Few performers within the historical past {of professional} wrestling may take a “bump” like Mick Foley, who grew to become often known as the “Hardcore Legend” for his willingness to get crushed with steel chairs, impaled with sharp objects and subjected to different brutalities that will make most of his fearsome-looking colleagues run for security.
But Foley proved way over a hefty brute with an unusually excessive ache threshold, as he additionally pushed the bounds for the way a wrestler may have interaction with followers by portraying a number of totally different characters to nice impact over the course of his Hall of Fame profession.
Here’s a have a look at the wrestling icon’s most distinguished ring personas:
Cactus Jack
Mick Foley as Cactus Jack
Photo: JP Yim/Getty Images
Following his uneven early years within the enterprise, Foley discovered his footing within the latter half of the 1980s in what grew to become his longest-running and arguably hottest character. This iteration of Cactus Jack wasn’t but a fleshed-out creation, however after a stint as Cactus Jack Manson, during which he performed off the serial-killer vibe of infamous cult chief Charles Manson, Foley funneled among the creepier parts into the sadist who turbocharged the World Championship Wrestling and Eastern Championship Wrestling promotions within the 1990s.
Along along with his signature “Bang bang!” catchphrase, Cactus Jack grew to become recognized for wielding barbed-wire bats in his more and more bloody appearances, seemingly reaching the restrict when a botched maneuver vs. Big Van Vader in Munich, Germany, resulted in his proper ear being torn off. But the incident did little to dampen Foley’s style for violence, and he discovered the best showcase for his abilities by surviving the beating, burning and bludgeoning featured at IWA Japan’s “King of the Death Match” match in 1995.
Although he seemingly left Cactus Jack behind after transferring to WWE shortly afterward, Foley later donned the outdated “Wanted: Dead” t-shirt and slipped again into the character when pushed to the breaking level by overzealous opponents, together with Triple H in 2000 and Randy Orton in 2004.
Mankind
Mick Foley as Mankind
Foley’s shot on the large stage of WWE got here with the mandate that he assume the brand new persona of a masked character. He ultimately embraced the problem to develop into the distinct and disturbing determine of Mankind, a tormented soul who lived in a boiler room, confided in his pet rat, George, and delivered the throat-stuffing transfer often known as the “Mandible Claw.”
This characterization made Mankind the proper opponent for the Undertaker, an enormous who additionally trafficked at the hours of darkness aspect of human nature, and each loved the enhance offered by their “Boiler Room Brawl” and “Buried Alive” matches, although Foley once more seemingly went too far when his physique was practically damaged by the falls sustained at their 1998 “Hell in a Cell” showdown.
The wrestler bounced again with a reinvented model of Mankind, this one a extra likable lug who carried round a sock puppet named Mr. Socko. His matches have been nonetheless marked by grotesque moments – the Mandible Claw was now administered with Mr. Socko on his hand – however Mankind surprisingly grew to become a fan favourite on par with high attracts like Shawn Michaels and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. He started his off-and-on-again run as WWE champion by defeating The Rock in December 1998, and shortly joined his fellow WWE Hall of Famer to kind the profitable Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection.
Dude Love
Mick Foley in 2019 sporting a tie-dye shirt like his character, Dude Love
Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images
The least-used of Foley’s main character creations additionally occurred to be his first. The gregarious, happy-go-lucky Dude Love was spawned again when an underage Foley was nonetheless horsing round in yard wrestling movies along with his buddies, the legend captured in a movie quick from 1985 known as The Loved One. The WWE model of Dude Love surfaced a dozen years later, following a sequence of promotional interviews during which an anguished Mankind revealed his dashed childhood desires, and the emergence of the dancing, goofy hippie gave the wrestler one other platform to showcase his distinctive theatrical chops.
While Dude Love’s run was short-lived, the character offered a enjoyable counterbalance to the no-nonsense depth of Austin for a number of memorable matches and finally aided Foley’s ascent to the highest of the WWE pecking order.
Mick Foley
Mick Foley wrestling as himself in 2004
Photo: KMazur/WireImage
Finally, after years of absorbing painful bumps and brutal beatings in different guises, Foley had garnered sufficient inventive freedom and viewers goodwill to carry out underneath his actual identify within the 2000s. In one sense, Mick Foley the wrestler merely introduced his earlier characters collectively beneath the ring garb of an everyman flannel shirt. This was finest exemplified by his WrestleMania 22 match in opposition to Edge, during which the Hardcore Legend brandished certainly one of Mankind’s socks wrapped within the barbed wire favored by Cactus Jack.
But the promotion of the Foley identify additionally enabled him to make the profitable transition to elder statesman and authority determine as WWE commissioner, broadcaster and RAW common supervisor, an incarnation that stored the favored champion within the highlight even after his oft-battered physique signaled that it was time to ease off the body-slams.
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