The Q & A Session: Of Course Someone Asks About Hell In The Cell
By far the most interesting part of Mick Foley's "Tales From Wrestling Past" show was the question and answer session that he held with the audience towards the end of his routine. On this night, we were treated to several great questions, all of which led into even more stories. A young man asked about Foley's tour in Japan years ago alongside Terry Funk, and Foley elaborated about how they used munitions experts to set off explosions in the ring while they wrestled a particular match, and the end result was multiple burns and eviscerated skin that Foley had to deal with on a 15 hour flight back to the United States. A female audience member and fan also asked about his last match with Edge, to which Foley added he had warned Edge maybe they should reconsider what they had planned, but ultimately went through with things so Foley could finally have his "Wrestlemania Moment," that defining time of a WWE Superstar's career that only few really get to have, at WMXXII. But, of course and as expected, someone had to ask about Mick's match with The Undertaker, where the wrestled in the Hell In A Cell many years ago. A 15 foot high steel cage, of which I'd say most of you are familiar, with a roof on top, and a structure from which Foley fell from not once but twice on that fateful night. This was the most compelling part of Foley's show. The insight, the candor, and the genuine love for that moment, and by extension the love for his profession and all he has done and attempted to accomplish, shined through during this last bit. Foley spoke of being thrown from the top of the Cell that night, crashing 15+ feet below through the announcers ringside table, then being stretchered off and up the ramp towards the backstage area, with the match seemingly over. But Foley would rise from that stretcher, climb that cage one last time, and face The Undertaker down for what he had done: an Undertaker who then nearly threw him to his death. Foley described taking The Undertaker's choke slam on top of the structure, which was expected to hold his crashing frame upon impact. But it gave way, and he fell another 15 feet, this time into the ring itself, and was knocked unconscious. And in a fitting end to the story, the punchline came from the Undertaker himself, who asked the refs to check on Foley and his condition with 3 simple words: "Is he alive?" And Foley was alive, with a tooth driven up through his nose and a giant, gaping hole in his lip, and the Undertaker jumped down from the Cell's ceiling through the collapsed section of the cage that could not hold Foley's crashing frame, subsequently break his own foot enroute to ending the match. A defining moment in Mick's career, and the one match he will always be remembered for, a story told with great humility, vibrance, and genuine love "for the business" as only Mick Foley can do.