1
00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,300
When you begin to write the story of
your life, sometimes it's best to forego

2
00:00:17,300 --> 00:00:21,540
grand plan and just put pen to paper.

3
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:30,160
A lot of times, I'll just go back and
think about all the questions I was

4
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:31,340
over those 20 years.

5
00:00:32,340 --> 00:00:33,340
Does it hurt?

6
00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:41,420
Are you some sort of psychopath?

7
00:00:43,860 --> 00:00:47,580
Some sort of masochist?

8
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,400
You seem like such a normal guy.

9
00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:55,120
Why would you do that to yourself?

10
00:00:59,300 --> 00:01:02,320
I used to answer all those questions the
same way.

11
00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:04,560
I'm Nick Foley.

12
00:01:07,690 --> 00:01:09,090
This is what I do.

13
00:01:10,410 --> 00:01:16,870
But June 28, 1998, that was the first
time I came face to face with my own

14
00:01:16,870 --> 00:01:17,870
mortality.

15
00:01:20,090 --> 00:01:25,490
And now I was the one asking the
question, is it worth it?

16
00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:43,220
Our neighborhood was a great place.

17
00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,400
It was small, but we had some close
-knit families.

18
00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,000
My parents have been here for almost 60
years.

19
00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:58,960
Really, it hasn't changed that much. It
still looks like a good place to grow

20
00:01:58,960 --> 00:01:59,960
up.

21
00:02:00,420 --> 00:02:05,640
My mom and dad used to always use the
word sweet to describe my demeanor.

22
00:02:07,060 --> 00:02:10,419
I wasn't like a tough kid or a bad kid.

23
00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:11,920
I was a sweet kid.

24
00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:16,020
To me, this was an idyllic childhood.

25
00:02:16,500 --> 00:02:21,260
I would leave at 9, 9 .30 a .m. We were
swimming, playing frisbee, playing

26
00:02:21,260 --> 00:02:25,380
wiffle ball, basketball, football in the
street, and my mom would ring a bell

27
00:02:25,380 --> 00:02:27,620
for us when it was time to eat dinner.

28
00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:31,660
We just got into so much trouble, but,
you know, good trouble.

29
00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:37,000
When I was 8 years old, we were playing
kill the guy with the ball. That was an

30
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:37,929
actual game.

31
00:02:37,930 --> 00:02:42,750
In diving for someone who had the ball,
their heel kicked me in the bottom of

32
00:02:42,750 --> 00:02:47,890
the lip, and it bled profusely. And I
remember seeing the reactions of people

33
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when they saw my blood and not disliking
it.

34
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My dad worked long hours.

35
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He was the director of health, physical
education, and recreation for the entire

36
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school district.

37
00:03:04,650 --> 00:03:06,890
I was pretty shy in high school.

38
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I was playing football and basketball,
lacrosse, and I was definitely living in

39
00:03:13,420 --> 00:03:19,160
the shadow of my dad, trying to break
out. I was becoming a peculiar young

40
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,540
very imaginative, very creative.

41
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:28,340
It's funny because he wasn't a macho,
tough guy. He was just, he was a gentle

42
00:03:28,340 --> 00:03:33,260
spirit. I was a running back on the
football team, and they said they needed

43
00:03:33,260 --> 00:03:34,260
another heavyweight.

44
00:03:34,780 --> 00:03:38,640
I would wrestle with Mick every day. You
know, we were in there training

45
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,360
together and just kind of beating each
other up, and it was a blast. We had a

46
00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:43,360
lot of fun.

47
00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:44,560
He was quirky.

48
00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,480
Always a weird look, weird haircut.

49
00:03:47,780 --> 00:03:51,400
One of the parades, he was on a prom
float and all that. He was just crazy.

50
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:53,180
You're gross. Everybody thinks you're
disgusting.

51
00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,560
You wear the same clothes every day. You
never comb your hair. You're fat.

52
00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:58,320
You're an animal.

53
00:03:58,520 --> 00:03:59,840
You're the body of a bowling pin.

54
00:04:01,290 --> 00:04:05,630
I guess I've always been self
-deprecating. I was never really

55
00:04:05,630 --> 00:04:10,430
the way I looked, especially physically.
I was always heavyset. And I got teased

56
00:04:10,430 --> 00:04:15,370
a lot about it. So I was beating people
to the punchline before they could make

57
00:04:15,370 --> 00:04:16,709
their own punchline about me.

58
00:04:18,589 --> 00:04:20,690
Was that a tough period for you and your
dad?

59
00:04:21,810 --> 00:04:22,810
Yeah, it was.

60
00:04:24,150 --> 00:04:28,110
We both struggled a little bit to find
ways to...

61
00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:31,100
and it was really wrestling.

62
00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,340
That was like the glue that held that
relationship together through that three

63
00:04:36,340 --> 00:04:40,820
-year period. That was the one thing,
you know, maybe we didn't get along the

64
00:04:40,820 --> 00:04:45,360
rest of the week, but when it came time
Saturday night, you know, hey, Dad, you

65
00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,200
want to watch wrestling with me? And the
answer was always yes.

66
00:04:52,420 --> 00:04:56,080
You know, when we were kids, if you
watched Ivan Putski and, you know, Billy

67
00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,600
Graham and Andre the Giant, all these
wrestlers had something.

68
00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,440
Mickey didn't have any of those
qualities, none of them.

69
00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,760
We would go outside, film little
matches.

70
00:05:15,470 --> 00:05:21,430
And I think I gave you a backbreaker and
someone snapped the twig. And then I

71
00:05:21,430 --> 00:05:22,430
did the convulsions.

72
00:05:22,850 --> 00:05:26,630
I had

73
00:05:26,630 --> 00:05:33,630
it on my mind all the

74
00:05:33,630 --> 00:05:37,410
time. It's really all I wanted to do or
watch was professional wrestling.

75
00:05:41,170 --> 00:05:42,550
You walk out these doors.

76
00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:44,760
And you're in the heart of the Big
Apple.

77
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:46,860
The whole world revolves.

78
00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:51,920
And my thoughts revolve around how I
snuck up in a cage.

79
00:05:53,620 --> 00:05:56,320
Jimmy Superfly snuck at the end of the
Magnificent Morocco.

80
00:05:56,660 --> 00:06:01,400
I had a great feud, and it culminated
with a steel cage match, and I knew,

81
00:06:01,420 --> 00:06:03,620
I absolutely had to be there.

82
00:06:05,340 --> 00:06:09,840
I was going to college in upstate New
York, but I hitchhiked to be there and

83
00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:11,440
paid for a seat right up front.

84
00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,860
And I just vividly remember the way I
felt when Superfly gets up to the top

85
00:06:17,860 --> 00:06:20,020
rope. You could feel that buzz, right?

86
00:06:20,740 --> 00:06:25,160
Which is good, but we all felt like
there was something better.

87
00:06:43,980 --> 00:06:47,420
And even though I'm all by myself, I now
feel like I'm in a community, like

88
00:06:47,420 --> 00:06:49,280
there's a feeling of togetherness.

89
00:06:49,580 --> 00:06:55,480
I remember thinking to myself that one
day I wanted to make people feel the way

90
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:57,300
that I felt right then.

91
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,520
I went back to school, and when I told
my housemates that I wanted to be a

92
00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,880
wrestler, they all called me a weirdo.

93
00:07:05,740 --> 00:07:09,980
I told my parents, too, and they
actually supported the idea, but it

94
00:07:09,980 --> 00:07:12,240
something they would allow me to drop
out of school for.

95
00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,920
So even though I was obsessed with this
wrestling dream, I still tried to have a

96
00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:19,120
normal college life.

97
00:07:19,860 --> 00:07:24,340
There was a young lady I was really fond
of, and you could see it in her smile,

98
00:07:24,340 --> 00:07:28,860
like her face would light up when she
saw me. And I walked this young lady

99
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:34,860
I believe we held hands, and I think
there was a nice parting kiss.

100
00:07:35,100 --> 00:07:40,640
And I said to her, I had such a good
time. Joanne, she looked at me and said,

101
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,200
had a good time too, Frank.

102
00:07:43,020 --> 00:07:45,420
and I just felt my little heart break.

103
00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:51,860
I had no way to deal with the pain that
I felt except to write this story.

104
00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:56,940
And when I got home for summer break, my
friends and I recorded The Legend of

105
00:07:56,940 --> 00:07:57,739
Frank Foley.

106
00:07:57,740 --> 00:07:59,460
I had a good time tonight. Thanks a lot,
Frank.

107
00:08:01,140 --> 00:08:02,140
My name is Mick.

108
00:08:02,380 --> 00:08:03,640
Oh, I'm sorry. Good night, Mick.

109
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:18,340
So I create this fictional character of
Dude Love who is essentially everything

110
00:08:18,340 --> 00:08:19,340
that I was not.

111
00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:21,720
Let me tell you something about me.

112
00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:28,280
I am the molten lava of lust, the object
so many women's desires long ago I

113
00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:29,280
refused to count them all.

114
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:34,419
It was a fairy tale. It was Dude Love,
one of the greatest performers in the

115
00:08:34,419 --> 00:08:35,419
history of wrestling.

116
00:08:35,710 --> 00:08:39,610
I may have been kicked around as Fat
Mick Foley, Fat Ugly Mick Foley, Mick

117
00:08:39,610 --> 00:08:42,530
with no chicks, but let me tell you
something now. I'm telling you people

118
00:08:42,530 --> 00:08:46,350
the audience, out there in TV
Wonderland, Dude Love is another name

119
00:08:46,570 --> 00:08:50,190
And I will get that respect, brother. I
need respect.

120
00:08:50,690 --> 00:08:56,670
And I found that I was more natural.
Like, I was portraying a character, but

121
00:08:56,670 --> 00:08:57,670
wasn't acting.

122
00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,660
I was feeling it. My brother says, hey,
Teddy, we're doing a movie about Mickey

123
00:09:01,660 --> 00:09:03,740
as a wrestler, and we need you for a
scene.

124
00:09:04,100 --> 00:09:07,560
For like 15 minutes, you're going to
wrestle Mickey in the backyard. I'm

125
00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,920
okay. He tells me these different moves
we're going to do, and then it's going

126
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:15,380
to finish by Mickey puts you down on
this mattress, and he's going to jump

127
00:09:15,380 --> 00:09:16,380
the roof.

128
00:09:16,780 --> 00:09:20,520
I just remember thinking, that's got to
be 20 feet high. I'm like, this is not a

129
00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:21,520
good idea.

130
00:09:21,550 --> 00:09:23,970
And this is where the magic took place,
right? Yeah.

131
00:09:24,450 --> 00:09:28,830
I stay

132
00:09:28,830 --> 00:09:34,930
up there an inordinate amount of time
trying to gather the courage.

133
00:09:36,030 --> 00:09:40,970
Instead of leaping, I kind of just went
like.

134
00:09:45,770 --> 00:09:49,650
You know, you're so lucky because when
you watch that video, the matches, they

135
00:09:49,650 --> 00:09:54,310
separate. They separate, yeah. And you,
you know, the roof is here, buddy. Want

136
00:09:54,310 --> 00:09:55,310
one more try?

137
00:09:55,890 --> 00:09:57,350
Absolutely not.

138
00:09:58,730 --> 00:10:05,470
There was a charity wrestling event at
the high school and Mick came to work

139
00:10:05,470 --> 00:10:07,990
security on it. I was really fortunate.

140
00:10:08,230 --> 00:10:11,570
My dad told the promoter that his son
wanted to be a wrestler.

141
00:10:11,990 --> 00:10:13,410
He pulled me aside.

142
00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,540
and asked me if I wanted to join his
ring crew.

143
00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:22,240
And that meant when I went back to
college, I would come down at about 250

144
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:27,300
drive, a couple weekends a month, and if
I got the ring set up before the fans

145
00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:31,220
arrived, he would have a veteran
wrestler, Dominic DiNucci, work with me.

146
00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:41,160
I did not like the pain.

147
00:10:41,660 --> 00:10:47,900
I liked the fact that I seemed to have a
hold over it, and I had an ability to

148
00:10:47,900 --> 00:10:51,220
make my opponents look good, and that
was something that every promoter was

149
00:10:51,220 --> 00:10:52,220
looking for.

150
00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:01,260
I turned pro after a year of training,
and I was just awful.

151
00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:05,300
It looked like a mating ritual of two
bull elk.

152
00:11:08,060 --> 00:11:10,680
I knew there was so much more I had to
learn.

153
00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,680
So on the weekends, I was working the
independents, and I did that all the way

154
00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:15,680
through graduation.

155
00:11:16,060 --> 00:11:23,060
It didn't matter to me that I was
getting $10 for a 900 -mile round trip.

156
00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:27,460
And while other college students are
going on their spring break, I'm in

157
00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:32,080
West Virginia, in front of 26 people
because I could feel myself getting

158
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:33,240
every time I went out there.

159
00:11:34,660 --> 00:11:38,160
This was my life now, and anything was
possible.

160
00:11:50,090 --> 00:11:55,870
I don't make it a point to practice my
hygiene while leaning on somebody else's

161
00:11:55,870 --> 00:12:02,630
truck, but it's not the first time.
Yeah, I mean, I've

162
00:12:02,630 --> 00:12:05,530
changed clothes many times in cars.

163
00:12:06,270 --> 00:12:12,330
There was a place called the Admiral
Perry Motor Lodge that was $15 a night

164
00:12:12,330 --> 00:12:15,890
I broke in. I would stay there every
Saturday night, but every Friday night

165
00:12:15,890 --> 00:12:16,890
car night.

166
00:12:17,150 --> 00:12:21,370
And I would pull over no matter how cold
it was. I had two sleeping bags in the

167
00:12:21,370 --> 00:12:22,430
backseat of my car.

168
00:12:23,150 --> 00:12:25,230
It felt pretty good to me.

169
00:12:27,850 --> 00:12:29,250
I wanted to be dude love.

170
00:12:29,790 --> 00:12:33,550
But I was realistic enough to know that
I wasn't there yet.

171
00:12:33,770 --> 00:12:39,470
So I thought, let me just find the most
generic, vanilla, homogenized name I

172
00:12:39,470 --> 00:12:40,219
could find.

173
00:12:40,220 --> 00:12:46,200
From Truth or Consequences, New Mexico,
260 -pound Cactus Jack.

174
00:12:47,940 --> 00:12:53,060
I remember being at my buddy Brian
Hildebrandt at his house in Pittsburgh,

175
00:12:53,060 --> 00:12:56,880
he's got this insider wrestling
newsletter I'd only heard rumor of.

176
00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:00,180
And he goes, you're in it. I said, I'm
in it.

177
00:13:02,740 --> 00:13:06,080
On every wrestling show, there's going
to be a dozen, two dozen wrestlers.

178
00:13:07,359 --> 00:13:10,580
ones who do something spectacular that
make when you go home you remember them,

179
00:13:10,620 --> 00:13:13,500
those are the ones who stand out, and
the rest of them kind of just blend in.

180
00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:18,080
And very quickly, he didn't blend in. He
was a guy who you started hearing

181
00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,580
things about, like, hey, this guy's
having good matches.

182
00:13:21,180 --> 00:13:22,900
I remember it to this day.

183
00:13:23,140 --> 00:13:28,160
It's the Cactus Jacks, the best no -name
independent wrestler on the scene.

184
00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:32,400
Like, that was some really, really high
praise coming from the Wrestling

185
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:34,760
Observer. The people in charge read it.

186
00:13:35,450 --> 00:13:38,470
And I had three offers within a week.

187
00:13:40,030 --> 00:13:42,930
That's how I became part of the Memphis
wrestling territory.

188
00:13:43,470 --> 00:13:44,429
Uh -oh.

189
00:13:44,430 --> 00:13:48,410
What is this, a new recruit for this
guy? I know who he's talking about.

190
00:13:48,670 --> 00:13:53,210
Cactus Jack, welcome to the stable,
Benny. This man right here is in the

191
00:13:53,290 --> 00:13:57,730
not because his name's Cactus Jack, but
because he's tough, baby, and because he

192
00:13:57,730 --> 00:13:58,730
wins matches.

193
00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:06,040
We got gorgeous Gary Young and Cactus
Jack. Young out of Little Rock,

194
00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,120
and Cactus Jack out of Truth or
Consequences, New Mexico.

195
00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:15,880
Mick, from the very beginning, had a
unique, not just aura about him, but he

196
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:16,880
a unique style.

197
00:14:17,340 --> 00:14:20,000
And now, whips him, but it's reversed.

198
00:14:20,780 --> 00:14:24,140
Jack was right behind him.

199
00:14:24,340 --> 00:14:28,660
You know, nobody was making any money,
so there wasn't necessarily a reason to

200
00:14:28,660 --> 00:14:29,660
really go all out.

201
00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,440
I wanted to be the guy who delivered
moves that nobody else could do.

202
00:14:34,180 --> 00:14:36,940
Even if it was as simple as saying, all
right, back body drop.

203
00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:40,720
Yeah,

204
00:14:41,180 --> 00:14:43,320
that's an impressive looking move in the
ring.

205
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:45,100
Let's do it outside the ring.

206
00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,400
We're genuinely concerned for Mick,
like, Mick, don't take this crazy bump

207
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:08,060
tonight. Mick would have a fly grin,
like, ah, thanks, but no thanks.

208
00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:13,420
He was a good -hearted guy that would
just give and give and give to the

209
00:15:13,420 --> 00:15:17,620
business. A lot of times guys that are
like that get run over.

210
00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:19,720
It was a great learning experience.

211
00:15:20,500 --> 00:15:24,860
I didn't feel like I fit in, but I
learned something every day. And it was

212
00:15:24,860 --> 00:15:27,100
perfect stepping stone for a bigger
opportunity.

213
00:15:29,290 --> 00:15:34,550
Listen to the fans cheer the superstars
of pro wrestling. The greatest name in

214
00:15:34,550 --> 00:15:38,570
professional wrestling today, the Von
Eriks, have been for years. World class,

215
00:15:38,570 --> 00:15:41,910
always looking for villains for the Von
Eriks boys.

216
00:15:45,830 --> 00:15:51,070
He didn't look like a Von Eriks.

217
00:15:51,390 --> 00:15:52,390
No.

218
00:15:52,710 --> 00:15:56,330
Robert Fuller says, you know, you remind
me of Jacko. I said, who's that? He

219
00:15:56,330 --> 00:15:58,030
goes, you remind me of that Manson
fella.

220
00:15:59,370 --> 00:16:04,430
I was like, Rob, I do not want to be
associated with Charles Manson.

221
00:16:05,170 --> 00:16:09,070
He says, Jacko, not too many good paying
jobs in this business.

222
00:16:10,070 --> 00:16:13,150
Man like you could ride a good gimmick a
long way.

223
00:16:13,970 --> 00:16:17,870
I decided I'm going to be this guy. I'm
going to do the best job at being this

224
00:16:17,870 --> 00:16:18,990
guy that I can be.

225
00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:37,520
About time, so here we go.

226
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,140
He is defeating young Doug Masters to
death.

227
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:51,000
Your winner, ladies and gentlemen, Texas
Jack Manson.

228
00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,600
I remember seeing Texas Jack Manson.

229
00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,720
I was going to college at North Texas
State University, and I would go down to

230
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:02,160
the sportatorium, and I was thinking,
man.

231
00:17:05,290 --> 00:17:07,089
This guy's out of his mind.

232
00:17:10,589 --> 00:17:11,869
He was fun to watch.

233
00:17:13,890 --> 00:17:19,829
I mean, here was a guy that would take
every kind of crazy bump imaginable. I

234
00:17:19,829 --> 00:17:24,089
thought I was a big bump guy at the
time, and then when I saw Cactus Jack, I

235
00:17:24,089 --> 00:17:28,590
went, wow, this guy's got to be nuts or
something, you know. Back in the day, he

236
00:17:28,590 --> 00:17:32,750
used to run down that apron and do that
elbow off onto the guy on the floor.

237
00:17:46,060 --> 00:17:49,540
And he would just splatter himself down
there, and you would hear this horrific

238
00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:50,540
thud.

239
00:17:53,660 --> 00:17:56,920
I would go to the cameraman. I would
say, you know, when you shoot the elbow

240
00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:02,540
drop over my shoulder, we're kind of
losing the impressive perception of

241
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:06,740
And the guy, what do you mean? I said,
can we come in with a low camera shot?

242
00:18:06,980 --> 00:18:11,320
And within a week or two, you know, it
looks like I'm flying into people's

243
00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:12,320
living rooms.

244
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,820
And I thought, well, I know how much it
hurts to land in the ring.

245
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:27,700
How is he doing that?

246
00:18:27,940 --> 00:18:33,800
I did think to myself, what if I created
a style that had no loopholes, where no

247
00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:38,220
one looking at a VHS tape, no matter how
many times they fast -forwarded slow

248
00:18:38,220 --> 00:18:40,540
motion, they could find a secret.

249
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:42,520
The secret is I was really getting hurt.

250
00:18:43,020 --> 00:18:47,660
Like, ta -da, there's my magician's
secret. Like, yeah, if it looked like it

251
00:18:47,660 --> 00:18:48,680
hurt, it's because it did.

252
00:18:50,220 --> 00:18:54,560
Gary Young pulls me aside and he says,
they're putting us with General Skandor

253
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,780
Akbar. He was Devastation Incorporated.
That was his group.

254
00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:00,360
Oh, man.

255
00:19:00,580 --> 00:19:03,520
It was like having a rocket attached to
our backs.

256
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:05,680
Hey, what's going on out here?

257
00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,040
Someone called out from underneath the
ring.

258
00:19:09,620 --> 00:19:11,320
It's practice Jack Benson.

259
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,400
I walked out to find that my tires had
been slashed on my Plymouth Arrow.

260
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,500
I came back inside and I said, I don't
know how I'm going to get home.

261
00:19:25,780 --> 00:19:29,500
Eric Embry goes, what did you say? I
said, I don't know how I'm going to get

262
00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:32,380
home. He said, no, no, not that, not
that. I don't really care about that.

263
00:19:33,020 --> 00:19:37,220
What else did you say? I said, all my
tires have been slashed. He said, all of

264
00:19:37,220 --> 00:19:38,220
them? And I said.

265
00:19:38,670 --> 00:19:43,530
Yes. He looked at me and said, you've
got good heat, brother. Like only in

266
00:19:43,530 --> 00:19:48,430
line of business could getting your
tires slashed in the parking lot be seen

267
00:19:48,430 --> 00:19:53,150
a compliment. We're always looking for
the next star and we're always looking

268
00:19:53,150 --> 00:19:56,670
beat the other promotions to grabbing
the next stars.

269
00:19:57,130 --> 00:20:01,670
So when Nick was generating that type of
buzz in Texas, everybody in the

270
00:20:01,670 --> 00:20:02,670
industry noticed.

271
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:13,360
Did you lose your teeth?

272
00:20:14,140 --> 00:20:20,540
Yeah, I've lost two sets of teeth. I
lost these top ones in a car accident.

273
00:20:21,380 --> 00:20:25,300
And I was really concerned because I
just started working for WCW, and I was

274
00:20:25,300 --> 00:20:28,380
worried that having no teeth was not
going to be a good look.

275
00:20:29,380 --> 00:20:33,700
As soon as I got back to work in WCW,
Jim Ross took a look at it. He goes, I

276
00:20:33,700 --> 00:20:34,700
love the look.

277
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:37,020
He was a big teddy bear.

278
00:20:37,820 --> 00:20:40,140
Just this great big kid that had a great
attitude.

279
00:20:40,860 --> 00:20:45,140
was happy to come to work, make no
money, give him a hot dog, he's cool.

280
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,940
WCW was a crucial period for me. It was
the number two wrestling company in the

281
00:20:50,940 --> 00:20:53,880
world, and I was essentially there on a
trial basis.

282
00:20:54,500 --> 00:20:58,580
We found out very quickly that Mick was
not a typical pro wrestler who shows up

283
00:20:58,580 --> 00:21:00,420
for work waiting for you to tell him
what to do.

284
00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:02,400
He had ideas.

285
00:21:02,780 --> 00:21:07,640
I started building an audience by losing
and attacking.

286
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:09,840
Partner after partner.

287
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:13,700
Kevin

288
00:21:13,700 --> 00:21:21,900
Sullivan's

289
00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:24,800
my tag team partner. He looks for the
tag and I'm reading a book.

290
00:21:27,180 --> 00:21:29,560
There it is.

291
00:21:35,660 --> 00:21:40,480
I was throwing so many things at the
wall, and not all of it stuck, but a lot

292
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:41,480
it did.

293
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:47,340
I would have gladly stayed in WCW, but
the top level and creative didn't care

294
00:21:47,340 --> 00:21:48,340
for my style.

295
00:21:49,140 --> 00:21:54,020
So that meant moving back to Long
Island, living with my parents, and

296
00:21:54,020 --> 00:21:55,020
independent circuit.

297
00:21:55,640 --> 00:22:00,140
And the first show that I do is for
Tommy D, my first promoter.

298
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:06,580
So he has me handing out flyers at the
raceway in Riverhead, Long Island.

299
00:22:11,940 --> 00:22:16,540
While I'm handing out flyers, I see the
most beautiful woman in my life.

300
00:22:16,820 --> 00:22:19,480
Like, I can't take my eyes off her.

301
00:22:22,830 --> 00:22:28,190
I had never been to car racing. I was
dreading it. I mean, it was not my cup

302
00:22:28,190 --> 00:22:34,970
tea. And then I saw this very unusual
creature, big, strong, hairy guy

303
00:22:34,970 --> 00:22:40,910
signing some autographs. And I said,
hello, I'm Cactus Jack. She said, who's

304
00:22:40,910 --> 00:22:41,910
Captain Jack?

305
00:22:42,090 --> 00:22:44,570
She was not a fan.

306
00:22:44,830 --> 00:22:48,250
The first thing that I saw were his
eyes.

307
00:22:48,810 --> 00:22:52,090
Then he had all this moppy hair, which
was adorable.

308
00:22:52,550 --> 00:22:54,370
I could see he was very innocent.

309
00:22:57,210 --> 00:22:59,590
My friends saw us together.

310
00:23:00,510 --> 00:23:04,590
They said, either he's a drug dealer or
he's rich.

311
00:23:06,350 --> 00:23:09,370
That was the woman I would go on to
marry.

312
00:23:10,830 --> 00:23:15,710
When I started seeing his videos, some
of the actions and behavior, I really

313
00:23:15,710 --> 00:23:18,750
didn't like being slapped in the face.

314
00:23:19,250 --> 00:23:24,430
She just thought I was capable of doing
more, that I could be that guy at the

315
00:23:24,430 --> 00:23:25,430
top of the card.

316
00:23:25,670 --> 00:23:29,670
And from that point on, every time I did
an independent show, I was going to

317
00:23:29,670 --> 00:23:30,670
steal the show.

318
00:23:30,770 --> 00:23:34,810
Battling in the gymnasium, Cactus throws
Eddie onto the bleachers.

319
00:23:35,090 --> 00:23:38,670
I would tear apart these high school
gyms and leave it looking like a tornado

320
00:23:38,670 --> 00:23:39,670
had gone by.

321
00:23:41,950 --> 00:23:47,250
Word started getting around to the point
now where WCW is looking for credible

322
00:23:47,250 --> 00:23:52,790
heels to work with their top guy, Sting,
and I get the phone call.

323
00:23:53,450 --> 00:23:57,090
People say, Sting, have you ever seen
anybody who acts like they kind of like

324
00:23:57,090 --> 00:23:58,810
Payne? And I say, guess what?

325
00:23:59,030 --> 00:24:00,030
Yes!

326
00:24:00,950 --> 00:24:05,890
It came back as Cactus Jack, but it was
a much different character, and it was

327
00:24:05,890 --> 00:24:08,230
mostly a question of confidence.

328
00:24:09,230 --> 00:24:10,430
Hello, Mommy!

329
00:24:11,290 --> 00:24:16,030
World Championship Wrestling has just
given birth to a monster!

330
00:24:17,010 --> 00:24:20,270
That's got to be the most bizarre
individual I've ever been around in

331
00:24:20,270 --> 00:24:21,249
Championship Wrestling.

332
00:24:21,250 --> 00:24:22,490
He's a sociopath. He's a psychopath.

333
00:24:23,890 --> 00:24:26,430
Now you're tapping into Mick as an
artist.

334
00:24:27,070 --> 00:24:32,630
And now Mick had an opportunity to show
everyone just how ahead of the game he

335
00:24:32,630 --> 00:24:33,630
truly was.

336
00:24:36,590 --> 00:24:41,050
One of you little stingers, you watch
your step, because I'll go up in those

337
00:24:41,050 --> 00:24:43,850
stands and I'll beat your parents up
right in front of you.

338
00:24:45,990 --> 00:24:48,190
It was a shot in the arm to him.

339
00:24:49,730 --> 00:24:51,650
It was a career maker for me.

340
00:24:54,630 --> 00:25:00,270
I'd given people so much as a bad guy.
It was almost like they could all

341
00:25:00,270 --> 00:25:05,170
simultaneously understand, this guy's
doing a lot to entertain us. And there

342
00:25:05,170 --> 00:25:06,170
a connection there.

343
00:25:12,690 --> 00:25:14,910
Mick threw himself around to crazy
bumps.

344
00:25:15,190 --> 00:25:16,710
Would do anything to get a match over.

345
00:25:18,850 --> 00:25:21,090
Even to this day, I don't like stuff
like that.

346
00:25:22,510 --> 00:25:25,390
I said, you know, you're not going to be
able to walk when you're 30 years old.

347
00:25:25,510 --> 00:25:28,450
You know what I mean? Don't do any of
that. You don't need to. It's not

348
00:25:28,450 --> 00:25:29,450
wrestling.

349
00:25:34,580 --> 00:25:35,580
Is it hard?

350
00:25:35,660 --> 00:25:39,660
Do I respect it? Yeah. But that doesn't
make you, you know.

351
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:45,320
How many tables, everybody's got Bruno
San Martino on this. How many tables did

352
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:46,320
he ever go through? None.

353
00:25:47,220 --> 00:25:48,960
Did he ever fall off a ladder? None.

354
00:25:49,980 --> 00:25:51,640
But he's so sensitive.

355
00:25:51,860 --> 00:25:55,140
I went to him one time and I said, you
don't need to do that every night.

356
00:25:55,940 --> 00:26:00,640
Sure, I was sensitive to that type of
criticism because I felt like I knew

357
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:01,780
I was capable of doing.

358
00:26:02,540 --> 00:26:04,680
And I didn't feel like I'd even
scratched the surface.

359
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:10,660
I wanted to prove people wrong. I wanted
to prove that I could succeed, that I

360
00:26:10,660 --> 00:26:12,800
could be something special.

361
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:14,440
There's a cycle of life in wrestling.

362
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:19,640
The younger guys throw themselves around
and do crazy things. And then the older

363
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,800
guys who are 35 and over who've been
through that and feel it, they kind of

364
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,920
warn the younger guys, you really, you
know, don't do this.

365
00:26:27,140 --> 00:26:28,300
And the young guys never listen.

366
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:31,680
When I wrote my book, I said it.

367
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,560
You're a 300 -pound stuntman.

368
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:37,600
I wanted him to take it personally.

369
00:26:38,540 --> 00:26:40,300
You know, his wife is beautiful.

370
00:26:40,940 --> 00:26:42,280
Kids are young and beautiful.

371
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,200
You know, we get hurt enough.

372
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,360
I felt like in Germany, it was not a
sold -out building.

373
00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,800
And I had seen him take this bump that
he learned from Dory Funk Jr.

374
00:27:02,370 --> 00:27:06,510
Dory would get his foot caught in the
ropes.

375
00:27:06,710 --> 00:27:08,270
It was a really good -looking bump.

376
00:27:08,490 --> 00:27:10,330
And Mick now would get his head cut.

377
00:27:10,570 --> 00:27:12,470
You know, as crazy as Mick was, right?

378
00:27:13,810 --> 00:27:17,530
And I told him, I said, don't do that.
We're in Germany. Nobody gives a shit.

379
00:27:20,110 --> 00:27:24,630
You know, we're trying to create the
illusion of hanging by my neck. And the

380
00:27:24,630 --> 00:27:27,470
we create that illusion is, I'm actually
going to hang by my neck.

381
00:27:31,500 --> 00:27:35,720
But on this night, I couldn't get the
ropes apart. They were too tight.

382
00:27:36,420 --> 00:27:40,320
And I felt like I was a fox in a trap.

383
00:27:40,540 --> 00:27:45,820
You know, like, I've got to get out of
this thing. And when I did, my right ear

384
00:27:45,820 --> 00:27:47,320
did not come with me.

385
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,040
Where were you, backstage?

386
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,620
I was watching it, yeah, and I was
looking through the curtain.

387
00:27:58,700 --> 00:27:59,920
What was going through your head?

388
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:06,000
Stupid mother... You got nothing to
prove.

389
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:23,680
When I'm on my way to the hospital,
instead of being down about it, I'm

390
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,580
to myself, imagine the promos I can cut.

391
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:41,360
Those were the words I said April 16th,
1994,

392
00:28:41,620 --> 00:28:48,340
as the ambulance pulled into the
hospital in Munich, Germany. It means,

393
00:28:48,340 --> 00:28:51,420
forget to bring my ear and the plastic
bag!

394
00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:53,880
Mick's like, okay.

395
00:28:54,510 --> 00:28:57,750
It's horrible I lost my ear, but, you
know, me and Vader, we could have this

396
00:28:57,750 --> 00:29:01,010
rivalry that goes for years and years
and years based on this.

397
00:29:01,510 --> 00:29:04,190
And, you know, Eric Bischoff didn't see
that.

398
00:29:04,390 --> 00:29:08,630
Stay with us. We'll be back. I'm Eric
Bischoff for WCW This Week.

399
00:29:09,070 --> 00:29:15,610
His style was a real issue in WCW
because Mick really wanted to do things

400
00:29:15,610 --> 00:29:17,410
were just too dangerous.

401
00:29:19,340 --> 00:29:23,220
You know, flying off the balcony out
onto a table next to the ring.

402
00:29:23,620 --> 00:29:27,100
Eh, it's not worth it. He was a
liability.

403
00:29:28,380 --> 00:29:34,000
I'd worked too hard to leave my future
in someone else's hands. And so without

404
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,340
consulting my wife and with two small
children and a mortgage, I left a six

405
00:29:39,340 --> 00:29:43,040
-figure job to find a place where my
talents would be a little bit more

406
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:44,040
appreciated.

407
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:55,080
When I left WCW, I knew there was wild
organizations in Japan.

408
00:29:55,380 --> 00:29:58,080
Some people called them garbage
wrestling, but I didn't think that was

409
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,800
appropriate. But blood and guts, yeah,
that was an appropriate moniker.

410
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,680
Oh, man, there were some small crowds.

411
00:30:10,060 --> 00:30:14,100
While those ropes are being taken down,
barbed wire is being put up in its

412
00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:17,940
place. And for anybody wondering, like,
real barbed wire? Like, this was Japan.

413
00:30:18,830 --> 00:30:20,110
They're sticklers for details.

414
00:30:20,850 --> 00:30:24,670
Cactus Jack, I think I saw, I guess it
was Japan, like a death match.

415
00:30:24,910 --> 00:30:28,970
The IWA King of the Death match is the
one tape I had to have. I wanted to see

416
00:30:28,970 --> 00:30:31,810
this tournament, and I sought it out,
and I got it, and I watched it.

417
00:30:32,190 --> 00:30:33,190
It was pretty crazy.

418
00:30:35,310 --> 00:30:40,990
I remember seeing tapes of those
matches, too, and I just couldn't

419
00:30:40,990 --> 00:30:41,990
I was seeing.

420
00:30:42,310 --> 00:30:44,530
They were different.

421
00:30:45,130 --> 00:30:46,610
Did Colette worry?

422
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,900
Did she tell you, just please don't go
out there and get killed in the ring?

423
00:30:52,900 --> 00:30:55,880
You do toughen up to that.

424
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:00,040
But I was always comfortable in his
judgment.

425
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:08,260
It was just like, this guy is a
psychopath. You know, what is the human

426
00:31:08,260 --> 00:31:09,260
capable of?

427
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,980
I didn't really care for all this crazy
crap.

428
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,720
Look, there's an audience for slasher
movies.

429
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,540
There's an audience for horror movies.

430
00:31:21,900 --> 00:31:24,360
A lot of people really love that genre.

431
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,560
It's the performance I'm proudest of
because it's where I suffered the most.

432
00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:34,760
I mean, it was almost spiritual.

433
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:37,520
And the final is with Terry Funk.

434
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:41,780
The ring is laced with real barbed wire,
and then among there, they've got C4

435
00:31:41,780 --> 00:31:42,780
explosives.

436
00:31:47,310 --> 00:31:51,790
When I landed on those explosives, ah,
it felt like a shotgun. I felt like I'd

437
00:31:51,790 --> 00:31:55,070
been shot. Like, we were both in the
hospital after that match.

438
00:31:59,090 --> 00:32:03,810
I kind of convinced myself that I did it
because I had a family and because I

439
00:32:03,810 --> 00:32:04,810
had a mortgage.

440
00:32:05,710 --> 00:32:11,190
But I took a look in my eye and I said,
you can't fake that type of joy.

441
00:32:11,450 --> 00:32:16,810
Like, there was part of me that did not
mind being in that environment because I

442
00:32:16,810 --> 00:32:17,850
knew I was good in it.

443
00:32:19,650 --> 00:32:24,530
I was bleeding in so many places that I
don't even remember that I've been

444
00:32:24,530 --> 00:32:29,210
burned. It doesn't even occur to me
until I'm on the plane the next day.

445
00:32:29,450 --> 00:32:33,570
He walks into the house, sits down. I
said, Mick.

446
00:32:34,110 --> 00:32:35,790
I think there's a fire.

447
00:32:36,490 --> 00:32:37,490
Something's burning.

448
00:32:37,790 --> 00:32:40,410
I took off my jacket. I said, it's me.

449
00:32:41,110 --> 00:32:43,770
And I wrestled two days later.

450
00:32:45,790 --> 00:32:46,430
ECW

451
00:32:46,430 --> 00:32:53,410
was

452
00:32:53,410 --> 00:32:58,490
my vision to completely disrupt the
industry.

453
00:32:58,810 --> 00:33:02,470
ECW was like a different world from
nationally televised wrestling.

454
00:33:02,890 --> 00:33:06,930
It's a cult thing. If you were a certain
age and you were a guy, mad at life,

455
00:33:07,070 --> 00:33:11,510
you're drunk on Saturday night, and you
watch TV at 2 in the morning and ECW was

456
00:33:11,510 --> 00:33:13,130
on, it was the greatest thing in the
world.

457
00:33:15,350 --> 00:33:21,170
They developed a very loyal and niche
following who could not get enough blood

458
00:33:21,170 --> 00:33:21,889
and guts.

459
00:33:21,890 --> 00:33:23,170
He fit luckily to go there.

460
00:33:23,570 --> 00:33:24,750
He liked that stuff.

461
00:33:25,210 --> 00:33:30,190
And the ECW audience loved him for it.

462
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,760
One night, I asked the fans in
Philadelphia for a chair.

463
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:48,840
That

464
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:55,480
audience,

465
00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:01,060
they'd run over you, spit on you, and
just jump back in the car.

466
00:34:01,580 --> 00:34:06,120
Paul Heyman grabs me and he goes, Will
you turn heel? Yeah, sure I will.

467
00:34:06,780 --> 00:34:08,679
All I knew is I needed a reason.

468
00:34:09,020 --> 00:34:15,800
Mick Foley, who sacrifices more of his
body than

469
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,380
any other performer at that level.

470
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:22,440
What if we went the other way?

471
00:34:23,020 --> 00:34:27,940
I just thought back to a fan who had a
sign that said Kane Dewey.

472
00:34:28,219 --> 00:34:29,420
Kane is a verb.

473
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:31,739
To hit someone with a cane.

474
00:34:32,270 --> 00:34:36,409
That's someone being my son Dewey
because I had been talking about Dewey

475
00:34:36,409 --> 00:34:37,409
of my promos.

476
00:34:37,670 --> 00:34:41,730
One of the super fans makes a sign with
my permission.

477
00:34:41,949 --> 00:34:44,090
He shows it to me. Ah, I don't care.

478
00:34:44,350 --> 00:34:51,350
It wasn't until I told my wife about the
sign and saw her visceral reaction to

479
00:34:51,350 --> 00:34:57,050
it. Like she literally got sick to her
stomach. And so I used real life anger

480
00:34:57,050 --> 00:35:00,450
fuel the best promo of my life. Okay, I
guess you're ready.

481
00:35:00,690 --> 00:35:01,690
Yeah.

482
00:35:03,150 --> 00:35:08,410
I'm going to take you back to a very
deciding point in my life. When I looked

483
00:35:08,410 --> 00:35:14,170
out into that audience, my adoring
crowd, and I saw two simple words that

484
00:35:14,170 --> 00:35:15,210
changed my life.

485
00:35:17,670 --> 00:35:20,550
Cain Dewey.

486
00:35:21,650 --> 00:35:28,510
Somebody had taken the time and the
effort and the thought to

487
00:35:28,510 --> 00:35:31,410
make a sign that said Cain.

488
00:35:32,170 --> 00:35:33,170
Dewey.

489
00:35:34,690 --> 00:35:38,750
Dewey Foley is a three -year -old boy.

490
00:35:39,070 --> 00:35:40,930
You sick son of a bitch!

491
00:35:41,470 --> 00:35:47,490
You ripped out my heart! You took
everything I believed in and you flushed

492
00:35:47,490 --> 00:35:48,750
down the damn toilet!

493
00:35:49,290 --> 00:35:51,730
I gotta listen to my little boy!

494
00:35:52,670 --> 00:35:54,930
Every day of my life, see, Daddy?

495
00:35:55,720 --> 00:36:00,980
I miss Atlanta, and I say it's too bad,
son, because your dad traded in the

496
00:36:00,980 --> 00:36:04,540
Victorian house for a sweat box in Long
Island.

497
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:11,180
Your dad traded in a $100 ,000

498
00:36:11,180 --> 00:36:16,960
contract, guaranteed money, insurance,

499
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,120
respect.

500
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:27,440
to work for a scumbag who operates out
of a little pissant pawn shop in

501
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:28,440
Philadelphia.

502
00:36:30,820 --> 00:36:31,820
Great promo.

503
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:32,840
You okay?

504
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:39,880
I got into the psyche of that

505
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:41,020
ECW audience.

506
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:46,960
They knew this guy could come in and
deliver the violence and the gore that

507
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,220
wanted, but he wouldn't give it to them.

508
00:36:50,490 --> 00:36:53,650
Tonight, we're not going to break any
tables.

509
00:36:55,190 --> 00:36:56,910
We're not going to use any chairs.

510
00:36:57,250 --> 00:37:01,450
And we're going to have one hell of an
Olympic rules wrestling match.

511
00:37:02,630 --> 00:37:06,230
The rules of the NCAA are as follows.

512
00:37:07,510 --> 00:37:12,570
There will be two points awarded for
each takedown. It was a joke, right?

513
00:37:12,570 --> 00:37:15,330
will be one point awarded for each
escape.

514
00:37:15,990 --> 00:37:19,270
I started pandering to them, which they
hate even more.

515
00:37:19,770 --> 00:37:20,770
I'm hardcore.

516
00:37:21,050 --> 00:37:22,110
I'm hardcore.

517
00:37:22,370 --> 00:37:25,810
Look, I can't even wear glasses because
my ear's missing.

518
00:37:26,130 --> 00:37:30,410
I'm hardcore. That sounds good. Let me
just put this pen behind my ear.

519
00:37:30,670 --> 00:37:34,190
Oops. That's when I shaved. How dare
you?

520
00:37:37,070 --> 00:37:42,130
Happy hardcore holidays, everybody. This
is Cactus Jack and the rest of the

521
00:37:42,130 --> 00:37:45,590
bullies here to wish you a happy holiday
hardcore season.

522
00:37:46,170 --> 00:37:47,590
Mommy. Mommy.

523
00:37:48,130 --> 00:37:49,130
Mommy.

524
00:37:50,610 --> 00:37:54,830
He did promos on merry -go -rounds with
his daughter.

525
00:37:55,310 --> 00:37:56,610
This is extreme.

526
00:37:58,730 --> 00:38:02,210
I did get a beautiful wife by being
hardcore, isn't that right?

527
00:38:02,870 --> 00:38:03,990
What am I?

528
00:38:04,530 --> 00:38:05,530
Hardcore.

529
00:38:05,910 --> 00:38:11,990
His promo skills came out. His
storytelling ability came out. And

530
00:38:11,990 --> 00:38:17,550
made us go, hmm, now you can make money
with that.

531
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,820
It was always clear to me that WWE would
never want me.

532
00:38:26,780 --> 00:38:31,000
I would call one time every year to see
if there was any interest, and I would

533
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:32,820
be dismissed within 30 seconds.

534
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:35,260
Vince McMahon was not a fan.

535
00:38:36,100 --> 00:38:40,780
Vince, what did you think of the blood
and guts of Captain Jack's character

536
00:38:40,780 --> 00:38:42,380
did all those crazy things in Japan?

537
00:38:43,460 --> 00:38:47,180
I thought it was kind of degrading to
our product.

538
00:38:48,420 --> 00:38:50,620
He didn't have any talent.

539
00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:52,940
And just a déclassé.

540
00:38:53,940 --> 00:38:58,400
I'd heard a rumor that the adjective he
used to describe me was sleazy.

541
00:39:00,020 --> 00:39:01,680
Yeah, Vince was not high on the look.

542
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,760
But I told Vince, I said, you've never
been in the locker room with him.

543
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:06,560
You don't know what you're missing.

544
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:12,800
Jim Ross and myself convinced Vince to
just meet him.

545
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,040
If you don't like him, we don't have to
move forward.

546
00:39:16,860 --> 00:39:19,760
When I finally got him to relent about
hiring Mick.

547
00:39:20,330 --> 00:39:23,850
He said to me, I want you to know what
it feels like to get your heart broken

548
00:39:23,850 --> 00:39:25,910
a talent that you truly believe in.

549
00:39:26,470 --> 00:39:29,830
Because I'm just telling you, this ain't
going to work.

550
00:39:33,010 --> 00:39:35,890
I'm at the WWE offices to meet with Mr.
McMahon.

551
00:39:36,150 --> 00:39:39,950
And they've got this sketch, an artist's
rendering of a guy who looks to be

552
00:39:39,950 --> 00:39:41,570
wearing an iron mask.

553
00:39:42,170 --> 00:39:46,870
And I said, but that's taking away,
like, my facial expressions, which are a

554
00:39:46,870 --> 00:39:48,950
strong point. He's like, we're not going
to hide them.

555
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,000
We're going to accentuate them.

556
00:39:51,300 --> 00:39:52,700
He said, what do you think, pal?

557
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,140
And I think it's the worst thing I've
ever heard.

558
00:39:55,460 --> 00:39:57,860
I talk it over with my wife for hours.

559
00:39:58,540 --> 00:40:03,940
We both knew my body had only so many
years left. And we agreed, get in, make

560
00:40:03,940 --> 00:40:08,240
some money, save some money, and try to
retire by the time I'm 35.

561
00:40:24,910 --> 00:40:25,910
That's an original.

562
00:40:27,790 --> 00:40:28,830
Oh, yeah.

563
00:40:30,090 --> 00:40:32,410
This mess. The best thing that ever
happened to me.

564
00:40:33,910 --> 00:40:35,050
Merry Christmas, Noel.

565
00:40:35,390 --> 00:40:36,390
Merry Christmas.

566
00:40:37,090 --> 00:40:39,050
Merry Christmas, Dewey. Merry Christmas.

567
00:40:39,450 --> 00:40:41,290
Mickey, look what Dewey has for you.

568
00:40:41,870 --> 00:40:42,870
Oh.

569
00:40:43,310 --> 00:40:45,390
I do have it on upside down, but.

570
00:40:45,650 --> 00:40:46,488
I do?

571
00:40:46,490 --> 00:40:48,170
Yeah. I'll get you two.

572
00:40:48,650 --> 00:40:49,650
Ah!

573
00:40:50,270 --> 00:40:52,810
Mitt had this mankind idea.

574
00:40:54,810 --> 00:40:56,790
The representation of mankind.

575
00:40:57,770 --> 00:41:03,870
And you get these philosophical thoughts
of this crazy man in a cell who's only

576
00:41:03,870 --> 00:41:05,170
friend, a pet rat.

577
00:41:05,750 --> 00:41:11,590
And it was kind of a horror story
presentation in the beginning,

578
00:41:11,690 --> 00:41:18,630
but in a fun way. Not as violent as I
think what Mick was used

579
00:41:18,630 --> 00:41:21,070
to. You understand me, don't you,
George?

580
00:41:22,540 --> 00:41:26,340
You understand that mankind is in agony.

581
00:41:29,220 --> 00:41:32,480
Leave the light on.

582
00:41:34,020 --> 00:41:37,780
I never heard of Cactus Jack when I was
a kid growing up. I mean, I loved

583
00:41:37,780 --> 00:41:44,300
mankind. It was sort of like a lost soul
in a sense. As an 11 -year -old, I was

584
00:41:44,300 --> 00:41:45,800
like, man, this guy's freaking crazy.

585
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:48,480
You know, to see this guy in this crazy
mess.

586
00:41:48,890 --> 00:41:50,850
actually pulling his own hair out.

587
00:41:51,050 --> 00:41:55,430
I mean, didn't he really pull his hair
out, right? To me, it always reminded me

588
00:41:55,430 --> 00:41:58,010
of Hannibal Lecter. Do you like some
Freddy Krueger vibes?

589
00:41:58,550 --> 00:41:59,630
I'm like, man, this is scary.

590
00:42:00,730 --> 00:42:05,290
That is a... Oh, wait a minute, wait a
minute, look at that!

591
00:42:06,830 --> 00:42:13,470
He's got his fingers jammed down his...
Down his throat! He's got his esophagus!

592
00:42:13,670 --> 00:42:14,810
Man time!

593
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:25,260
People visiting backstage, like, you
know, poor Make -A -Wish children and

594
00:42:25,260 --> 00:42:27,960
families. I'd go to say hello, and these
children would run.

595
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:38,580
I was always high on Nick, and I always
thought, okay, that's a perfect type

596
00:42:38,580 --> 00:42:43,380
character for The Undertaker, someone
that kind of can be on the same

597
00:42:43,380 --> 00:42:46,020
wavelength. I don't hate you,
Undertaker.

598
00:42:46,700 --> 00:42:47,840
I love you.

599
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:50,940
Like a child loves a pet.

600
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,400
Roll over, Undertaker.

601
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:55,640
Heel boy.

602
00:42:56,540 --> 00:42:57,620
Best of all.

603
00:42:58,540 --> 00:42:59,540
I'm dead.

604
00:42:59,900 --> 00:43:04,840
No one had ever really pushed the
Undertaker to the limits in the way that

605
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:05,840
mankind did.

606
00:43:10,090 --> 00:43:13,930
Such an interesting dynamic and such
cool chemistry, and Undertaker was able

607
00:43:13,930 --> 00:43:15,790
show some vulnerability which he'd never
shown before.

608
00:43:16,110 --> 00:43:18,770
I mean, we had very live matches, boiler
room balls.

609
00:43:19,030 --> 00:43:22,370
You know, while you're in the middle of
it, you're just thinking, this is really

610
00:43:22,370 --> 00:43:24,510
good stuff that no one else is doing.

611
00:43:25,350 --> 00:43:30,050
Obviously, such a huge part of my career
and my history is tied to mankind.

612
00:43:30,670 --> 00:43:36,370
We shot vignettes on this one night in
the middle of a cemetery, and a

613
00:43:36,370 --> 00:43:37,370
storm starts.

614
00:43:37,590 --> 00:43:39,230
And you will never...

615
00:43:41,020 --> 00:43:43,300
Rest in peace.

616
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:47,960
Oh, well.

617
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:51,080
Gee.

618
00:43:53,140 --> 00:43:54,140
Man, a lot.

619
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,320
And Mick says, God, it's raining.

620
00:43:57,540 --> 00:43:58,540
This is great.

621
00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:04,480
He was covered head to toe in mud and
muck.

622
00:44:05,060 --> 00:44:06,640
Mick could adapt to anything.

623
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:08,920
Not everybody could have pulled that
off.

624
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:14,300
Once Mick got in the fold and he had
time to interact with a lot of

625
00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:18,560
the TV people, we started realizing we
got a diamond in the rough here.

626
00:44:18,820 --> 00:44:22,620
A lot of people were surprised at the
fact of, again, how articulate he was

627
00:44:22,620 --> 00:44:28,300
thoughtful and how well -spoken he was
because just from the sheer stuff that

628
00:44:28,300 --> 00:44:31,740
they had seen, you thought that this guy
was masochistic.

629
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,040
I mean, he was, but, you know, there was
all another side of him. Mick is

630
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:37,040
charming.

631
00:44:40,820 --> 00:44:42,360
Cagarius, he's just a different cat.

632
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,460
He's always up -spirited and in a good
mood, you know.

633
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:50,160
I don't know how he's done all these
years without drinking. He doesn't

634
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:50,859
you know.

635
00:44:50,860 --> 00:44:52,320
That's really upsetting.

636
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,920
Everybody in the locker room knew that
he wasn't a party guy. He was not a go

637
00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:01,720
-out guy. He was a family guy.

638
00:45:01,980 --> 00:45:06,700
I think it was accepted that I was a guy
that missed data and did a lot of

639
00:45:06,700 --> 00:45:11,860
reading. visited museums, battlefields.
The guys would be going out to strip

640
00:45:11,860 --> 00:45:16,860
bars, and he would be running, trying to
catch the last flight and be home for

641
00:45:16,860 --> 00:45:17,738
the kids.

642
00:45:17,740 --> 00:45:22,740
I felt pretty good about having my
priorities in the right order. I was

643
00:45:22,740 --> 00:45:24,840
to be the best dad I could possibly be.

644
00:45:41,930 --> 00:45:45,470
I knew that Mick could come in and hit
the top of the lineup against The

645
00:45:45,470 --> 00:45:49,570
Undertaker. But what's going to happen
to Mick after that Undertaker feud ends?

646
00:45:50,550 --> 00:45:54,690
I thought at that time Mick would be
still contributing, still earn a good

647
00:45:54,690 --> 00:45:58,070
living, but I never envisioned the Hall
of Fame and all this other success.

648
00:45:58,590 --> 00:46:02,950
Mick was always offended by people's
expectations because they were always

649
00:46:02,950 --> 00:46:03,950
low.

650
00:46:04,030 --> 00:46:08,610
Inside, as humble as Mick could be, Mick
knew how great he was.

651
00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:14,040
So if you tell Mick Foley we have 15
seconds of television time for you and

652
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:17,080
performance is so great, the next week
you're giving him a minute.

653
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:19,300
And the next week you're giving him
three minutes.

654
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:22,780
And the next week you're going to him
and saying, how much time would you

655
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:28,500
I think it was understood and
appreciated that I could work with

656
00:46:28,500 --> 00:46:29,500
on that card.

657
00:46:31,420 --> 00:46:33,520
One of my favorite opponents was Shawn
Michaels.

658
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:38,320
We'd never had a match until we main
evented a pay -per -view in 1996.

659
00:46:39,240 --> 00:46:42,580
I'd never worked with Mick, and you're
wondering how it's going to go, because

660
00:46:42,580 --> 00:46:47,040
now I'm sort of known as the real
finesse worker, and that wasn't Mick's

661
00:46:47,540 --> 00:46:52,940
What I remember more than anything was
the different kind of creativity that

662
00:46:52,940 --> 00:46:54,240
Mick brought to the table.

663
00:46:54,820 --> 00:47:00,000
There were things that we did in this
match that a WWE crowd had not seen, had

664
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,000
not been exposed to.

665
00:47:04,220 --> 00:47:05,440
The end of the night.

666
00:47:05,870 --> 00:47:11,290
And Shawn's in the locker room, Mick's
in the locker room, and they're talking.

667
00:47:11,590 --> 00:47:16,150
Shawn says, is this always how you
pictured yourself, this dark character?

668
00:47:16,850 --> 00:47:19,950
I laughed. I said, no, actually, I
wanted to be you.

669
00:47:20,430 --> 00:47:25,110
He looks at me quizzically, and I said,
no, no, no, not Shawn Michaels, but I

670
00:47:25,110 --> 00:47:30,530
wanted to be the guy who fans adored,
who women flocked around, who felt that

671
00:47:30,530 --> 00:47:31,530
degree of love.

672
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:35,080
I can remember him, you know, finishing
with him, but of course it didn't work

673
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,900
out that way because I ended up like
this. And then I told him I actually had

674
00:47:38,900 --> 00:47:41,080
this character, Dude Love, that I'd
created.

675
00:47:41,620 --> 00:47:44,940
And it turns out that Bruce Prichard was
listening to the conversation.

676
00:47:45,460 --> 00:47:48,960
And he's doing it. I'm laughing. I'm
going to do this. I said, oh, my God,

677
00:47:48,980 --> 00:47:52,040
that's great. I said, I'd love to see
that. He goes, I've got tape.

678
00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:56,960
Bring me this tape.

679
00:47:59,020 --> 00:48:01,800
We're here for only one reason. One
reason only.

680
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:04,020
Fame. Honor.

681
00:48:04,580 --> 00:48:05,580
Fortune.

682
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,680
Mr. McMahon came to me with the idea of
doing these in -depth interviews.

683
00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:13,300
You see, when I was a kid, I played
cowboys and Indians.

684
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:20,280
Now, who were the good guys? The cowboys
coming over the hill to rape, pillage

685
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:21,920
innocent women and children?

686
00:48:22,420 --> 00:48:25,440
I was always the Indian, Jimmy. I always
stood for the underdog.

687
00:48:25,980 --> 00:48:26,980
It was all there.

688
00:48:27,500 --> 00:48:33,160
Mick jumping off the roof, hitchhiking
to see Jimmy Snuka, the dream of

689
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:34,160
dude love.

690
00:48:34,380 --> 00:48:39,420
Mankind was the character in the chair,
but suddenly it wasn't just Mankind. It

691
00:48:39,420 --> 00:48:40,420
was now Mick Foley.

692
00:48:40,700 --> 00:48:42,420
Never wanted to be Cactus Jack.

693
00:48:43,340 --> 00:48:48,720
I figured here is a horrible name for a
horrible wrestler.

694
00:48:49,180 --> 00:48:54,880
If I call you as soon as I get the
ability, then I'll get that.

695
00:48:55,180 --> 00:48:57,060
heart -shaped tattoo on my chest.

696
00:48:57,700 --> 00:49:01,280
I'll put those earrings in, and I'm
going to get the girls.

697
00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:06,700
And it never really worked out the way
it did it, Jimmy.

698
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:07,819
Not quite.

699
00:49:07,820 --> 00:49:11,260
I was like, man, this guy is incredible,
and I want to learn more.

700
00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:14,140
You know what you tell the people week
in and week out?

701
00:49:15,100 --> 00:49:16,440
You say, look at mankind.

702
00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:22,700
I don't even know if he feels pain or
maybe he likes pain.

703
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:27,220
But you see, I feel just like every
other person.

704
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:28,920
You see that?

705
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:31,000
It hurts.

706
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:37,260
Is it when I can't get up, when my
little boy says, Denny, I want to play

707
00:49:37,500 --> 00:49:39,440
and I can't do it?

708
00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:42,400
Is that where the fun starts?

709
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:49,280
Is it where a doctor injects a 12 -inch
needle into the discs in my spine so I

710
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:50,960
can wrestle one more day?

711
00:49:51,580 --> 00:49:52,580
Whoopee!

712
00:49:53,370 --> 00:49:56,850
Vince Lawler was great because it was
real.

713
00:49:57,770 --> 00:50:01,890
I'd been told when I came in that you
could never really get to the top of

714
00:50:02,670 --> 00:50:05,330
So Mr. McMahon personally became a fan.

715
00:50:05,930 --> 00:50:10,230
And in my opinion, he had not personally
become a fan until that night.

716
00:50:10,570 --> 00:50:12,630
Mick always had that connection with the
audience.

717
00:50:12,870 --> 00:50:16,290
And I really never saw it before he came
here. I thought, we're never going to

718
00:50:16,290 --> 00:50:17,290
bring that guy in.

719
00:50:17,350 --> 00:50:20,410
But he does. He has a genuine
connection.

720
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:23,780
Not many people have that.

721
00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:32,560
Oh, this appears to be one of the
original Dude Love shirts.

722
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:33,760
Yes.

723
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:38,600
Oh, that would fetch about $500 on eBay
these days. I'm not kidding.

724
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:47,240
This was when Vince saw the potential to
grant this wish and allow me to live

725
00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:48,240
out my dream.

726
00:50:49,740 --> 00:50:54,680
Steve -O, looks like you could use a
little help, my man, like maybe a tag

727
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:57,740
partner. What's the matter? Don't you
recognize me?

728
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:02,400
Now, I don't blame you for not teaming
up with that mutilated freak, Mankind,

729
00:51:02,700 --> 00:51:07,100
but you never said nothing about teaming
up with the hippest cat in the land.

730
00:51:07,260 --> 00:51:13,940
Steve -O, baby, it's me, Dude Love, and
I am coming to save the day. Oh,

731
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:15,540
have mercy.

732
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:26,200
I remember him practicing it backstage,
and I was just, like, shaking my

733
00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:31,940
head as he was in his tie -dyed stuff,
and I was like, this is the guy that I

734
00:51:31,940 --> 00:51:32,940
went to war with?

735
00:51:36,580 --> 00:51:41,000
Dude Love was my personal favorite just
because it showed mixed range.

736
00:51:47,180 --> 00:51:49,180
I just got to try to explain this stuff
to my wife, right?

737
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:50,640
Oh, no.

738
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:54,760
Hey, no, it just felt so good in there.
I didn't, you know.

739
00:51:55,020 --> 00:51:56,720
Would have been nicer if they were your
kisses.

740
00:51:57,900 --> 00:52:01,140
Your dude got Steve to break character
on a couple of occasions.

741
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:05,460
I don't think Mick ever broke me on on
-air stuff. I think the one time when

742
00:52:05,460 --> 00:52:09,500
and Vince were dancing on the stage, I
kind of let a little bit of smile out.

743
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:13,760
It made people feel good. That's what
Mr. McMahon really liked about it. He

744
00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:15,620
said, dude love makes people feel good.

745
00:52:16,620 --> 00:52:21,980
Now, Mick Foley is appearing sometimes
on the same show as Mankind and as Dude

746
00:52:21,980 --> 00:52:25,600
Love. You know, I remember the movie
Sybil way back in the day. It was almost

747
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:26,620
like split personalities.

748
00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:30,220
Now, Dude Love, you are not me.

749
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:33,040
You're not even you, you idiot.

750
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:37,800
You thought you'd seen the three faces
of Foley, but there was that one guy

751
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:42,920
left. As much as I've dreamed about
destroying Hunter Hearst Helmsley. I

752
00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,980
you have. There's very horrible things
I'd like to do to him.

753
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:49,460
I know you can. I know someone who
dreams about it even more.

754
00:52:49,840 --> 00:52:50,880
Jack this Jack.

755
00:52:51,580 --> 00:52:55,100
And Mrs. Foley's little boy.

756
00:52:56,080 --> 00:53:00,980
The garden just came unglued.

757
00:53:05,870 --> 00:53:10,270
In my mind, I'm thinking about Mr.
McMahon, and I'm thinking, I told you

758
00:53:14,190 --> 00:53:17,530
See how smart Mick is. That means he had
three different action figures.

759
00:53:20,410 --> 00:53:22,390
Mrs. Sully's baby boy, no dummy.

760
00:53:32,490 --> 00:53:37,970
Undertaker versus Mankind, Hell in a
Cell. It's one of the most surreal and

761
00:53:37,970 --> 00:53:42,210
professional wrestling matches that
you've ever seen.

762
00:53:42,670 --> 00:53:46,350
Mick would have his pay -per -views. My
mother would say, hey, just give me the

763
00:53:46,350 --> 00:53:50,390
videotape. Well, after Hell in a Cell
was over, I called her up and I was

764
00:53:50,550 --> 00:53:53,870
trust me when I tell you, you don't want
to see this match.

765
00:53:55,590 --> 00:53:56,890
I've been involved in...

766
00:53:57,390 --> 00:53:58,990
so many Hell in a Cell matches.

767
00:53:59,290 --> 00:54:03,130
But I think most people, when they think
of Hell in a Cell, they think of Mick

768
00:54:03,130 --> 00:54:06,250
Foley and the bumps that he took that
night.

769
00:54:07,190 --> 00:54:11,170
I've had kids come up to me and talk
about it that weren't even born in 1998.

770
00:54:13,330 --> 00:54:14,990
It's taken on a life of its own.

771
00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:36,400
Mick had kind of, I don't want to say
hit the wall.

772
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:38,620
That might be a little strong.

773
00:54:39,060 --> 00:54:40,740
But he wasn't setting the world on fire.

774
00:54:41,980 --> 00:54:44,380
And the company wasn't going out of its
way to feature him.

775
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:48,420
Honestly, I felt like my character had
plateaued.

776
00:54:49,660 --> 00:54:53,480
We had asked an awful lot from the
audience to accept that I could go from

777
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:57,340
mankind to dude love to Cactus Jack.

778
00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:03,720
to all three simultaneously, to heel
Cactus Jack, to corporate dude love, and

779
00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:05,660
now he's back to being corporate
mankind.

780
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:08,960
Talent can get inside their own head a
lot.

781
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:16,140
You're not hearing the same volume of
reaction, and it's not

782
00:55:16,140 --> 00:55:18,780
exactly what you think it should be
every night.

783
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:20,680
That'll mess with your head.

784
00:55:21,100 --> 00:55:25,500
You know, Mick was very concerned
because Shawn Michaels and I had had the

785
00:55:25,500 --> 00:55:26,500
hell in the fill.

786
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:31,200
It was a really good match. And Mick's
like, well, you got to do something

787
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:32,200
bigger than that.

788
00:55:32,220 --> 00:55:36,820
He says, what do you think about
throwing me off the top of the cell? I

789
00:55:36,820 --> 00:55:37,840
like, no, you're crazy.

790
00:55:38,620 --> 00:55:42,340
Didn't want any part of it. For two
weeks, I asked him. Every night for two

791
00:55:42,340 --> 00:55:43,640
weeks, he would shoot that down.

792
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:48,680
And he was adamant. Like, no, I think
it'll be great. I think I can do it.

793
00:55:48,820 --> 00:55:49,820
I think.

794
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:52,160
He just looked at me and said, I'll
think about it.

795
00:55:53,540 --> 00:55:54,820
What do you remember from that day?

796
00:55:56,029 --> 00:56:00,530
It's really weird because I don't
remember my childhood at all.

797
00:56:00,790 --> 00:56:05,510
Like, I remember little pieces here and
there, like hanging out with my dad, but

798
00:56:05,510 --> 00:56:07,890
I don't remember anything wrestling.

799
00:56:08,590 --> 00:56:13,570
Part of me thinks I blocked that out of
my life. I remember the day pretty well.

800
00:56:13,950 --> 00:56:17,330
It's kind of crazy. I'm six years old,
Noelle's four years old, and we get a

801
00:56:17,330 --> 00:56:20,410
call from my dad saying, just so you
know, tonight it's going to be pretty

802
00:56:37,260 --> 00:56:39,260
I'm just standing there at the top of
the cell.

803
00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:42,440
In my head, it's just, it's an eternity.

804
00:56:42,720 --> 00:56:44,260
Like, Mick, move.

805
00:56:45,600 --> 00:56:48,340
It's over. That cage is 16 feet high.

806
00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:50,320
Somebody get out of here, really.

807
00:56:50,740 --> 00:56:51,740
I mean it.

808
00:56:53,060 --> 00:56:54,220
I need some help.

809
00:56:55,200 --> 00:56:59,460
Everyone was freaked out, including me.

810
00:56:59,820 --> 00:57:03,120
This was too far. It was like, wait a
minute.

811
00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:09,900
Set yourself on fire in Japan or
whatever he did, but this was more of my

812
00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:12,600
Look at the raise of the cage and the
Undertaker's still on top!

813
00:57:13,440 --> 00:57:18,040
Well, I think they've raised the cage
somewhat so that we can get the EMTs

814
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:19,040
with a stretcher.

815
00:57:19,060 --> 00:57:22,840
We kind of thought, like, all right,
that's good. The worst part is over.

816
00:57:23,060 --> 00:57:28,420
As quickly and as unusually as this
match started, it has ended.

817
00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:32,260
I remember being in the back going,

818
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:34,560
Oh, my God, I'm going down there.

819
00:57:35,700 --> 00:57:37,040
You know, you okay?

820
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:39,560
Yeah, I'm fine.

821
00:57:40,340 --> 00:57:41,340
I'm good.

822
00:57:44,200 --> 00:57:47,780
You don't look good. That was a pretty
ugly bump. No, no, no, no. I'm fine. I

823
00:57:47,780 --> 00:57:48,780
got it.

824
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:51,240
Continued on in the match.

825
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:56,800
Now in the hell is he standing?

826
00:58:06,190 --> 00:58:10,710
I was walking around backstage and
trying to get ready for my match, and

827
00:58:10,710 --> 00:58:12,510
hearing this crowd go absolutely crazy.

828
00:58:12,850 --> 00:58:16,050
And I wander by the monitor to see what
everybody's watching, and I'm thinking,

829
00:58:16,150 --> 00:58:18,990
I don't think we're going to follow
this.

830
00:58:19,550 --> 00:58:24,070
The cage is attached just like a chain
-link fence in your yard. They had metal

831
00:58:24,070 --> 00:58:29,010
twist -its that secured the actual mesh
to the pole.

832
00:58:30,550 --> 00:58:34,870
If you took a step or you pushed off to
throw a punch, you could hear these

833
00:58:34,870 --> 00:58:35,870
twists.

834
00:58:53,090 --> 00:58:57,710
And I really believe that. I mean, that
was not the commentator in me coming

835
00:58:57,710 --> 00:59:00,510
out. That was just Jerry Lawler talking
to Jim Ross.

836
00:59:01,150 --> 00:59:02,690
He's dead.

837
00:59:08,330 --> 00:59:14,210
I thought he had planned this whole
thing. I was cursing and yelling at him.

838
00:59:14,530 --> 00:59:19,190
I remember her screaming, and I don't
think she knew that part was going to

839
00:59:19,190 --> 00:59:26,150
happen. The idea was that Undertaker
would chokeslam Mick, and

840
00:59:26,150 --> 00:59:29,530
the cage would start to give, and it
would start to sag.

841
00:59:30,690 --> 00:59:34,190
But Mick went through that damn cage
like it was nothing.

842
00:59:37,770 --> 00:59:41,470
That wasn't the worst part of it. The
worst part of it was on the cage was a

843
00:59:41,470 --> 00:59:47,350
chair that came down after Mick and hit
Mick right in the face.

844
00:59:51,450 --> 00:59:52,450
Oh, my.

845
00:59:52,510 --> 00:59:58,750
He looks up, and all of a sudden I
realize his tooth is coming out of his

846
00:59:59,210 --> 01:00:04,250
It looks like a booger's in his nose,
but it's his tooth that is stuck out of

847
01:00:04,250 --> 01:00:05,250
his nose, and he's laughing.

848
01:00:06,040 --> 01:00:10,020
falling through the cage backwards,
knocking his teeth through his lip. I

849
01:00:10,060 --> 01:00:13,980
knowing our history and what I've said
to him, I thought, he loves the

850
01:00:14,260 --> 01:00:15,420
That was my resolve.

851
01:00:15,680 --> 01:00:16,760
He just loves the business.

852
01:00:18,300 --> 01:00:21,900
You know, Mick, man, I mean, I'm the
king of punishment.

853
01:00:22,140 --> 01:00:23,200
It seemed like he's okay to me.

854
01:00:23,500 --> 01:00:25,840
I mean, he was tough, you know.

855
01:00:26,520 --> 01:00:28,780
But Mick's Mick. I mean, that guy's
tough as nails.

856
01:00:30,660 --> 01:00:34,340
You know, he's obviously not all there
because I'm hitting him.

857
01:00:34,810 --> 01:00:36,890
And I'm saying, Mick, just stay down.

858
01:00:37,530 --> 01:00:39,090
But he had to get to those thumbtacks.

859
01:00:50,670 --> 01:00:57,330
It's funny

860
01:00:57,330 --> 01:01:01,430
now, but I'm thinking at the time, I'm
like...

861
01:01:02,410 --> 01:01:04,390
I've thrown you off the top of this
thing.

862
01:01:04,910 --> 01:01:06,910
I've thrown you through this thing.

863
01:01:07,170 --> 01:01:11,370
And, I mean, there's nothing else that
you need to give, Nick.

864
01:01:11,630 --> 01:01:12,630
No!

865
01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:32,220
I went into the match, I had a broken
ankle.

866
01:01:33,140 --> 01:01:37,780
And I remember him asking me how I was.

867
01:01:38,620 --> 01:01:40,820
Are you kidding me?

868
01:01:41,660 --> 01:01:46,900
Seriously, yeah, I got a broken ankle.
It's not a big deal, dude. You just

869
01:01:46,900 --> 01:01:51,580
broke your neck and your back, and
you've got about 150 tacks stuck in you

870
01:01:51,580 --> 01:01:52,580
the moment.

871
01:01:55,660 --> 01:01:59,640
I wasn't done for the night when I
finished with the match.

872
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:05,280
I came hobbling out to interfere in the
main event, and almost the entire crowd,

873
01:02:05,420 --> 01:02:09,100
instead of being mad at me, was just
like collectively saying, hon, don't you

874
01:02:09,100 --> 01:02:10,100
think you've had enough?

875
01:02:11,060 --> 01:02:12,860
I was banged up for sure.

876
01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:18,420
My shoulder was dislocated. My jaw was
dislocated. I had 14 stitches underneath

877
01:02:18,420 --> 01:02:19,660
my lip.

878
01:02:20,840 --> 01:02:26,000
Vince walked in, and he said, Mick, you
have no idea how much I appreciate what

879
01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:27,200
you've just done for this company.

880
01:02:27,960 --> 01:02:30,160
But I never want to see anything like
that again.

881
01:02:32,020 --> 01:02:33,020
Hi!

882
01:02:33,900 --> 01:02:35,120
You too, nutjob!

883
01:02:36,700 --> 01:02:39,160
What is your favorite memory of your dad
as a wrestler?

884
01:02:40,320 --> 01:02:42,360
Favorite memory is when he was getting
hurt the least.

885
01:02:43,220 --> 01:02:47,640
We're two little kids watching our dad
get beat up.

886
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:53,760
All I could think about was, I hope he's
going to be all right. I hope it's not

887
01:02:53,760 --> 01:02:57,260
too bad this time. I hope he makes it
back home in one piece.

888
01:03:00,590 --> 01:03:05,110
He would tell us this was his job to
help do what the person before you just

889
01:03:05,110 --> 01:03:09,450
and to make sure that when people go
home, they talk about what you did, your

890
01:03:09,450 --> 01:03:10,450
match.

891
01:03:11,310 --> 01:03:12,730
But he's paying for it now.

892
01:03:17,970 --> 01:03:22,590
I found myself struggling in the
aftermath of Hell in a Cell. That

893
01:03:22,590 --> 01:03:24,830
wasn't there yet.

894
01:03:25,600 --> 01:03:30,200
But if you'd said this Mankind character
is missing something, what is it? Not

895
01:03:30,200 --> 01:03:33,300
one person in a million would have said
sock puppet.

896
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,100
Mr. Socko actually comes with very
humble origins.

897
01:03:40,460 --> 01:03:45,260
I was heading out the door to visit Mr.
McMahon at the hospital. He was hooked

898
01:03:45,260 --> 01:03:49,160
up to a heart monitor and a respirator
for a bruised ankle.

899
01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:51,440
That's the way we roll in WWE.

900
01:03:52,680 --> 01:03:57,520
And all I knew is I had a selection of
gifts that had to get me thrown out of

901
01:03:57,520 --> 01:03:58,439
his room.

902
01:03:58,440 --> 01:03:59,440
Vince, it's me.

903
01:04:00,420 --> 01:04:03,900
I saw what happened. I felt really bad,
so I brought you some presents.

904
01:04:04,340 --> 01:04:05,340
Take hold of these.

905
01:04:06,500 --> 01:04:07,500
Weren't they colorful?

906
01:04:08,420 --> 01:04:12,520
I had a box of chocolates that was
largely eaten. I had a birthday party

907
01:04:12,520 --> 01:04:13,520
named Yerple.

908
01:04:13,540 --> 01:04:17,620
They were filming the stuff with the
nurse, and me and Mick were crammed in a

909
01:04:17,620 --> 01:04:18,620
little bitty bathroom.

910
01:04:19,420 --> 01:04:22,720
And he pulls out this sock, and he puts
his hand through it.

911
01:04:23,100 --> 01:04:25,380
And I said, you've got to be kidding me.

912
01:04:25,700 --> 01:04:29,280
We're two grown men laughing our asses
off.

913
01:04:29,980 --> 01:04:31,380
What the hell are you doing?

914
01:04:31,820 --> 01:04:33,260
Mr. Socko!

915
01:04:34,540 --> 01:04:35,720
Say hello to Mr.

916
01:04:35,980 --> 01:04:37,340
Socko. Mr.

917
01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:41,880
Socko knows you've been feeling mighty
bad, so he's going to give your boo -boo

918
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:42,960
a big kiss.

919
01:04:43,780 --> 01:04:44,780
You're going to what?

920
01:04:45,080 --> 01:04:46,080
Hey, hey, ah!

921
01:04:46,240 --> 01:04:47,560
No, Mick, please.

922
01:04:48,240 --> 01:04:50,100
Please. Just leave.

923
01:04:50,460 --> 01:04:51,460
Mr. Socko.

924
01:04:51,820 --> 01:04:55,280
I wasn't a huge fan until Mr. Socko.

925
01:04:55,720 --> 01:05:00,180
Like, when Mr. Socko came, it was like,
oh, I'm totally into this guy. This

926
01:05:00,180 --> 01:05:01,038
guy's great.

927
01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:03,240
I love me some Mr. Socko. I don't know.

928
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:08,140
Why? Just because, like, the way he was
drawing on there.

929
01:05:09,240 --> 01:05:10,240
Mr.

930
01:05:11,820 --> 01:05:13,200
Socko just felt like, just.

931
01:05:14,250 --> 01:05:15,129
Just innocent.

932
01:05:15,130 --> 01:05:18,050
Vince Russo, the writer, comes up to me
and says, bro, you got the sock?

933
01:05:18,330 --> 01:05:19,330
I said,

934
01:05:19,590 --> 01:05:20,590
I don't know.

935
01:05:20,830 --> 01:05:22,890
Why? He goes, they're chanting for him.

936
01:05:23,390 --> 01:05:25,250
They've got signs out there.

937
01:05:25,790 --> 01:05:28,370
What are you doing here? I ain't kind of
checking that shoe off.

938
01:05:29,330 --> 01:05:34,950
And luckily, I had a finishing move that
was tailor -made for the use of a sock

939
01:05:34,950 --> 01:05:35,950
puppet.

940
01:05:41,800 --> 01:05:44,760
He would, like, pull it from different
areas in his body.

941
01:05:45,740 --> 01:05:47,340
And there it is! Mr.

942
01:05:47,600 --> 01:05:48,600
Socko!

943
01:05:50,400 --> 01:05:54,440
Mick is not the most coordinated guy. So
when he comes and puts that thing in,

944
01:05:54,520 --> 01:05:58,500
man, it would, like, hit you in the face
from this way and this way and up your

945
01:05:58,500 --> 01:05:59,500
nose. It's disgusting.

946
01:06:00,200 --> 01:06:03,880
Well, you know, like a sock stuck in
your mouth that had been sitting in

947
01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:05,400
someone's sweaty groin?

948
01:06:06,140 --> 01:06:09,540
It was, uh, you know, it was, um...

949
01:06:10,890 --> 01:06:14,130
It's not the best thing I've ever been
put in my mouth.

950
01:06:14,470 --> 01:06:19,450
The thing that Mr. Sacco did was allow
Mick Foley to sort of cross over into

951
01:06:19,450 --> 01:06:21,690
mainstream. There's Sacco. I have Mr.

952
01:06:21,910 --> 01:06:22,910
Sacco.

953
01:06:23,350 --> 01:06:27,990
Chef Clarity, take two. It's the perfect
ravioli for all mankind.

954
01:06:28,490 --> 01:06:33,830
It also just exposed that Mick Foley was
just an immensely likable, entertaining

955
01:06:33,830 --> 01:06:35,970
guy. Hello, Mr. Sacco.

956
01:06:36,310 --> 01:06:37,350
How are you, Carson?

957
01:06:37,690 --> 01:06:39,570
You know what I don't understand is
about...

958
01:06:40,010 --> 01:06:44,370
800 teenage girls chanting your name and
I've got about three sweaty fat guys

959
01:06:44,370 --> 01:06:45,690
with mankind signs.

960
01:06:46,570 --> 01:06:51,830
That sock puppet opened up so many doors
for me. He started transcending the

961
01:06:51,830 --> 01:06:54,710
business. Now he's getting more and more
out there. He's now an author.

962
01:06:55,250 --> 01:06:57,630
I got the chance to write my memoir.

963
01:06:58,190 --> 01:07:01,930
I just started writing in a yellow legal
pad. I didn't know how to use a

964
01:07:01,930 --> 01:07:06,010
computer. I went into the dressing room
and I asked the guys, hey, anyone want

965
01:07:06,010 --> 01:07:08,990
to hear this story I'm working on? And
all of a sudden I had an audience.

966
01:07:09,560 --> 01:07:10,660
And they were responding.

967
01:07:13,500 --> 01:07:15,260
What do you like about Mankind?

968
01:07:17,060 --> 01:07:19,900
He's very sweet. Yeah, he's real sweet.

969
01:07:20,440 --> 01:07:26,280
Hit number one, and that was wild. Like,
wow, the New York Times has a pro

970
01:07:26,280 --> 01:07:28,460
wrestling book at the top of its chart.

971
01:07:28,780 --> 01:07:33,440
I think that the book forced those
outside of the business who read it and

972
01:07:33,440 --> 01:07:38,740
it a chance to admit, oh, hey, man,
these just aren't a bunch of dumb oafs.

973
01:07:42,320 --> 01:07:49,020
People like me don't reach the peak, we
don't reach the summit, the

974
01:07:49,020 --> 01:07:52,460
scale of pinnacle, until we do.

975
01:07:53,100 --> 01:07:58,580
He had ascended so much and he had so
much of the audience rooting for him

976
01:07:58,580 --> 01:08:02,440
it was the right timing where Mick Foley
became the champion.

977
01:08:33,100 --> 01:08:37,920
We're talking about a deafening roar,
unlike anything I've experienced.

978
01:08:38,620 --> 01:08:40,779
It's so loud you can barely think.

979
01:08:41,800 --> 01:08:46,260
Like back at home in Chicago, it felt
like the Bulls won the NBA championship.

980
01:08:47,140 --> 01:08:51,500
You know, people identified with him and
felt like he was the everyday guy.

981
01:08:51,740 --> 01:08:55,060
And he was. He was that guy. He was the
sweetest guy in the world. He'll help

982
01:08:55,060 --> 01:08:56,060
anybody.

983
01:08:56,580 --> 01:08:57,819
I'd like to thank you.

984
01:08:58,620 --> 01:09:01,500
Just match my two little people at home
and say it.

985
01:09:02,849 --> 01:09:04,170
Vincenzo did it!

986
01:09:05,630 --> 01:09:10,490
Scripted doesn't resonate with the
sports entertainment crowd. Because the

987
01:09:10,490 --> 01:09:16,390
sports entertainment crowd is always
aching for something real.

988
01:09:17,569 --> 01:09:23,250
There were moments when I absolutely,
100 % became so invested in the

989
01:09:23,250 --> 01:09:25,029
that I was that character.

990
01:09:25,310 --> 01:09:29,490
And for The Rock, it was the same way.
But in one particular case.

991
01:09:30,080 --> 01:09:33,660
Becoming those characters didn't work
out particularly well.

992
01:09:34,779 --> 01:09:38,939
There was a documentary crew there
filming for a movie called Beyond the

993
01:09:42,580 --> 01:09:43,100
I

994
01:09:43,100 --> 01:09:50,020
wanted my

995
01:09:50,020 --> 01:09:52,660
family to see Dad as the champion.

996
01:09:52,939 --> 01:09:56,520
You know, I wanted them to be so proud
of me. And I wanted to go to Disneyland.

997
01:09:57,240 --> 01:09:58,820
Really wanted to go to Disneyland.

998
01:10:00,680 --> 01:10:01,900
He is barely moving.

999
01:10:02,500 --> 01:10:05,680
And now The Rock has handcuffs. What the
hell is he going to do now?

1000
01:10:06,080 --> 01:10:07,080
Handcuffs?

1001
01:10:22,520 --> 01:10:25,600
You know, I'm an old school guy.

1002
01:10:27,040 --> 01:10:28,280
That night.

1003
01:10:29,000 --> 01:10:34,920
Even I was uncomfortable with the amount
of chair shots that Mick took.

1004
01:10:39,540 --> 01:10:42,160
Do you shoulder some of the blame when
things turn out that way?

1005
01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:45,600
Well, I think I shoulder most of the
blame because it was my idea.

1006
01:10:49,060 --> 01:10:54,260
The idea was the WWE camera would show
the children, which they did not end up

1007
01:10:54,260 --> 01:10:56,440
doing. But Beyond the Mat did show.

1008
01:10:57,070 --> 01:11:03,710
my family and that was really chilling
footage by

1009
01:11:03,710 --> 01:11:11,150
mom

1010
01:11:11,150 --> 01:11:16,210
and dad kind of without saying it their
body language was like we're gonna have

1011
01:11:16,210 --> 01:11:20,950
to discuss this and not in front of the
kids it was horrible and they were

1012
01:11:20,950 --> 01:11:24,430
stitching him up and mick is talking
like nothing happened

1013
01:11:25,450 --> 01:11:31,490
I was taking a large risk with my body,
just hoping and betting that it would

1014
01:11:31,490 --> 01:11:33,210
set my family up for a good future.

1015
01:11:34,130 --> 01:11:40,930
I knew from day one that I was on
borrowed time, but I wouldn't admit it

1016
01:11:40,930 --> 01:11:41,930
anybody.

1017
01:11:54,410 --> 01:11:59,110
I could not have scripted a better
retirement match with Triple H.

1018
01:12:00,630 --> 01:12:03,590
I was going out on my own terms.

1019
01:12:06,630 --> 01:12:08,430
Kick out! Kick out, Cactus!

1020
01:12:10,350 --> 01:12:14,710
When it was over, I felt an immediate
sense of fulfillment.

1021
01:12:16,830 --> 01:12:22,310
I set out to save my money and retire by
the time I was 35, and I did it.

1022
01:12:39,500 --> 01:12:45,100
My dad and my brother were in the crowd,
and they came back to congratulate me,

1023
01:12:45,200 --> 01:12:51,460
and then I went to my hotel room and
cried my eyes out because it was the end

1024
01:12:51,460 --> 01:12:52,460
a fascinating journey.

1025
01:12:54,620 --> 01:13:00,820
I had been preparing my kids for the day
that I'd be leaving wrestling, and my

1026
01:13:00,820 --> 01:13:04,820
daughter said, Well, Daddy, if you don't
wrestle, we can't eat, and we're going

1027
01:13:04,820 --> 01:13:05,499
to die.

1028
01:13:05,500 --> 01:13:08,380
So I had a little talk about the effects
of...

1029
01:13:08,670 --> 01:13:12,630
compounding interest and that the
foliage were probably going to be okay

1030
01:13:12,630 --> 01:13:13,630
little while.

1031
01:13:15,110 --> 01:13:19,090
We wanted to have children again, and I
wanted to be home.

1032
01:13:20,090 --> 01:13:22,710
Our son, Mickey, was born in 2001.

1033
01:13:23,330 --> 01:13:24,570
Whoa, Mickey!

1034
01:13:24,990 --> 01:13:28,630
And in 2003, we had Huey. Here comes
Huey!

1035
01:13:29,770 --> 01:13:30,770
Hiya!

1036
01:13:31,270 --> 01:13:35,110
That was when I portrayed the most
complicated character of them all, which

1037
01:13:35,110 --> 01:13:36,110
Super Dad.

1038
01:13:39,720 --> 01:13:41,300
Now turn it off and we'll go inside,
okay?

1039
01:13:42,380 --> 01:13:43,380
Ooh.

1040
01:13:43,740 --> 01:13:47,120
I think I did a pretty good job as a
father. Yeah.

1041
01:13:47,980 --> 01:13:54,460
It's so funny. My dad played all these
crazy characters, like ripping his hair

1042
01:13:54,460 --> 01:13:59,740
out and rocking back and forth and
talking to rats in a boiler room, yet he

1043
01:13:59,740 --> 01:14:03,860
just like this big teddy bear. Oh, look
how beautiful that is.

1044
01:14:04,120 --> 01:14:05,120
No, no.

1045
01:14:05,220 --> 01:14:07,180
What is your... No!

1046
01:14:08,750 --> 01:14:13,530
I had time on my hands, and I wanted to
really do my best to make a difference

1047
01:14:13,530 --> 01:14:16,450
and to be part of something that was
bigger than myself.

1048
01:14:17,350 --> 01:14:23,290
I said, Mick, you are on this platform
that you can do anything.

1049
01:14:23,590 --> 01:14:28,330
Whatever you want to do, you can do it.
The fight against sexual assault has an

1050
01:14:28,330 --> 01:14:32,870
unlikely new ally, former WWE superstar
Mick Foley.

1051
01:14:33,340 --> 01:14:38,120
I felt like, as odd as it seemed, that
it was exactly where I could make the

1052
01:14:38,120 --> 01:14:43,860
most difference, that it was an area
that needed attention, especially from

1053
01:14:44,420 --> 01:14:48,180
At that point, I had been volunteering
as a crisis counselor.

1054
01:14:48,540 --> 01:14:51,860
I'd log on, and someone would say, tell
me why I should live.

1055
01:14:52,240 --> 01:14:56,220
My wife would wake up eight hours later,
and I'd still be with that same person,

1056
01:14:56,280 --> 01:14:57,860
trying to get them to hold on.

1057
01:14:58,640 --> 01:15:00,800
And that was a big part of who I was.

1058
01:15:09,040 --> 01:15:12,360
I've had a lot of time to think about
why I went back to wrestling.

1059
01:15:14,240 --> 01:15:17,100
At the end of the day, it was a simple
reason.

1060
01:15:17,640 --> 01:15:18,960
I just missed it.

1061
01:15:20,180 --> 01:15:22,500
It's almost like a religious experience
for him.

1062
01:15:24,480 --> 01:15:25,500
He's at home.

1063
01:15:28,200 --> 01:15:32,640
The ring is Mick Foley's sanctuary.

1064
01:15:33,380 --> 01:15:34,580
It's a safe place.

1065
01:15:36,520 --> 01:15:37,520
Emotionally.

1066
01:15:38,690 --> 01:15:40,030
Maybe not so much physically.

1067
01:15:42,410 --> 01:15:45,430
I had four big matches when I came back
from retirement.

1068
01:15:46,230 --> 01:15:52,630
Teaming up with The Rock at
WrestleMania, Randy Orton in Edmonton,

1069
01:15:52,630 --> 01:15:55,390
WrestleMania 2006, and the feud with Ric
Flair.

1070
01:15:55,730 --> 01:15:57,370
And that should have been it for me.

1071
01:15:57,850 --> 01:16:00,510
I should have realized that I can't
wrestle ever again.

1072
01:16:01,870 --> 01:16:04,890
Everything after that was at least
partly a cash grab.

1073
01:16:06,250 --> 01:16:09,850
I was the guy who was used to being able
to take anything, and I got to a point

1074
01:16:09,850 --> 01:16:12,110
where almost every single thing was
hurting me.

1075
01:16:12,470 --> 01:16:14,490
I no longer looked forward to matches.

1076
01:16:14,930 --> 01:16:16,970
I just wanted them to be over with.

1077
01:16:20,930 --> 01:16:25,930
I returned to WWE, and I was given the
WWE's impact test.

1078
01:16:26,910 --> 01:16:33,090
I had independent neurologists and WWE's
neurologists both confirming the same

1079
01:16:33,090 --> 01:16:35,430
diagnosis, which is I should never
wrestle again.

1080
01:16:37,610 --> 01:16:41,490
It's one thing for you to make that
decision. It's another thing for a

1081
01:16:41,490 --> 01:16:43,770
neurologist to make that decision for
you.

1082
01:16:44,470 --> 01:16:46,670
I was struggling physically.

1083
01:16:47,390 --> 01:16:49,510
I was struggling emotionally.

1084
01:16:52,150 --> 01:16:58,090
I generally would wake up and I would
just know, this doesn't even have the

1085
01:16:58,090 --> 01:16:59,610
potential of being a good day.

1086
01:17:00,030 --> 01:17:04,350
My eyes were so sensitive to light, I
didn't think I could write ever again.

1087
01:17:04,830 --> 01:17:10,310
I really took pride in the job I did as
a crisis counselor, and then that was

1088
01:17:10,310 --> 01:17:11,089
taken away.

1089
01:17:11,090 --> 01:17:15,510
The road trips with the kids and the
roller coasters seemed like they'd be

1090
01:17:15,510 --> 01:17:19,330
coming to an end. I had so many things I
loved taken away from me.

1091
01:17:19,610 --> 01:17:26,410
He was just kind of, you know, sleeping
late, very lethargic, really

1092
01:17:26,410 --> 01:17:30,230
out of it. He was low energy. He wasn't
playing with the kids too much. He was

1093
01:17:30,230 --> 01:17:32,990
just a guy who kind of needed to be by
himself.

1094
01:17:33,680 --> 01:17:40,020
I just was thinking to myself, wow, now
I'm 45 and I'm in the basement of my

1095
01:17:40,020 --> 01:17:43,140
house all alone, which somehow wasn't
how I pictured things.

1096
01:17:45,260 --> 01:17:48,260
I felt like nothing I had done made any
difference.

1097
01:17:49,540 --> 01:17:51,220
Nothing I've done has meant a thing.

1098
01:18:01,000 --> 01:18:02,000
All right, you want to play more?

1099
01:18:03,050 --> 01:18:04,450
One -legged fadeaway.

1100
01:18:08,970 --> 01:18:09,970
Whoa.

1101
01:18:11,450 --> 01:18:12,550
That was nice.

1102
01:18:12,790 --> 01:18:14,030
I don't think I could do that.

1103
01:18:18,110 --> 01:18:20,390
How much height am I getting on my jump
shot?

1104
01:18:20,890 --> 01:18:21,890
None.

1105
01:18:24,210 --> 01:18:25,210
Oh, yes.

1106
01:18:35,630 --> 01:18:40,030
You want to try a regular version of
Happy Birthday?

1107
01:18:40,250 --> 01:18:41,209
I guess so.

1108
01:18:41,210 --> 01:18:43,930
I'll let you know when I'm ready to go,
okay? Okay, wait, for Happy Birthday?

1109
01:18:44,130 --> 01:18:50,970
Yeah. How the dude love with a song like
no other. For you, my brother, and it

1110
01:18:50,970 --> 01:18:51,970
goes like this.

1111
01:18:53,410 --> 01:18:55,190
Birthday to you.

1112
01:18:56,010 --> 01:18:58,590
Happy birthday to you.

1113
01:18:59,370 --> 01:19:02,770
Happy birthday, dear Tyler.

1114
01:19:07,310 --> 01:19:08,830
Happy birthday to you.

1115
01:19:09,310 --> 01:19:13,470
Happy birthday to you.

1116
01:19:13,990 --> 01:19:19,050
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to
you.

1117
01:19:19,810 --> 01:19:26,770
In retrospect, my wife and I should

1118
01:19:26,770 --> 01:19:28,390
have realized so much sooner.

1119
01:19:31,390 --> 01:19:33,670
Mickey was slow to talk.

1120
01:19:35,080 --> 01:19:39,740
I mean, even going back to when he was a
little boy at Hershey Park, and there's

1121
01:19:39,740 --> 01:19:44,400
this great, expansive, huge, world
-class rides, and he was just so content

1122
01:19:44,400 --> 01:19:45,400
splash in a puddle.

1123
01:19:45,700 --> 01:19:48,380
So we realized that something was
different.

1124
01:19:48,900 --> 01:19:54,360
And so when he had the autism diagnosis,
it felt like, this explains it.

1125
01:19:56,820 --> 01:19:59,000
It really was a shock to my system.

1126
01:19:59,480 --> 01:20:03,920
And I knew I had to be there for my
family. And to do that, I had to get my

1127
01:20:03,920 --> 01:20:04,920
right.

1128
01:20:05,870 --> 01:20:11,570
I decided to do whatever I could to kind
of keep the mental fires burning.

1129
01:20:13,870 --> 01:20:18,790
I was trying to do traditional stand -up
comedy, but I found that I was running

1130
01:20:18,790 --> 01:20:21,290
away from my strengths, which was my day
job.

1131
01:20:21,510 --> 01:20:23,490
That was what people wanted to hear
about.

1132
01:20:24,590 --> 01:20:29,410
Going out there on the stage is the best
form of exercise for your mind.

1133
01:20:29,690 --> 01:20:31,430
You're memorizing routines.

1134
01:20:32,410 --> 01:20:36,730
You are creating new content and you are
playing off the audience.

1135
01:20:37,190 --> 01:20:39,050
This is like mental gymnastics.

1136
01:20:39,830 --> 01:20:46,410
No matter what I did, no matter how many
matches I had, I could not figure out

1137
01:20:46,410 --> 01:20:51,850
the secret of the Terry Funk punch. And
then Terry Funk punched me as hard as he

1138
01:20:51,850 --> 01:20:52,850
could in the head.

1139
01:20:55,130 --> 01:20:56,170
I was like, that's it?

1140
01:20:56,870 --> 01:20:57,930
That's all you do?

1141
01:20:58,610 --> 01:21:01,190
I think it's very cathartic for him.

1142
01:21:01,720 --> 01:21:02,960
To do these one -man shows.

1143
01:21:03,440 --> 01:21:06,360
He gets relief and therapy.

1144
01:21:07,540 --> 01:21:09,440
I found out I was no longer irrelevant.

1145
01:21:09,800 --> 01:21:11,840
I was part of people's lives.

1146
01:21:12,620 --> 01:21:13,800
Come on up here.

1147
01:21:14,740 --> 01:21:17,980
I just wanted to tell you, we named our
dog after him. What did you name him?

1148
01:21:18,240 --> 01:21:20,020
His name is Mick Foley. Oh, that's
awesome.

1149
01:21:20,280 --> 01:21:25,480
He had his ears taken off by dog
fighters. And we went, his name is Mick.

1150
01:21:25,760 --> 01:21:27,220
It's a big commitment when you name an
animal.

1151
01:21:29,200 --> 01:21:32,820
I wanted to ask the second question of
you. Go ahead. You are an ordained

1152
01:21:32,820 --> 01:21:33,820
minister.

1153
01:21:34,060 --> 01:21:38,420
I guess so. I took the course. Would you
marry us? Oh, would I marry you? Are

1154
01:21:38,420 --> 01:21:41,500
you going to get married in Florida?
Yeah. We are. Would you marry us? I will

1155
01:21:41,500 --> 01:21:42,500
marry you.

1156
01:21:42,540 --> 01:21:46,780
Do you expect me to say no with the A andE
cameras on me? You used to live on

1157
01:21:46,780 --> 01:21:47,840
Sharewater Beach.

1158
01:21:48,340 --> 01:21:54,880
Yeah, I can do that. Why is it that he
makes people so happy? Oh, Mick is a

1159
01:21:54,880 --> 01:21:56,800
Santa Claus all year round.

1160
01:21:57,390 --> 01:22:02,410
Anyone with that kind of mentality,
wants to give, wants to make people

1161
01:22:02,550 --> 01:22:03,549
that's Mick Foley.

1162
01:22:03,550 --> 01:22:04,610
That's what Mick's all about.

1163
01:22:10,130 --> 01:22:12,990
I feel like I'm bleaching like a goat.

1164
01:22:17,650 --> 01:22:20,130
Anything worth doing is worth doing
well, right?

1165
01:22:30,060 --> 01:22:31,300
Oh, wow, that looks good.

1166
01:22:34,180 --> 01:22:39,660
When I was portraying characters in
wrestling, I had to be tougher and

1167
01:22:39,660 --> 01:22:40,740
and more resilient.

1168
01:22:41,040 --> 01:22:45,660
In trying to portray Santa to the best
of my abilities, I had to be kinder and

1169
01:22:45,660 --> 01:22:50,540
gentler and more patient than I was in
real life. And I love the idea of trying

1170
01:22:50,540 --> 01:22:52,160
to live up to that standard.

1171
01:22:54,320 --> 01:22:57,540
All right, this is the big one here.

1172
01:23:01,969 --> 01:23:08,370
What? He will write letters as Santa
Claus to my kids every year

1173
01:23:08,370 --> 01:23:15,070
in a fountain pen, will come over as
Santa just to be caught

1174
01:23:15,070 --> 01:23:18,850
sneaking out of the house so that my
kids still believe they're Santa.

1175
01:23:19,790 --> 01:23:23,730
I was a huge fan of the band The Kinks
when I was in high school.

1176
01:23:24,530 --> 01:23:28,690
At that time, The Kinks were touring
huge arenas all over the world.

1177
01:23:29,610 --> 01:23:33,690
The lead singer was asked what that was
like. He said, it doesn't really matter

1178
01:23:33,690 --> 01:23:35,010
as long as I can see faces.

1179
01:23:36,070 --> 01:23:40,610
And his answer at the time disappointed
me, and then I realized how true that

1180
01:23:40,610 --> 01:23:41,610
was.

1181
01:23:41,790 --> 01:23:42,790
Yes,

1182
01:23:44,990 --> 01:23:49,070
my friends, how are you today? Look at
that. Do you mind if Santa pulls up a

1183
01:23:49,070 --> 01:23:50,070
chair here?

1184
01:23:51,010 --> 01:23:52,010
Okay.

1185
01:23:53,090 --> 01:23:58,170
Santa and Mrs. Claus and the elves went
through this entire book, page by page

1186
01:23:58,170 --> 01:23:59,039
like this.

1187
01:23:59,040 --> 01:24:00,320
Reach in there, my friend.

1188
01:24:02,100 --> 01:24:03,740
Oh, I think that's it.

1189
01:24:04,060 --> 01:24:06,040
Have any idea? I believe that's a ball.

1190
01:24:06,400 --> 01:24:08,780
I believe it's a pair of sneakers.

1191
01:24:11,700 --> 01:24:16,820
I can honestly say I feel better now
than I did 15 years ago.

1192
01:24:17,520 --> 01:24:21,360
That's really amazing that people have
allowed me to become part of their

1193
01:24:21,360 --> 01:24:24,720
traditions. Yeah, there's always
something to look forward to.

1194
01:24:26,300 --> 01:24:27,920
I think mixed.

1195
01:24:28,160 --> 01:24:35,080
Foley's self -worth is predicated on

1196
01:24:35,080 --> 01:24:37,040
his ability to be great at something.

1197
01:24:39,520 --> 01:24:42,980
And Mick found something at which he can
be great.

1198
01:24:45,180 --> 01:24:49,720
I can never drop an elbow again. I've
got a ball of steel where my hip used to

1199
01:24:49,720 --> 01:24:55,240
be. But that's a relatively small price
to pay for having had the chance to live

1200
01:24:55,240 --> 01:24:56,240
out my dreams.

1201
01:25:03,020 --> 01:25:08,060
I know how unusual it is for someone
like me to feel optimism about tomorrow

1202
01:25:08,060 --> 01:25:12,140
after what I put myself through in
countless yesterdays.

1203
01:25:13,200 --> 01:25:17,360
But when I'm asked about my life, I can
look people in the eye and answer them

1204
01:25:17,360 --> 01:25:18,360
truthfully.

1205
01:25:18,880 --> 01:25:20,000
Yes, it hurt.

1206
01:25:21,340 --> 01:25:24,680
No, I'm not a psychopath, I don't think.

1207
01:25:26,520 --> 01:25:28,860
And yes, I do have some regrets.

1208
01:25:30,350 --> 01:25:34,790
There were times I put my family through
the ringer and they responded with the

1209
01:25:34,790 --> 01:25:35,790
gift of acceptance.

1210
01:25:37,110 --> 01:25:40,170
It's a gift I'll spend the rest of my
life appreciating.

1211
01:25:42,330 --> 01:25:45,650
I know that people are always going to
keep asking those questions.

1212
01:25:46,650 --> 01:25:52,250
And I know there are still going to be
days when I ask myself, was it worth it?