10 Wrestling Gimmicks That Weren’t Supposed To Last Long
8. Mr Socko
Yurple The Clown wasn't destined to make too many appearances alongside Mick Foley even in the cutest iteration of his Mankind persona, but she probably thought she stood more chance of a repeat fee than the tube sock Foley pulled from his pants to impress the bed-ridden Mr McMahon.
The 'invention' of 'Mr Socko' perhaps remains the best and worst moment of Mick Foley's career. On one...erm...hand, it represents the flash of inspiration that saved his body for much of 1999 whilst he (partially) recovered from a litany of injuries ahead of one last huge run at the top of the card against Triple H. On the other, he was, for a generation of fans, not the 'Hardcore Legend' but a sock-toting buffoon.
Over is over in professional wrestling though, and Mr Socko was over. The Mandible Claw lost all of its fearsome force, but the roars from the crowd only grew louder when Foley made the deep dive towards his own d*ck for the hidden secret weapon. His last match to date was the 2012 Royal Rumble, famed only for a spot in which his sock took on Santino Marella's Cobra.
The action stunk, but the wildly popular sock did not.