.

I remember being at my buddy Brian Hildebrandt at his house in Pittsburgh,

he's got this insider wrestling newsletter I'd only heard rumor of.

And he goes, you're in it. I said, I'm in it.

On every wrestling show, there's going to be a dozen, two dozen wrestlers.

ones who do something spectacular that make when you go home you remember them,

those are the ones who stand out, and the rest of them kind of just blend in.

And very quickly, he didn't blend in. He was a guy who you started hearing

things about, like, hey, this guy's having good matches.

I remember it to this day.

It's the Cactus Jacks, the best no -name independent wrestler on the scene.

Like, that was some really, really high praise coming from the Wrestling

Observer. The people in charge read it.

And I had three offers within a week.

That's how I became part of the Memphis wrestling territory.

Uh -oh.

What is this, a new recruit for this guy? I know who he's talking about.

Cactus Jack, welcome to the stable, Benny. This man right here is in the

not because his name's Cactus Jack, but because he's tough, baby, and because he

wins matches.

We got gorgeous Gary Young and Cactus Jack. Young out of Little Rock,

and Cactus Jack out of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

Mick, from the very beginning, had a unique, not just aura about him, but he

a unique style.

And now, whips him, but it's reversed.

Jack was right behind him.

You know, nobody was making any money, so there wasn't necessarily a reason to

really go all out.

I wanted to be the guy who delivered moves that nobody else could do.

Even if it was as simple as saying, all right, back body drop.

Yeah,

that's an impressive looking move in the ring.

Let's do it outside the ring.

We're genuinely concerned for Mick, like, Mick, don't take this crazy bump

tonight. Mick would have a fly grin, like, ah, thanks, but no thanks.

He was a good -hearted guy that would just give and give and give to the

business. A lot of times guys that are like that get run over.

It was a great learning experience.

I didn't feel like I fit in, but I learned something every day. And it was

perfect stepping stone for a bigger opportunity.

Listen to the fans cheer the superstars of pro wrestling. The greatest name in

professional wrestling today, the Von Eriks, have been for years. World class,

always looking for villains for the Von Eriks boys.

He didn't look like a Von Eriks.

No.

Robert Fuller says, you know, you remind me of Jacko. I said, who's that? He

goes, you remind me of that Manson fella.

I was like, Rob, I do not want to be associated with Charles Manson.

He says, Jacko, not too many good paying jobs in this business.

Man like you could ride a good gimmick a long way.

I decided I'm going to be this guy. I'm going to do the best job at being this

guy that I can be.

About time, so here we go.

He is defeating young Doug Masters to death.

Your winner, ladies and gentlemen, Texas Jack Manson.

I remember seeing Texas Jack Manson.

I was going to college at North Texas State University, and I would go down to

the sportatorium, and I was thinking, man.

This guy's out of his mind.

He was fun to watch.

I mean, here was a guy that would take every kind of crazy bump imaginable. I

thought I was a big bump guy at the time, and then when I saw Cactus Jack, I

went, wow, this guy's got to be nuts or something, you know. Back in the day, he

used to run down that apron and do that elbow off onto the guy on the floor.

And he would just splatter himself down there, and you would hear this horrific

thud.

I would go to the cameraman. I would say, you know, when you shoot the elbow

drop over my shoulder, we're kind of losing the impressive perception of

And the guy, what do you mean? I said, can we come in with a low camera shot?

And within a week or two, you know, it looks like I'm flying into people's

living rooms.

And I thought, well, I know how much it hurts to land in the ring.

How is he doing that?

I did think to myself, what if I created a style that had no loopholes, where no

one looking at a VHS tape, no matter how many times they fast -forwarded slow

motion, they could find a secret.

The secret is I was really getting hurt.

Like, ta -da, there's my magician's secret. Like, yeah, if it looked like it

hurt, it's because it did.

Gary Young pulls me aside and he says, they're putting us with General Skandor

Akbar. He was Devastation Incorporated. That was his group.

Oh, man.

It was like having a rocket attached to our backs.

Hey, what's going on out here?

Someone called out from underneath the ring.

It's practice Jack Benson.

I walked out to find that my tires had been slashed on my Plymouth Arrow.

I came back inside and I said, I don't know how I'm going to get home.

Eric Embry goes, what did you say? I said, I don't know how I'm going to get

home. He said, no, no, not that, not that. I don't really care about that.

What else did you say? I said, all my tires have been slashed. He said, all of

them? And I said.

Yes. He looked at me and said, you've got good heat, brother. Like only in

line of business could getting your tires slashed in the parking lot be seen

a compliment. We're always looking for the next star and we're always looking

beat the other promotions to grabbing the next stars.

So when Nick was generating that type of buzz in Texas, everybody in the

industry noticed.

Did you lose your teeth?

Yeah, I've lost two sets of teeth. I lost these top ones in a car accident.

And I was really concerned because I just started working for WCW, and I was

worried that having no teeth was not going to be a good look.

As soon as I got back to work in WCW, Jim Ross took a look at it. He goes, I

love the look.

He was a big teddy bear.

Just this great big kid that had a great attitude.

was happy to come to work, make no money, give him a hot dog, he's cool.

WCW was a crucial period for me. It was the number two wrestling company in the

world, and I was essentially there on a trial basis.

We found out very quickly that Mick was not a typical pro wrestler who shows up

for work waiting for you to tell him what to do.

He had ideas.

I started building an audience by losing and attacking.

Partner after partner.

Kevin

Sullivan's

my tag team partner. He looks for the tag and I'm reading a book.

There it is.

I was throwing so many things at the wall, and not all of it stuck, but a lot

it did.

I would have gladly stayed in WCW, but the top level and creative didn't care

for my style.

So that meant moving back to Long Island, living with my parents, and

independent circuit.

And the first show that I do is for Tommy D, my first promoter.

So he has me handing out flyers at the raceway in Riverhead, Long Island.

While I'm handing out flyers, I see the most beautiful woman in my life.

Like, I can't take my eyes off her.

I had never been to car racing. I was dreading it. I mean, it was not my cup

tea. And then I saw this very unusual creature, big, strong, hairy guy

signing some autographs. And I said, hello, I'm Cactus Jack. She said, who's

Captain Jack?

She was not a fan.

The first thing that I saw were his eyes.

Then he had all this moppy hair, which was adorable.

I could see he was very innocent.

My friends saw us together.

They said, either he's a drug dealer or he's rich.

That was the woman I would go on to marry.

When I started seeing his videos, some of the actions and behavior, I really

didn't like being slapped in the face.

She just thought I was capable of doing more, that I could be that guy at the

top of the card.

And from that point on, every time I did an independent show, I was going to

steal the show.

Battling in the gymnasium, Cactus throws Eddie onto the bleachers.

I would tear apart these high school gyms and leave it looking like a tornado

had gone by.

Word started getting around to the point now where WCW is looking for credible

heels to work with their top guy, Sting, and I get the phone call.

People say, Sting, have you ever seen anybody who acts like they kind of like

Payne? And I say, guess what?

Yes!

It came back as Cactus Jack, but it was a much different character, and it was

mostly a question of confidence.

Hello, Mommy!

World Championship Wrestling has just given birth to a monster!

That's got to be the most bizarre individual I've ever been around in

Championship Wrestling.

He's a sociopath. He's a psychopath.

Now you're tapping into Mick as an artist.

And now Mick had an opportunity to show everyone just how ahead of the game he

truly was.

One of you little stingers, you watch your step, because I'll go up in those

stands and I'll beat your parents up right in front of you.

It was a shot in the arm to him.

It was a career maker for me.

I'd given people so much as a bad guy. It was almost like they could all

simultaneously understand, this guy's doing a lot to entertain us. And there

a connection there.

Mick threw himself around to crazy bumps.

Would do anything to get a match over.

Even to this day, I don't like stuff like that.

I said, you know, you're not going to be able to walk when you're 30 years old.

You know what I mean? Don't do any of that. You don't need to. It's not

wrestling.

Is it hard?

Do I respect it? Yeah. But that doesn't make you, you know.

How many tables, everybody's got Bruno San Martino on this. How many tables did

he ever go through? None.

Did he ever fall off a ladder? None.

But he's so sensitive.

I went to him one time and I said, you don't need to do that every night.

Sure, I was sensitive to that type of criticism because I felt like I knew

I was capable of doing.

And I didn't feel like I'd even scratched the surface.

I wanted to prove people wrong. I wanted to prove that I could succeed, that I

could be something special.

There's a cycle of life in wrestling.

The younger guys throw themselves around and do crazy things. And then the older

guys who are 35 and over who've been through that and feel it, they kind of

warn the younger guys, you really, you know, don't do this.

And the young guys never listen.

When I wrote my book, I said it.

You're a 300 -pound stuntman.

I wanted him to take it personally.

You know, his wife is beautiful.

Kids are young and beautiful.

You know, we get hurt enough.

I felt like in Germany, it was not a sold -out building.

And I had seen him take this bump that he learned from Dory Funk Jr.

Dory would get his foot caught in the ropes.

It was a really good -looking bump.

And Mick now would get his head cut.

You know, as crazy as Mick was, right?

And I told him, I said, don't do that. We're in Germany. Nobody gives a shit.

You know, we're trying to create the illusion of hanging by my neck. And the

we create that illusion is, I'm actually going to hang by my neck.

But on this night, I couldn't get the ropes apart. They were too tight.

And I felt like I was a fox in a trap.

You know, like, I've got to get out of this thing. And when I did, my right ear

did not come with me.

Where were you, backstage?

I was watching it, yeah, and I was looking through the curtain.

What was going through your head?

Stupid mother... You got nothing to prove.

When I'm on my way to the hospital, instead of being down about it, I'm

to myself, imagine the promos I can cut.

Those were the words I said April 16th, 1994,

as the ambulance pulled into the hospital in Munich, Germany. It means,

forget to bring my ear and the plastic bag!

Mick's like, okay.

It's horrible I lost my ear, but, you know, me and Vader, we could have this

rivalry that goes for years and years and years based on this.

And, you know, Eric Bischoff didn't see that.

Stay with us. We'll be back. I'm Eric Bischoff for WCW This Week.

His style was a real issue in WCW because Mick really wanted to do things

were just too dangerous.

You know, flying off the balcony out onto a table next to the ring.

Eh, it's not worth it. He was a liability.

I'd worked too hard to leave my future in someone else's hands. And so without

consulting my wife and with two small children and a mortgage, I left a six

-figure job to find a place where my talents would be a little bit more

appreciated.

When I left WCW, I knew there was wild organizations in Japan.

Some people called them garbage wrestling, but I didn't think that was

appropriate. But blood and guts, yeah, that was an appropriate moniker.

Oh, man, there were some small crowds.

While those ropes are being taken down, barbed wire is being put up in its

place. And for anybody wondering, like, real barbed wire? Like, this was Japan.

They're sticklers for details.

Cactus Jack, I think I saw, I guess it was Japan, like a death match.

The IWA King of the Death match is the one tape I had to have. I wanted to see

this tournament, and I sought it out, and I got it, and I watched it.

It was pretty crazy.

I remember seeing tapes of those matches, too, and I just couldn't

I was seeing.

They were different.

Did Colette worry?

Did she tell you, just please don't go out there and get killed in the ring?

You do toughen up to that.

But I was always comfortable in his judgment.

It was just like, this guy is a psychopath. You know, what is the human

capable of?

I didn't really care for all this crazy crap.

Look, there's an audience for slasher movies.

There's an audience for horror movies.

A lot of people really love that genre.

It's the performance I'm proudest of because it's where I suffered the most.

I mean, it was almost spiritual.

And the final is with Terry Funk.

The ring is laced with real barbed wire, and then among there, they've got C4

explosives.

When I landed on those explosives, ah, it felt like a shotgun. I felt like I'd

been shot. Like, we were both in the hospital after that match.

I kind of convinced myself that I did it because I had a family and because I

had a mortgage.

But I took a look in my eye and I said, you can't fake that type of joy.

Like, there was part of me that did not mind being in that environment because I

knew I was good in it.

I was bleeding in so many places that I don't even remember that I've been

burned. It doesn't even occur to me until I'm on the plane the next day.

He walks into the house, sits down. I said, Mick.

I think there's a fire.

Something's burning.

I took off my jacket. I said, it's me.

And I wrestled two days later.

ECW

was

my vision to completely disrupt the industry.

ECW was like a different world from nationally televised wrestling.

It's a cult thing. If you were a certain age and you were a guy, mad at life,

you're drunk on Saturday night, and you watch TV at 2 in the morning and ECW was

on, it was the greatest thing in the world.

They developed a very loyal and niche following who could not get enough blood

and guts.

He fit luckily to go there.

He liked that stuff.

And the ECW audience loved him for it.

One night, I asked the fans in Philadelphia for a chair.

That

audience,

they'd run over you, spit on you, and just jump back in the car.

Paul Heyman grabs me and he goes, Will you turn heel? Yeah, sure I will.

All I knew is I needed a reason.

Mick Foley, who sacrifices more of his body than

any other performer at that level.

What if we went the other way?

I just thought back to a fan who had a sign that said Kane Dewey.

Kane is a verb.

To hit someone with a cane.

That's someone being my son Dewey because I had been talking about Dewey

of my promos.

One of the super fans makes a sign with my permission.

He shows it to me. Ah, I don't care.

It wasn't until I told my wife about the sign and saw her visceral reaction to

it. Like she literally got sick to her stomach. And so I used real life anger

fuel the best promo of my life. Okay, I guess you're ready.

Yeah.

I'm going to take you back to a very deciding point in my life. When I looked

out into that audience, my adoring crowd, and I saw two simple words that

changed my life.

Cain Dewey.

Somebody had taken the time and the effort and the thought to

make a sign that said Cain.

Dewey.

Dewey Foley is a three -year -old boy.

You sick son of a bitch!

You ripped out my heart! You took everything I believed in and you flushed

down the damn toilet!

I gotta listen to my little boy!

Every day of my life, see, Daddy?

I miss Atlanta, and I say it's too bad, son, because your dad traded in the

Victorian house for a sweat box in Long Island.

Your dad traded in a $100 ,000

contract, guaranteed money, insurance,

respect.

to work for a scumbag who operates out of a little pissant pawn shop in

Philadelphia.

Great promo.

You okay?

I got into the psyche of that

ECW audience.

They knew this guy could come in and deliver the violence and the gore that

wanted, but he wouldn't give it to them.

Tonight, we're not going to break any tables.

We're not going to use any chairs.

And we're going to have one hell of an Olympic rules wrestling match.

The rules of the NCAA are as follows.

There will be two points awarded for each takedown. It was a joke, right?

will be one point awarded for each escape.

I started pandering to them, which they hate even more.

I'm hardcore.

I'm hardcore.

Look, I can't even wear glasses because my ear's missing.

I'm hardcore. That sounds good. Let me just put this pen behind my ear.

Oops. That's when I shaved. How dare you?

Happy hardcore holidays, everybody. This is Cactus Jack and the rest of the

bullies here to wish you a happy holiday hardcore season.

Mommy. Mommy.

Mommy.

He did promos on merry -go -rounds with his daughter.

This is extreme.

I did get a beautiful wife by being hardcore, isn't that right?

What am I?

Hardcore.

His promo skills came out. His storytelling ability came out. And

made us go, hmm, now you can make money with that.

It was always clear to me that WWE would never want me.

I would call one time every year to see if there was any interest, and I would

be dismissed within 30 seconds.

Vince McMahon was not a fan.

Vince, what did you think of the blood and guts of Captain Jack's character

did all those crazy things in Japan?

I thought it was kind of degrading to our product.

He didn't have any talent.

And just a déclassé.

I'd heard a rumor that the adjective he used to describe me was sleazy.

Yeah, Vince was not high on the look.

But I told Vince, I said, you've never been in the locker room with him.

You don't know what you're missing.

Jim Ross and myself convinced Vince to just meet him.

If you don't like him, we don't have to move forward.

When I finally got him to relent about hiring Mick.

He said to me, I want you to know what it feels like to get your heart broken

a talent that you truly believe in.

Because I'm just telling you, this ain't going to work.

I'm at the WWE offices to meet with Mr. McMahon.

And they've got this sketch, an artist's rendering of a guy who looks to be

wearing an iron mask.

And I said, but that's taking away, like, my facial expressions, which are a

strong point. He's like, we're not going to hide them.

We're going to accentuate them.

He said, what do you think, pal?

And I think it's the worst thing I've ever heard.

I talk it over with my wife for hours.

We both knew my body had only so many years left. And we agreed, get in, make

some money, save some money, and try to retire by the time I'm 35.

That's an original.

Oh, yeah.

This mess. The best thing that ever happened to me.

Merry Christmas, Noel.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Dewey. Merry Christmas.

Mickey, look what Dewey has for you.

Oh.

I do have it on upside down, but.

I do?

Yeah. I'll get you two.

Ah!

Mitt had this mankind idea.

The representation of mankind.

And you get these philosophical thoughts of this crazy man in a cell who's only

friend, a pet rat.

And it was kind of a horror story presentation in the beginning,

but in a fun way. Not as violent as I think what Mick was used

to. You understand me, don't you, George?

You understand that mankind is in agony.

Leave the light on.

I never heard of Cactus Jack when I was a kid growing up. I mean, I loved

mankind. It was sort of like a lost soul in a sense. As an 11 -year -old, I was

like, man, this guy's freaking crazy.

You know, to see this guy in this crazy mess.

actually pulling his own hair out.

I mean, didn't he really pull his hair out, right? To me, it always reminded me

of Hannibal Lecter. Do you like some Freddy Krueger vibes?

I'm like, man, this is scary.

That is a... Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, look at that!

He's got his fingers jammed down his... Down his throat! He's got his esophagus!

Man time!

People visiting backstage, like, you know, poor Make -A -Wish children and

families. I'd go to say hello, and these children would run.

I was always high on Nick, and I always thought, okay, that's a perfect type

character for The Undertaker, someone that kind of can be on the same

wavelength. I don't hate you, Undertaker.

I love you.

Like a child loves a pet.

Roll over, Undertaker.

Heel boy.

Best of all.

I'm dead.

No one had ever really pushed the Undertaker to the limits in the way that

mankind did.

Such an interesting dynamic and such cool chemistry, and Undertaker was able

show some vulnerability which he'd never shown before.

I mean, we had very live matches, boiler room balls.

You know, while you're in the middle of it, you're just thinking, this is really

good stuff that no one else is doing.

Obviously, such a huge part of my career and my history is tied to mankind.

We shot vignettes on this one night in the middle of a cemetery, and a

storm starts.

And you will never...

Rest in peace.

Oh, well.

Gee.

Man, a lot.

And Mick says, God, it's raining.

This is great.

He was covered head to toe in mud and muck.

Mick could adapt to anything.

Not everybody could have pulled that off.

Once Mick got in the fold and he had time to interact with a lot of

the TV people, we started realizing we got a diamond in the rough here.

A lot of people were surprised at the fact of, again, how articulate he was

thoughtful and how well -spoken he was because just from the sheer stuff that

they had seen, you thought that this guy was masochistic.

I mean, he was, but, you know, there was all another side of him. Mick is

charming.

Cagarius, he's just a different cat.

He's always up -spirited and in a good mood, you know.

I don't know how he's done all these years without drinking. He doesn't

you know.

That's really upsetting.

Everybody in the locker room knew that he wasn't a party guy. He was not a go

-out guy. He was a family guy.

I think it was accepted that I was a guy that missed data and did a lot of

reading. visited museums, battlefields. The guys would be going out to strip

bars, and he would be running, trying to catch the last flight and be home for

the kids.

I felt pretty good about having my priorities in the right order. I was

to be the best dad I could possibly be.

I knew that Mick could come in and hit the top of the lineup against The

Undertaker. But what's going to happen to Mick after that Undertaker feud ends?

I thought at that time Mick would be still contributing, still earn a good

living, but I never envisioned the Hall of Fame and all this other success.

Mick was always offended by people's expectations because they were always

low.

Inside, as humble as Mick could be, Mick knew how great he was.

So if you tell Mick Foley we have 15 seconds of television time for you and

performance is so great, the next week you're giving him a minute.

And the next week you're giving him three minutes.

And the next week you're going to him and saying, how much time would you

I think it was understood and appreciated that I could work with

on that card.

One of my favorite opponents was Shawn Michaels.

We'd never had a match until we main evented a pay -per -view in 1996.

I'd never worked with Mick, and you're wondering how it's going to go, because

now I'm sort of known as the real finesse worker, and that wasn't Mick's

What I remember more than anything was the different kind of creativity that

Mick brought to the table.

There were things that we did in this match that a WWE crowd had not seen, had

not been exposed to.

The end of the night.

And Shawn's in the locker room, Mick's in the locker room, and they're talking.

Shawn says, is this always how you pictured yourself, this dark character?

I laughed. I said, no, actually, I wanted to be you.

He looks at me quizzically, and I said, no, no, no, not Shawn Michaels, but I

wanted to be the guy who fans adored, who women flocked around, who felt that

degree of love.

I can remember him, you know, finishing with him, but of course it didn't work

out that way because I ended up like this. And then I told him I actually had

this character, Dude Love, that I'd created.

And it turns out that Bruce Prichard was listening to the conversation.

And he's doing it. I'm laughing. I'm going to do this. I said, oh, my God,

that's great. I said, I'd love to see that. He goes, I've got tape.

Bring me this tape.

We're here for only one reason. One reason only.

Fame. Honor.

Fortune.

Mr. McMahon came to me with the idea of doing these in -depth interviews.

You see, when I was a kid, I played cowboys and Indians.

Now, who were the good guys? The cowboys coming over the hill to rape, pillage

innocent women and children?

I was always the Indian, Jimmy. I always stood for the underdog.

It was all there.

Mick jumping off the roof, hitchhiking to see Jimmy Snuka, the dream of

dude love.

Mankind was the character in the chair, but suddenly it wasn't just Mankind. It

was now Mick Foley.

Never wanted to be Cactus Jack.

I figured here is a horrible name for a horrible wrestler.

If I call you as soon as I get the ability, then I'll get that.

heart -shaped tattoo on my chest.

I'll put those earrings in, and I'm going to get the girls.

And it never really worked out the way it did it, Jimmy.

Not quite.

I was like, man, this guy is incredible, and I want to learn more.

You know what you tell the people week in and week out?

You say, look at mankind.

I don't even know if he feels pain or maybe he likes pain.

But you see, I feel just like every other person.

You see that?

It hurts.

Is it when I can't get up, when my little boy says, Denny, I want to play

and I can't do it?

Is that where the fun starts?

Is it where a doctor injects a 12 -inch needle into the discs in my spine so I

can wrestle one more day?

Whoopee!

Vince Lawler was great because it was real.

I'd been told when I came in that you could never really get to the top of

So Mr. McMahon personally became a fan.

And in my opinion, he had not personally become a fan until that night.

Mick always had that connection with the audience.

And I really never saw it before he came here. I thought, we're never going to

bring that guy in.

But he does. He has a genuine connection.

Not many people have that.

Oh, this appears to be one of the original Dude Love shirts.

Yes.

Oh, that would fetch about $500 on eBay these days. I'm not kidding.

This was when Vince saw the potential to grant this wish and allow me to live

out my dream.

Steve -O, looks like you could use a little help, my man, like maybe a tag

partner. What's the matter? Don't you recognize me?

Now, I don't blame you for not teaming up with that mutilated freak, Mankind,

but you never said nothing about teaming up with the hippest cat in the land.

Steve -O, baby, it's me, Dude Love, and I am coming to save the day. Oh,

have mercy.

I remember him practicing it backstage, and I was just, like, shaking my

head as he was in his tie -dyed stuff, and I was like, this is the guy that I

went to war with?

Dude Love was my personal favorite just because it showed mixed range.

I just got to try to explain this stuff to my wife, right?

Oh, no.

Hey, no, it just felt so good in there. I didn't, you know.

Would have been nicer if they were your kisses.

Your dude got Steve to break character on a couple of occasions.

I don't think Mick ever broke me on on -air stuff. I think the one time when

and Vince were dancing on the stage, I kind of let a little bit of smile out.

It made people feel good. That's what Mr. McMahon really liked about it. He

said, dude love makes people feel good.

Now, Mick Foley is appearing sometimes on the same show as Mankind and as Dude

Love. You know, I remember the movie Sybil way back in the day. It was almost

like split personalities.

Now, Dude Love, you are not me.

You're not even you, you idiot.

You thought you'd seen the three faces of Foley, but there was that one guy

left. As much as I've dreamed about destroying Hunter Hearst Helmsley. I

you have. There's very horrible things I'd like to do to him.

I know you can. I know someone who dreams about it even more.

Jack this Jack.

And Mrs. Foley's little boy.

The garden just came unglued.

In my mind, I'm thinking about Mr. McMahon, and I'm thinking, I told you

See how smart Mick is. That means he had three different action figures.

Mrs. Sully's baby boy, no dummy.

Undertaker versus Mankind, Hell in a Cell. It's one of the most surreal and

professional wrestling matches that you've ever seen.

Mick would have his pay -per -views. My mother would say, hey, just give me the

videotape. Well, after Hell in a Cell was over, I called her up and I was

trust me when I tell you, you don't want to see this match.

I've been involved in...

so many Hell in a Cell matches.

But I think most people, when they think of Hell in a Cell, they think of Mick

Foley and the bumps that he took that night.

I've had kids come up to me and talk about it that weren't even born in 1998.

It's taken on a life of its own.

Mick had kind of, I don't want to say hit the wall.

That might be a little strong.

But he wasn't setting the world on fire.

And the company wasn't going out of its way to feature him.

Honestly, I felt like my character had plateaued.

We had asked an awful lot from the audience to accept that I could go from

mankind to dude love to Cactus Jack.

to all three simultaneously, to heel Cactus Jack, to corporate dude love, and

now he's back to being corporate mankind.

Talent can get inside their own head a lot.

You're not hearing the same volume of reaction, and it's not

exactly what you think it should be every night.

That'll mess with your head.

You know, Mick was very concerned because Shawn Michaels and I had had the

hell in the fill.

It was a really good match. And Mick's like, well, you got to do something

bigger than that.

He says, what do you think about throwing me off the top of the cell? I

like, no, you're crazy.

Didn't want any part of it. For two weeks, I asked him. Every night for two

weeks, he would shoot that down.

And he was adamant. Like, no, I think it'll be great. I think I can do it.

I think.

He just looked at me and said, I'll think about it.

What do you remember from that day?

It's really weird because I don't remember my childhood at all.

Like, I remember little pieces here and there, like hanging out with my dad, but

I don't remember anything wrestling.

Part of me thinks I blocked that out of my life. I remember the day pretty well.

It's kind of crazy. I'm six years old, Noelle's four years old, and we get a

call from my dad saying, just so you know, tonight it's going to be pretty

I'm just standing there at the top of the cell.

In my head, it's just, it's an eternity.

Like, Mick, move.

It's over. That cage is 16 feet high.

Somebody get out of here, really.

I mean it.

I need some help.

Everyone was freaked out, including me.

This was too far. It was like, wait a minute.

Set yourself on fire in Japan or whatever he did, but this was more of my

Look at the raise of the cage and the Undertaker's still on top!

Well, I think they've raised the cage somewhat so that we can get the EMTs

with a stretcher.

We kind of thought, like, all right, that's good. The worst part is over.

As quickly and as unusually as this match started, it has ended.

I remember being in the back going,

Oh, my God, I'm going down there.

You know, you okay?

Yeah, I'm fine.

I'm good.

You don't look good. That was a pretty ugly bump. No, no, no, no. I'm fine. I

got it.

Continued on in the match.

Now in the hell is he standing?

I was walking around backstage and trying to get ready for my match, and

hearing this crowd go absolutely crazy.

And I wander by the monitor to see what everybody's watching, and I'm thinking,

I don't think we're going to follow this.

The cage is attached just like a chain -link fence in your yard. They had metal

twist -its that secured the actual mesh to the pole.

If you took a step or you pushed off to throw a punch, you could hear these

twists.

And I really believe that. I mean, that was not the commentator in me coming

out. That was just Jerry Lawler talking to Jim Ross.

He's dead.

I thought he had planned this whole thing. I was cursing and yelling at him.

I remember her screaming, and I don't think she knew that part was going to

happen. The idea was that Undertaker would chokeslam Mick, and

the cage would start to give, and it would start to sag.

But Mick went through that damn cage like it was nothing.

That wasn't the worst part of it. The worst part of it was on the cage was a

chair that came down after Mick and hit Mick right in the face.

Oh, my.

He looks up, and all of a sudden I realize his tooth is coming out of his

It looks like a booger's in his nose, but it's his tooth that is stuck out of

his nose, and he's laughing.

falling through the cage backwards, knocking his teeth through his lip. I

knowing our history and what I've said to him, I thought, he loves the

That was my resolve.

He just loves the business.

You know, Mick, man, I mean, I'm the king of punishment.

It seemed like he's okay to me.

I mean, he was tough, you know.

But Mick's Mick. I mean, that guy's tough as nails.

You know, he's obviously not all there because I'm hitting him.

And I'm saying, Mick, just stay down.

But he had to get to those thumbtacks.

It's funny

now, but I'm thinking at the time, I'm like...

I've thrown you off the top of this thing.

I've thrown you through this thing.

And, I mean, there's nothing else that you need to give, Nick.

No!

I went into the match, I had a broken ankle.

And I remember him asking me how I was.

Are you kidding me?

Seriously, yeah, I got a broken ankle. It's not a big deal, dude. You just

broke your neck and your back, and you've got about 150 tacks stuck in you

the moment.

I wasn't done for the night when I finished with the match.

I came hobbling out to interfere in the main event, and almost the entire crowd,

instead of being mad at me, was just like collectively saying, hon, don't you

think you've had enough?

I was banged up for sure.

My shoulder was dislocated. My jaw was dislocated. I had 14 stitches underneath

my lip.

Vince walked in, and he said, Mick, you have no idea how much I appreciate what

you've just done for this company.

But I never want to see anything like that again.

Hi!

You too, nutjob!

What is your favorite memory of your dad as a wrestler?

Favorite memory is when he was getting hurt the least.

We're two little kids watching our dad get beat up.

All I could think about was, I hope he's going to be all right. I hope it's not

too bad this time. I hope he makes it back home in one piece.

He would tell us this was his job to help do what the person before you just

and to make sure that when people go home, they talk about what you did, your

match.

But he's paying for it now.

I found myself struggling in the aftermath of Hell in a Cell. That

wasn't there yet.

But if you'd said this Mankind character is missing something, what is it? Not

one person in a million would have said sock puppet.

Mr. Socko actually comes with very humble origins.

I was heading out the door to visit Mr. McMahon at the hospital. He was hooked

up to a heart monitor and a respirator for a bruised ankle.

That's the way we roll in WWE.

And all I knew is I had a selection of gifts that had to get me thrown out of

his room.

Vince, it's me.

I saw what happened. I felt really bad, so I brought you some presents.

Take hold of these.

Weren't they colorful?

I had a box of chocolates that was largely eaten. I had a birthday party

named Yerple.

They were filming the stuff with the nurse, and me and Mick were crammed in a

little bitty bathroom.

And he pulls out this sock, and he puts his hand through it.

And I said, you've got to be kidding me.

We're two grown men laughing our asses off.

What the hell are you doing?

Mr. Socko!

Say hello to Mr.

Socko. Mr.

Socko knows you've been feeling mighty bad, so he's going to give your boo -boo

a big kiss.

You're going to what?

Hey, hey, ah!

No, Mick, please.

Please. Just leave.

Mr. Socko.

I wasn't a huge fan until Mr. Socko.

Like, when Mr. Socko came, it was like, oh, I'm totally into this guy. This

guy's great.

I love me some Mr. Socko. I don't know.

Why? Just because, like, the way he was drawing on there.

Mr.

Socko just felt like, just.

Just innocent.

Vince Russo, the writer, comes up to me and says, bro, you got the sock?

I said,

I don't know.

Why? He goes, they're chanting for him.

They've got signs out there.

What are you doing here? I ain't kind of checking that shoe off.

And luckily, I had a finishing move that was tailor -made for the use of a sock

puppet.

He would, like, pull it from different areas in his body.

And there it is! Mr.

Socko!

Mick is not the most coordinated guy. So when he comes and puts that thing in,

man, it would, like, hit you in the face from this way and this way and up your

nose. It's disgusting.

Well, you know, like a sock stuck in your mouth that had been sitting in

someone's sweaty groin?

It was, uh, you know, it was, um...

It's not the best thing I've ever been put in my mouth.

The thing that Mr. Sacco did was allow Mick Foley to sort of cross over into

mainstream. There's Sacco. I have Mr.

Sacco.

Chef Clarity, take two. It's the perfect ravioli for all mankind.

It also just exposed that Mick Foley was just an immensely likable, entertaining

guy. Hello, Mr. Sacco.

How are you, Carson?

You know what I don't understand is about...

800 teenage girls chanting your name and I've got about three sweaty fat guys

with mankind signs.

That sock puppet opened up so many doors for me. He started transcending the

business. Now he's getting more and more out there. He's now an author.

I got the chance to write my memoir.

I just started writing in a yellow legal pad. I didn't know how to use a

computer. I went into the dressing room and I asked the guys, hey, anyone want

to hear this story I'm working on? And all of a sudden I had an audience.

And they were responding.

What do you like about Mankind?

He's very sweet. Yeah, he's real sweet.

Hit number one, and that was wild. Like, wow, the New York Times has a pro

wrestling book at the top of its chart.

I think that the book forced those outside of the business who read it and

it a chance to admit, oh, hey, man, these just aren't a bunch of dumb oafs.

People like me don't reach the peak, we don't reach the summit, the

scale of pinnacle, until we do.

He had ascended so much and he had so much of the audience rooting for him

it was the right timing where Mick Foley became the champion.

We're talking about a deafening roar, unlike anything I've experienced.

It's so loud you can barely think.

Like back at home in Chicago, it felt like the Bulls won the NBA championship.

You know, people identified with him and felt like he was the everyday guy.

And he was. He was that guy. He was the sweetest guy in the world. He'll help

anybody.

I'd like to thank you.

Just match my two little people at home and say it.

Vincenzo did it!

Scripted doesn't resonate with the sports entertainment crowd. Because the

sports entertainment crowd is always aching for something real.

There were moments when I absolutely, 100 % became so invested in the

that I was that character.

And for The Rock, it was the same way. But in one particular case.

Becoming those characters didn't work out particularly well.

There was a documentary crew there filming for a movie called Beyond the

I

wanted my

family to see Dad as the champion.

You know, I wanted them to be so proud of me. And I wanted to go to Disneyland.

Really wanted to go to Disneyland.

He is barely moving.

And now The Rock has handcuffs. What the hell is he going to do now?

Handcuffs?

You know, I'm an old school guy.

That night.

Even I was uncomfortable with the amount of chair shots that Mick took.

Do you shoulder some of the blame when things turn out that way?

Well, I think I shoulder most of the blame because it was my idea.

The idea was the WWE camera would show the children, which they did not end up

doing. But Beyond the Mat did show.

my family and that was really chilling footage by

mom

and dad kind of without saying it their body language was like we're gonna have

to discuss this and not in front of the kids it was horrible and they were

stitching him up and mick is talking like nothing happened

I was taking a large risk with my body, just hoping and betting that it would

set my family up for a good future.

I knew from day one that I was on borrowed time, but I wouldn't admit it

anybody.

I could not have scripted a better retirement match with Triple H.

I was going out on my own terms.

Kick out! Kick out, Cactus!

When it was over, I felt an immediate sense of fulfillment.

I set out to save my money and retire by the time I was 35, and I did it.

My dad and my brother were in the crowd, and they came back to congratulate me,

and then I went to my hotel room and cried my eyes out because it was the end

a fascinating journey.

I had been preparing my kids for the day that I'd be leaving wrestling, and my

daughter said, Well, Daddy, if you don't wrestle, we can't eat, and we're going

to die.

So I had a little talk about the effects of...

compounding interest and that the foliage were probably going to be okay

little while.

We wanted to have children again, and I wanted to be home.

Our son, Mickey, was born in 2001.

Whoa, Mickey!

And in 2003, we had Huey. Here comes Huey!

Hiya!

That was when I portrayed the most complicated character of them all, which

Super Dad.

Now turn it off and we'll go inside, okay?

Ooh.

I think I did a pretty good job as a father. Yeah.

It's so funny. My dad played all these crazy characters, like ripping his hair

out and rocking back and forth and talking to rats in a boiler room, yet he

just like this big teddy bear. Oh, look how beautiful that is.

No, no.

What is your... No!

I had time on my hands, and I wanted to really do my best to make a difference

and to be part of something that was bigger than myself.

I said, Mick, you are on this platform that you can do anything.

Whatever you want to do, you can do it. The fight against sexual assault has an

unlikely new ally, former WWE superstar Mick Foley.

I felt like, as odd as it seemed, that it was exactly where I could make the

most difference, that it was an area that needed attention, especially from

At that point, I had been volunteering as a crisis counselor.

I'd log on, and someone would say, tell me why I should live.

My wife would wake up eight hours later, and I'd still be with that same person,

trying to get them to hold on.

And that was a big part of who I was.

I've had a lot of time to think about why I went back to wrestling.

At the end of the day, it was a simple reason.

I just missed it.

It's almost like a religious experience for him.

He's at home.

The ring is Mick Foley's sanctuary.

It's a safe place.

Emotionally.

Maybe not so much physically.

I had four big matches when I came back from retirement.

Teaming up with The Rock at WrestleMania, Randy Orton in Edmonton,

WrestleMania 2006, and the feud with Ric Flair.

And that should have been it for me.

I should have realized that I can't wrestle ever again.

Everything after that was at least partly a cash grab.

I was the guy who was used to being able to take anything, and I got to a point

where almost every single thing was hurting me.

I no longer looked forward to matches.

I just wanted them to be over with.

I returned to WWE, and I was given the WWE's impact test.

I had independent neurologists and WWE's neurologists both confirming the same

diagnosis, which is I should never wrestle again.

It's one thing for you to make that decision. It's another thing for a

neurologist to make that decision for you.

I was struggling physically.

I was struggling emotionally.

I generally would wake up and I would just know, this doesn't even have the

potential of being a good day.

My eyes were so sensitive to light, I didn't think I could write ever again.

I really took pride in the job I did as a crisis counselor, and then that was

taken away.

The road trips with the kids and the roller coasters seemed like they'd be

coming to an end. I had so many things I loved taken away from me.

He was just kind of, you know, sleeping late, very lethargic, really

out of it. He was low energy. He wasn't playing with the kids too much. He was

just a guy who kind of needed to be by himself.

I just was thinking to myself, wow, now I'm 45 and I'm in the basement of my

house all alone, which somehow wasn't how I pictured things.

I felt like nothing I had done made any difference.

Nothing I've done has meant a thing.

All right, you want to play more?

One -legged fadeaway.

Whoa.

That was nice.

I don't think I could do that.

How much height am I getting on my jump shot?

None.

Oh, yes.

You want to try a regular version of Happy Birthday?

I guess so.

I'll let you know when I'm ready to go, okay? Okay, wait, for Happy Birthday?

Yeah. How the dude love with a song like no other. For you, my brother, and it

goes like this.

Birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Tyler.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

In retrospect, my wife and I should

have realized so much sooner.

Mickey was slow to talk.

I mean, even going back to when he was a little boy at Hershey Park, and there's

this great, expansive, huge, world -class rides, and he was just so content

splash in a puddle.

So we realized that something was different.

And so when he had the autism diagnosis, it felt like, this explains it.

It really was a shock to my system.

And I knew I had to be there for my family. And to do that, I had to get my

right.

I decided to do whatever I could to kind of keep the mental fires burning.

I was trying to do traditional stand -up comedy, but I found that I was running

away from my strengths, which was my day job.

That was what people wanted to hear about.

Going out there on the stage is the best form of exercise for your mind.

You're memorizing routines.

You are creating new content and you are playing off the audience.

This is like mental gymnastics.

No matter what I did, no matter how many matches I had, I could not figure out

the secret of the Terry Funk punch. And then Terry Funk punched me as hard as he

could in the head.

I was like, that's it?

That's all you do?

I think it's very cathartic for him.

To do these one -man shows.

He gets relief and therapy.

I found out I was no longer irrelevant.

I was part of people's lives.

Come on up here.

I just wanted to tell you, we named our dog after him. What did you name him?

His name is Mick Foley. Oh, that's awesome.

He had his ears taken off by dog fighters. And we went, his name is Mick.

It's a big commitment when you name an animal.

I wanted to ask the second question of you. Go ahead. You are an ordained

minister.

I guess so. I took the course. Would you marry us? Oh, would I marry you? Are

you going to get married in Florida? Yeah. We are. Would you marry us? I will

marry you.

Do you expect me to say no with the A &E cameras on me? You used to live on

Sharewater Beach.

Yeah, I can do that. Why is it that he makes people so happy? Oh, Mick is a

Santa Claus all year round.

Anyone with that kind of mentality, wants to give, wants to make people

that's Mick Foley.

That's what Mick's all about.

I feel like I'm bleaching like a goat.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well, right?

Oh, wow, that looks good.

When I was portraying characters in wrestling, I had to be tougher and

and more resilient.

In trying to portray Santa to the best of my abilities, I had to be kinder and

gentler and more patient than I was in real life. And I love the idea of trying

to live up to that standard.

All right, this is the big one here.

What? He will write letters as Santa Claus to my kids every year

in a fountain pen, will come over as Santa just to be caught

sneaking out of the house so that my kids still believe they're Santa.

I was a huge fan of the band The Kinks when I was in high school.

At that time, The Kinks were touring huge arenas all over the world.

The lead singer was asked what that was like. He said, it doesn't really matter

as long as I can see faces.

And his answer at the time disappointed me, and then I realized how true that

was.

Yes,

my friends, how are you today? Look at that. Do you mind if Santa pulls up a

chair here?

Okay.

Santa and Mrs. Claus and the elves went through this entire book, page by page

like this.

Reach in there, my friend.

Oh, I think that's it.

Have any idea? I believe that's a ball.

I believe it's a pair of sneakers.

I can honestly say I feel better now than I did 15 years ago.

That's really amazing that people have allowed me to become part of their

traditions. Yeah, there's always something to look forward to.

I think mixed.

Foley's self -worth is predicated on

his ability to be great at something.

And Mick found something at which he can be great.

I can never drop an elbow again. I've got a ball of steel where my hip used to

be. But that's a relatively small price to pay for having had the chance to live

out my dreams.

I know how unusual it is for someone like me to feel optimism about tomorrow

after what I put myself through in countless yesterdays.

But when I'm asked about my life, I can look people in the eye and answer them

truthfully.

Yes, it hurt.

No, I'm not a psychopath, I don't think.

And yes, I do have some regrets.

There were times I put my family through the ringer and they responded with the

gift of acceptance.

It's a gift I'll spend the rest of my life appreciating.

I know that people are always going to keep asking those questions.

And I know there are still going to be days when I ask myself, was it worth it?