What more can be written about Mick Cactus Jack Foley? One of the biggest wrestling stars of the late 1990s; Mick was instrumental in helping to turn WWFs fortunes around, returning the company to prominence as part of a wonderful roster that included Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kane, The Rock, Triple H and others still. Mick Foley will always be known as the hardcore lunatic that took a lot of big bumps, but he should also be remembered as one of wrestlings all time great ring psychologists, as well. After being consistently underused by the WCW system for many years, Foley walked out on a considerable income and embarked on an intrepid journey to Japan and the indies. He eventually arrived in ECW just in time to work with Sabu (which was something of a dream match for hardcore fans) and found that he was already over before hed even set foot in the ECW arena. From there, ECW and Cactus Jack became an equally important part of each others respective legacies. ECW, for its part, needed men that werent afraid to put their bodies on the line in order to get over - and Mick definitely fit that description. Foley, on the other hand, needed an outlet to express his ideas and to flesh out his character and ECW was surely the place for that. Foley has one of the best minds in the business (which is something of a shock, considering how many shots to the head Ive seen him take over the years) and, in the low-key, yet surprisingly democratic, ECW system (where literally everybody had a chance to find their niche regardless of in-ring talent, size, or anything else), he excelled. One of the best promos of all time, Foley got himself over first as a bloodletting madman and then as an anti-hardcore, WCW worshipping heel (which, in turn, did wonders to get Tommy Dreamer over as his polar opposite). His interviews (especially those recorded during the anti-hardcore period), should be required viewing for anybody that wants to be a professional wrestler. Finally, The WWF took notice of Cactus Jack and brought him in during 1996, in order to play a character called Mason The Mutilator. Thankfully, this was changed to Mankind The Mutilator and then (mercifully) was simply shortened to Mankind. There had never been a character quite like Mankind in wrestling before and Mick played this strange marriage of Hannibal Lector and Professor Moriarty extremely well. Mankind helped reinvigorate the career of The Undertaker and worked very well with almost every major talent WWF had at the time, from the flamboyant Goldust to the monstrous Kane. If you havent seen it before, check out Foleys match with Shawn Michaels at the In Your House Mind Games Pay Per View. It is totally breathtaking. Of course, Foleys star was set in molten gold after he took two amazing tumbles during the 1998 King of the Ring Pay Per View. Mankind worked with The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match at that time a relatively new concept - and he damn near killed himself doing so. Im sure that every fan on earth has watched that match by now, but if you havent do so. Foley would forever be over in the WWF/WWE from that point on. He even went on to become a three time WWF Champion. Later, Foley would phase in and out of retirement in a manner reminiscent of his friend/mentor Terry Funk and, during one such escapade, became TNAs World Heavyweight Champion, making Foley a four-time World Champ overall, as well as one of the most unique and transformative figures in the history of the business. Would WWF have picked Cactus Jack up from WCW? No, they had many chances to do just that and declined. Would they have picked him up from Japan, or the indies, without his time in ECW? With all due respect to Mick Foley (and believe me when I tell you that I have nothing but respect for the man), I personally doubt it. ...And thats it. The guys on this list would not have been as successful as they were without the guts and heart of the little company that could (kick your ass, that is) ECW.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
