Original subtitles

I have never witnessed a 10 -in -10 match like we have just witnessed here

tonight.

The Triple H -McFoley rivalry was amazing because you had two superstars

needed just a little bit more to get to that next level, and that's exactly what

they found in each other.

We had this really great chemistry together.

You have two guys with something to prove.

We want to steal the show every night.

Thousands of thumbtacks!

Oh, no!

You can't have a good guy without the evil guy.

One of the things that make Mick an incredible performer is his ability to

characters and morph them into who he is.

The roar was decimating. I hadn't received reactions like that, and that

lot to do with the guy I'm in the ring with.

We both want it to be great.

We're willing to do anything to make it great.

When two legends collide, their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories behind the greatest

of all time.

I'm Freddie Prinze Jr., and this is WWE Rivals.

I am the game!

Triple H.

Versus Mick Foley, a man of many faces. We know him as Dude Love.

We know him as Cactus Jack.

We know him as Mankind. And he even gave us the pleasure in this rivalry of

giving us all three characters at once.

Can the Blue Blood Triple H be as tough as Mick Foley?

Ah, the life of a gentleman.

A life you'll never know.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley is a guy that says he's going to bring class and

to the WWF.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley was sort of built on the Northeastern Connecticut snob,

the very proper, you know, American former Englishman.

Make no mistake about Hunter Hearst Helmsley and his wrestling expertise.

This man ranks right up there. That's right, and he's got a lot of class, too.

Something that, as I look out among these peons here, they are certainly

lacking. When I've got my guy down that they want to see beat my ass, and I've

got him beat up, and I stand over him and look out at the people and do that

little bow, and they just boo me out of the building, that's the reaction I

want. And when I do that, I go, yeah.

It was a bit of a cartoonish character.

It had some good dimensions to it, but in the end, he was defined by the

character.

That was Hunter's character to get in the door, I think, and it was something

that... He did well, but that character kind of had a ceiling on it. And he

offered so much more.

What an aggressive athlete this Hunter Hurst -Holmesley is.

You have to have a backstory. You have to have a personality. You have to have

something that makes you resonate with people.

Otherwise, why did they watch anybody wrestle?

If you were looking for the polar opposite of Hunter Hurst -Holmesley,

further.

Weighing 287 pounds,

Mankind!

When I debuted in 1996 as Mankind, that character was kind of a tortured

soul along the lines of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Mankind was demented.

There were no limits to what he would do to himself to inflict pain

on his opponent.

He was just maniacal.

I remember having a match

with him. He was legit pulling his own hair out. I remember him taking a stick

and jabbing it in his leg over and over and over again.

I mean, that's just another level of dedication to making a character viable.

It was nuts.

But you believed him.

Those of us familiar with who this guy was knew that he had lived in existence

as Cactus Jack before he got to WWE.

The scars on his body from his life as Cactus Jack was very real.

Then he does this

interview on TV.

Over the next few weeks.

I'm going to take you on a different kind of odyssey, a 26 -year journey of a

young boy named Mick Foley.

Boyhood dreams turned into a living hell.

The death match stuff, that got Cactus into the game, perhaps?

But the sit -down interview with Jim Ross, that actually got him into the end

zone.

Obviously, these matches were bizarre.

They were dangerous.

What made Cactus Jack different?

Because he just wanted it a little bit more.

He was somebody in an era of bodybuilder physiques who carved out his own niche,

said, I'm going to make it on my own style.

Said, no one else is going to tell me what to do. I'm not going to dye my

I'm going to be exactly who I am, and I'm going to do it my way.

I've never felt this bad in my life, but I've never been happier.

The Jim Ross thing really touched base because that was something that, you

know, I remember watching it. And to me it was like when they showed his senior

year picture.

That looks like anybody.

Yeah. And now we've got this heap of humanity that's pulling his hair out.

I mean, like, what torturous life has this soul had?

And I've heard rumor about these.

horrible matches that took place.

And I didn't care.

As far as I was concerned, this was my destiny.

And I walked out the first time I saw barbed wire strung up in place of ring

ropes.

And I said, I'm finally home!

Mrs. Foley's little boy is finally home.

I'm not sure I've ever been that on as I was that night as I brought this

character to life and created an enormous amount of empathy just by being

% honest.

It took just about all the money I had in the world, but I got a front row seat

and I saw the move that would change my life.

When Jimmy Schnooker came off the top of the cage and I saw people stand up, I

wanted to hear people cheer for me because of some act of bravery that I

committed. So I ascended up onto my friend's roof and I dove off.

We got to know Mrs. Foley's baby boy.

We got to see the home footage of Mick jumping off his garage onto a mattress.

And all of us were doing the same thing off of our couches, you know?

It felt intimate, and it struck a chord.

And it endeared Mick Foley to a worldwide audience.

We can be a line of work that everyone knows is entertainment, but...

You can still connect and be a character that resonates with people where they

go, I understand that. I get that.

Once he started breaking out of that shell of the original Mankind character,

was different than everybody else because he was a lot more like the

watching than everybody else in the ring with him.

As soon as I did these interviews.

Without actually turning in a classic way, I didn't apologize for my

I was just the same guy, and every single week, more and more people were

cheering me.

They like him.

What's going on here?

I don't think a change has ever come about that organically.

He didn't fit, but he made himself fit.

And it makes for a great rivalry when you have someone who doesn't fit against

the most ice -fit guy there is in a Triple H.

Live from Providence, Rhode Island, it is the King of the Ring.

King of the Ring at the time was an annual WWE tradition that was a single

elimination, eight -man tournament.

And China, the bodyguard of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, checking things out.

A lot of times, the finals of the King of the Ring would be two different

superstars that were on the cusp of maybe getting to that next level.

We had the fans. They're ready to react, but they need something to react to.

And this is what it's all about. The finals here at the King of the Ring.

Two longtime superstars who've been grinding forever.

King of the Ring set off the rivalry between Triple H and Mick Foley.

And this is what it's all about. The final turn to King of the Ring.

Hellsing probably feels that this is his birthright to be the King of the WWF.

King of the Ring is kind of tailor -made to be something that gives someone

credibility or says to the viewer, that's a top guy.

The snob won and the snob had to cheat.

Your scepter was destroyed, but here is your

crown.

To be able to do it with Mick, he was a great opponent for me for that and

helped put me at a different level.

Triple H gets to be the king of the ring.

And the sympathy I gathered, not only from losing the match, but from

that beat down after the match, this was like, that's uncalled for. That was

unprovoked. We like that guy.

And it just became this great study in contrast.

What I did last night was take my destiny, my career into my hands.

It was a story that As time went on, you just continued to enjoy.

This ring is now my house.

Because you knew they were going to take it to places you'd never seen before.

Knock, knock, Hunter.

Oh, Hunter.

Knock, knock.

I'd like admission to your house of pain.

We had this really great chemistry together, either one of us being top

men and then guys at that point in time, but being able to create something

special. Here it comes.

He was willing to do anything and take any bump and do anything crazy and put

his body on the line.

He liked it when it came back the other way. I don't think he got to

work with that many guys that were that way.

When you've got these two superstars having battles that are spilling all

arenas, there's only one logical thing to do.

Lock them in a cage.

fans they were like kind of yearning for this bright spot in this dark character

of mankind they love this guy they wanted to see that transformation

We would have that match, and it would sort of be the culmination of that

storyline, but also a start of Foley and Dude Love.

Mr. McMahon caught wind of this fictional character I created named Dude

I created him when I was 18 years old, made a couple home movies.

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

Fame, honor, fortune.

Not only did mankind...

Used to be Cactus Jack, but as a kid, he didn't have aspirations on being this

mutilator. He had aspirations to be a heartthrob.

Mr. McMahon wanted our universe to see this guy, wanted that dream to come to

fruition.

It's me, Dude Love, and I am coming to save the day. Oh, have mercy!

Introducing the public to Dude Love? I mean, that's a huge, awesome

But isn't it every little boy's dream? And that's what he's living out.

Mick was never going to go anywhere further than mid -card if he didn't have

those layers.

For that time period, I remember Vince McMahon saying, Dude Love makes people

feel good.

Dude Love was an unqualified hit, but there's that other guy.

He grew in legend in WWE, where he becomes

almost like that mythical creature.

Ladies and gentlemen, you're going to see a fall -down -anywhere matchup that

will feature, and listen to this, Dude Love one -on -one with Hunter Hurst

-Hills. Oh, have mercy.

Hunter, my man, I believe it's time we had a little rap. Oh, because you see

balls count anywhere. Well, that's not exactly my bag, baby.

Dude, love was kind of like the comedy character.

But I know somebody, daddy, who's bagging and beat it.

Oh, man, John, my main mandible. I'm high, big man. Oh, you're too slow.

Mankind. He was kind of always on the end of the ass kicking.

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

have. As very horrible things as I'd like to do to him. I know you can. I

someone who dreams about him even more. Who is it, Manny? Someone who's willing

to do even worse things than I am. Can you bring him out, Manny? Here he comes.

Where is he?

Jack this Jack.

This Jack.

Somebody thank me. I thought you were dead. He's alive.

Helmsley. It may be the darkest day of your life.

Texas Jack was a psycho.

And Mrs. Foley's little boy.

Bye -bye.

Bye -bye.

A lot of credit goes to Triple H. Who sells it as if it's a ghost from

past. It becomes the biggest response I've ever received.

To simultaneously be able to pull off.

three different characters at the same time, that's really difficult to do.

When he shifts his personality into that guy, it's a whole different world.

Even though mankind was crazy, Cactus Jack was always the one like, oh, this

a problem.

And Triple H made it clear through his actions that Cactus Jack was on another

level.

One of the things that makes Mick an incredible performer is his ability to

characters and morph them into who he is, but then also be able to deliver any

kind of match that you want.

It

was

like a dream come true, Cactus Jack and Madison Square Garden. And I grew up

taking trains there, hitchhiking.

And now we are rocking the house. And it's the best match of the year for me.

Mick Foley was the underdog.

Mick was the ultimate underdog.

Because you had seen how tough and how durable Mick Foley was. And go through

hell. Get up and come back.

Throughout the late 90s.

Mick Foley continued to flip from one character to another.

Three characters that talk differently, act differently, talk differently.

Mankind, Jack, Dude Love, didn't matter which character he was portraying,

you had a level of Mick Foley in all of them.

It's going to be Mankind versus The Rock, the WWF Championship's on the

You have to be willing to adapt and to create something new. That evolution of

who you are and what you do.

Mankind did it!

Mick Foley did it!

Mankind is a Jesus dream!

It's a dream of everyone else who's been told you can't do it!

I never realized what a big deal it was until I actually had the...

WWE Championship in my hands.

Seeing him successfully shift himself out of those characters was definitely

inspiring.

At the same point in time, Rock and Austin have these moments and do all

stuff.

As that's happening, I'm thinking, like, we need Darth Vader here.

You can't have a good guy without the evil guy. You gotta have the bad with

good, you know.

Hunter had everything you need. Really smart guy and a terrific wrestler.

But he knew he had to transform himself.

And I think at the time, if you would talk to him, he would probably know this

is my coming of age. This is my rite of passage. This is what I have to go

through to be that guy.

Three, two... You asked that China not be involved in this interview, and I'm

just wondering why.

Why? Everybody wants to know why. You know what? Because this one is about me,

JR. It's not about China or anybody else.

You guys talk about being students of the game.

I am the game, JR.

There is nobody that eats, sleeps, or breathes this business more than me.

Who knew in that moment that just those words would change him and take him to

an entirely different level?

What was that moment like watching the transformation to the promo of I Am The

Game, which is what we all know him as today, the modern fan anyway?

There is the difference between just a wrestling promo and, I guess, a piece of

art. There's a lot of good wrestling promos, and then there's things that you

don't ever forget.

This is about me. It's about me reaching my goal.

Especially as a bad guy.

Your why has to carry some believability and some reality to it. Even if it's

warped, there's got to be truth in there.

And to be able to sit down and have that kind of interview where you can emote

that passion, you know, it's a mission statement.

It's about me getting what I want out of this business, and that is becoming the

WWF champion.

When it's real, hard to beat.

Hard to top. And veering that way always is...

is the best, and it worked out incredibly for Triple H.

Didn't plan it ahead of time, just came out, but the next week when I walked

out, I would start seeing signs everywhere.

I'm going to show you, and I'm going to show the world, I am the

game!

So you do something, it clicks, you run with it.

I'm going to enjoy what I'm about to do. Here, hold it.

Now, Mick, I want your ass out here.

I want what is mine or I am going to break his arm.

You don't have to threaten JR.

You want a shot at this belt. All you had to do was ask.

Triple H and Mankind, WWF Championship on the line.

He got it!

Triple H with a pedigree! This is unbelievable!

Will it be?

Will it be?

Triple H!

Triple H!

Triple H!

With the WWF title!

Finally!

Right here! Right here!

Wrestling Federation Champion Triple H!

These guys inside the business will joke about it like there's a moment when you

win that title for the first time where it's all real.

And you sort of get that feeling.

It was, you know, certainly a validation level of reaching the top.

I was determined.

I wanted to be the most hated guy there'd ever been.

A lot of people like me.

Said what the things I've done.

They do what they want to do, but it really doesn't affect me, and I don't

a shit.

So why let it bother me, you know?

He's on the precipice of greatness, but he still hadn't had that

one decisive moment, a signal to everyone watching, this

is someone to be reckoned with.

And he just needs that certain somebody.

I think you know the guy.

is Cactus Jack!

We are just moments away from what could be the most memorable title match in

World Wrestling Federation history. A street fight, hitting Cactus Jack

the champion, Triple H.

We built this match up to be something

Incredibly special.

Cactus Jack returns Madison Square Garden. It's my match.

And this is where you have this great heel, and he's going to get his

comeuppance. Triple H had to go against somebody that was basically eight years

earlier lighting himself on fire in Japan.

I think both for Mick and I to know that we were going into the Garden.

We're being handed the main event spot at the Rumble. For both of us, it was

something we wanted to prove. We both should be in that spot, and we both

hang in that spot, and that should be where we belonged.

Just two years after, we had a series of epic encounters, but in a way, we're

two new characters.

It's Cactus Jack and Triple H.

It's not Mankind and Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Beauty and the Beast.

It's two forces.

I don't know what Cactus Jack had to say to the champion, but the talking has

stopped. What makes the street fight different is that it often goes other

places.

Street fights can go anywhere.

Physically, they're incredibly demanding.

The mental game.

You have to be a little bit off your rocker to want to do a lot of stuff in

them.

But people enjoy it.

After this suplex on this wooden pallet, that Triple H is just pouring blood

down his calf and into his boot.

I remember looking down and seeing a piece of wood sticking out of my leg.

I knew that was a pivotal moment for me.

Through those moments, no matter what you think of him...

You see things like that, and you see the toughness.

You've got to respect the hell out of them.

This guy went out there and didn't call for the medics, didn't call for the

doctor. Nowadays, you probably do all of that, or the doctor would call on you.

They would make you stop.

It's kind of also this rite of passage.

You know, eventually you're going to work hard, and when you do, it's part of

the game.

If there are doubters out there, I don't think

anybody ever questioned his toughness again.

We're going to put that body through this. There's something sort of

extraordinary.

Going into that sequence at the end, we both want it to be great and we're

willing to do anything to make it great.

Uh -oh. What is that?

What the hell is that?

What? Wait a minute. I don't know. I don't think it is. Oh, God!

Mr.

McMahon came into the dressing room and said, no thumbtacks.

And as soon as he walked out the door, Hunter turned to me and said, you

put them under the ring, right? I said, yeah, yeah, I got it.

I mean, the roar was decimating. I haven't received reactions like that,

that has a lot to do with the guy I'm in the ring with.

Look at that! And that bully tip goes up and murders his back guard!

Oh, no!

No! The second category on the burn packs!

The second category!

That match was a bona fide main event making match for the both of us.

That was up there in the top five for sure my entire career.

It added ten layers to the Triple H character because he had survived Cactus

Jack.

He really put the stamp on me of being a guy that could hang with anybody in a

physicality standpoint.

Another towel under your head.

Okay.

It's much better to do something and ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for

approval.

And Mr. McMahon wasn't even angry at us. It would be impossible to be angry

after all we'd done.

Stitch it right here.

Stitch it right here. Yeah.

At that time, word didn't get around like it does now, like about the bad

and the bad. You know, I had a lot of wear and tear on my body at that point.

and at that point I start thinking about the physical toll that the match had

taken on both of us.

I think at the point in time he was serious about, I'm going to step away

I'm not going to do this any longer, and medically needed to be done in ring for

a while.

You're in the middle of looking at two guys at jail have great chemistry and

audience is totally invested in.

And all of a sudden, one of your performers comes and says, I'm ready to

up.

Your carpet's pulled out from under you, and you're like, okay, what next?

All rivalries come to a point.

This one came to a retirement match.

It's got to be easier if you know that going in, but I feel like in a part of

that storyline, no matter how scripted it is, It has to be painful, but it also

has to feel great.

I'm not a kid anymore, Jim.

I'm 32 years old, and I'm concerned with what type of legacy I'm going to leave

this sport.

I thought going into the Royal Rumble, that was going to be my final match.

I think I talked to Mr. McMahon.

I brought up the idea of a loser must retire.

But now we're going to put a sense of finality to it.

This has gone on too long.

It's time to finish it once and for all.

And no way out.

One more time.

But this is it. Your last shot at me. Your last shot at the WWF title.

What? But one stipulation.

You name it.

I want your career on the line.

What more can you do as a heel to take a lovable character?

I think you force him to then retire.

And I can have any other match I damn well desire.

Yes.

You leave me with only one choice.

Hell in the Cell!

At that point in time, the Hell in the Cell match was mythical.

What we're about to witness is without a doubt the most dangerous match in the

World Wrestling Federation's history.

And they'd gone from the classic that Taker had and Shawn had, and then you

Taker and Foley.

How do you begin to follow

that?

Guys like Mick Foley are a rare breed.

I mean, that's really cool to say all of my career, everything I've done, I'm

going to give it all to you tonight.

The Hartford Civic Center has been sold out for weeks in anticipation for No Way

Out.

I had the legend of the cell to my name.

But I said, OK, let us take that ball and run with it as far as we can.

Will Cactus Jack's career end tonight?

Or will Triple H's reign of terror?

It's quite a task to get ready for something like Hell in a Cell.

I more or less have to metamorphosize into a different human being.

Generally, I needed just some type of joke.

with something big.

And once there was a big move, I would

be jolted into that alternate of reality.

I remember watching this match and everything that Mick went through and

hard he fought, thinking, he has to win this. This can't be the last Mick Foley

match ever.

I have to do my part to make sure that this is as epic as it deserves to be for

him.

We've had an exciting match, and we just have to find a way to create a memory.

Oh, look at this! Jack is on the top!

That idiot!

What does he do? Jack is climbing to the top, and Tribulation's got the barbed

wire.

Jack just must win the title. Or his career's over.

Well, there's an art to presenting your toys.

And so you're not rushing it. You want people to enjoy what is essentially an

hors d 'oeuvre of violence.

Captain, this was signaling a pile driver.

Once I let go, I have no control.

Hold it.

The best rivalries across history involve a protagonist and an antagonist.

That's what we understand more than anything.

Foley was one of these guys that once you give your body for so long, fans

appreciating you.

I think

it

was important for him to go out in the biggest way possible.

For me, the fact that he was willing to do that for me on the way out was

incredible and something that I can never forget.

I remember just being in tears, in tears at the thought that that was the last

Mick Foley match that we were going to see in WWE.

I turn around and it's the classic blood, sweat and tears.

It's there on my face.

Plain as day.

Blood mixed with sweat. Tear in my eye.

Triple H allowed me to ride off into the sunset with my head held high. He

allowed me the type of exit that most people can only dream about.

You're going to be missed, cactus.

Don't feed me, Foley.

I went to a much nicer hotel than I otherwise would have stayed in, had a

room service meal, sat on my bed and cried like a baby because it was over.

He felt like one of us by the time that story was done. And everybody loved him.

And it was heartbreaking to see him go. And the respect that he earned comes out

in that moment more than any.

Because we know it's the last time. It's that final standing ovation.

And so that's how I'm going to remember this rivalry from now on.

There's a time I feel like for every fan of wrestling when they finally, that's

my guy. That's my girl.

I got to watch this. And that was for me for when I really went all in on Triple

H. Hunter did look the part, did work the part. But if he didn't have someone

beat the piss out of, if he didn't have somebody to sell, sell Triple H. And

it's not.

Triple H to do that, the opponent, if he didn't have that, it doesn't work. And

Mick's humanization and all that doesn't come out unless he's got a bully.

This was the place. So many great moments.

It's just coincidence that most of them took place with Triple H.

I had the debut of Cactus Jack here in 1997.

Where I faced Triple H.

The 2000 Royal Rumble, the street fight.

But without exaggeration, it was great to be right here in Madison Square

Garden.

Thank you so much and have a nice day.

You sort of can look at it as a period of time when Austin would leave.

Rock would be on the way out. If I don't rise to that, like there's a big gap.

Fully doing that for me certainly was not only impactful and meaningful to me,

but impactful and meaningful to the WWE as well.

That rumble match to me is

a different level for both of us.

That kind of made me answer the question of am I a player and am I tough enough

to be in that role, whatever that question was.

I think we both came out of that looking like main event guys.

When I was laying in that hole, I just thought this went

really well. Yeah. This went really well. Didn't know I'd end the night

like a baby.

Real emotion?

He believed everything.

You know what I mean? The guys that are the best at it, when they walk through

that curtain, it's all real.

I was able to ride off into the sunset with the matches that I loved having.

Yeah. And I think that was so important to me.

Goodbye, Cactus.

Thanks for the great memories, buddy.

Godspeed, Mick Foley.

I've got an opportunity here for you.

I think I've got one more left in me. I've got a bag of tacks in the

Just like Stallone and Apollo Creed and the Rocky. If there's no cameras and

right when we go to throw the first punch, then it's cut.

Yeah, I'll agree to do that one, yeah.