15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Mick Foley's Hell In A Cell

"I'm glad they went back up [on top of the Cell], because it added to the storyline; but sometimes you can storyline yourself right to the hospital".

That quote from legendary announcer Jim Ross during VICE's season six opener for 'Dark Side Of The Ring' was both thoughtful and dramatic. JR was at ringside for Mick Foley's iconic Hell In A Cell war with The Undertaker back at WWE's King Of The Ring 1998 pay-per-view. He watched a good friend put his body through the wringer to entertain millions, and Mick is still paying the price for doing so today - he's one of many wrestlers who destroyed their bodies for the business.

Some of the doc is stuff you've definitely heard before. Practically every wrestling fan has watched countless amounts of juicy content about the most controversial Cell encounter of all time by now, but VICE's team does throw up some hidden gems. The final 10 minutes of the episode, in particular, go in-depth about the real impact of Foley's big bumping style during a career littered with painful falls, weapon shots, fire, barbed wire and more.

At heart, this is a human story. Members of the Foley family, including Mick's wife Colette, daughter Noelle and son Mickey, appear as talking heads to give their thoughts on one of wrestling's most talked-about stunt shows. Throughout, it's easy to see why Mick became such a sympathetic, likeable figure. After all, he was only doing all of this craziness so you'd like him a little more.

Naturally, there's a grim side, but that'll only become clearer the longer Foley lives. Here's everything learned from VICE's latest.

Punch "technical wrestler" into Google and you won't see Mick Foley name pop up. Whether he was Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love or just plain ol' Mick, "Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy" was never known for his technical acumen between the ropes. That doesn't mean Mick couldn't appreciate rugged strong style grappling or technical prowess though. In fact, he was obsessed with it.

Colette Foley recalls the couple's initial bedroom furniture being a humble mattress on the floor. There was a beat up old black and white TV with a semi-broken VCR player next to it, and that VCR was always stuffed with the latest delights from Japan. Mick told VICE he’d sometimes watch up to 12 hours of Japanese wrestling a day before going there to work opposite Terry Funk. He was fascinated by the realism and storytelling.

Of course, Foley particularly enjoyed the hardcore stylings that proved popular on the tape trading market. Explaining his love of deathmatches, Mick said: "You have to defeat the surroundings”. That's a unique way of looking at things, and it puts a fresh spin on some of Foley's most iconic matches in Japan, WCW, ECW and WWE.

One can only imagine how patient Colette was to sit through some of this stuff though. She wasn't a huge wrestling fan, so it must've been...interesting to sit there and watch her soon-to-be husband devour every Japanese wrestling nugget he could get his hands on. Technical wrestling, strong style matches, hardcore garbage style - Mick adored it all.

12 hours a day made Foley a pro wrestling expert before he was ever a big star.