Mick Foley, the most underrated legend of all time.

[seabs]

I chose the above picture for a very literal reason, we all love Foley and his hardcore tendancies. However it seems that now he's remembered solely as a hardcore brawler, leaving many people to forget his variety of characters he could portray, his ability to provoke emotion on the stick, his technical ability and his greatest ability in making his opponent feel special. Note this thread will include hardcore brawls, I'm not questioning Foley's greatness in this area rather wishing you see the other things he's great at too.

The promos.​

What defines a great mic worker for you? Now to me it's the emotion they cause, a great mic worker can make me feel compassion for the character at one moment. Mick made me laugh, question his sanity and root for him so many times it was unreal. I'll start with his most famous promo, the Cane Dewey one from the good old days of ECW.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28KH9YiJ9DI[/yt]

He's trying desperately to make Tommy Dreamer go to WCW, showing the ECW fans aren't worth the pain he's been through for them. Listen to how his voice cracks as though he's about the burst out in tears, show me a better emotional promo I beg you.

Now let's jump forward to 1997 I think this is

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c278y0taIU[/yt]

The three faces all on one screen, the demented Mankind, the casual Dude Love and the psychotic Cactus Jack all in one clip, look how he changes his body language and voice tone between the three.

We're running further along the Foley timeline to a promo with another personal favorite Edge prior to Summerslam 08.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmay525oCMA[/yt]

This is a master class in how you put someone over in a promo, this allows Edge to transfer from his conning character into a literal threat for Undertaker in his match, the Hell in A Cell.

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The matches​

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Mick was the king of putting people over, from Sting in the early 90s to Edge and Wrestlemania 22. I'll pass on this ability as we all know he can do it better than most.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG-l6Wxo6As[/yt]

Clashing with another great in Shawn at IYH : Mind Games, how much do you love psychology in wrestling? If it's alot watch this and especially watch for Foley stabbing his leg with a pen to get the feeling back to continue his battle with Shawn. Also the SCM after leaping on the chair is a spot I love.

The HIAC against Taker. Yes the spots were holyshit worthy but this established the character as a face IMO, being thrown into the table smiling and coming back for me, he emoddied everything a good guy needed to be and more, he'll keep on coming back for me this is the selling of his character, a trait which he was phenomenal at but is very often left out when evalutaing him. Who couldn't love that?

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iaw6-i0LtPo[/yt]

I can't find the video but I must end this section with Cactus Jack vs HHH at the Royal Rumble 2000, he made Hunter here and I doubt anyone could deny that. It was Hardcore but the selling from both was immense, as was Foley's gritty determination from a psychological aspect. Plus the return of Cactus on one of The Smackdown's previous is a work of art in it's self.

The Variety.​

I'm going to just post 4 videos here and leave it at that, it'll go from psycho Mankind - Dude Love - Comedy Mankind - to the return of Cactus Jack. There is nothing more I can say about the many faces of Mrs Foley's baby boy.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYrdpZjIQUQ[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6nMKByeh4Q[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDEjyO0JpsY[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0H30BK9i4[/yt]

Now all remember Foley is Good.

 

[PSachkovsky]

FOLEY IS GOD!

To me he is the best damn legend there ever existed. Fuck all them Burno Sammartino's and Hulk Hogan's. This man right here is the definition of the word LEGEND!

 

[seabs]

FOLEY IS GOD!

To me he is the best damn legend there ever existed. f*ck all them Burno Sammartino's and Hulk Hogan's. This man right here is the definition of the word LEGEND!

I agree he was a better talent than both of those, sadly their impact on the business was bigger than his but I see where you're coming from.

 

[PSachkovsky]

I agree he was a better talent than both of those, sadly their impact on the business was bigger than his but I see where you're coming from.

While Hulk Hogan put wrestling on the map, to me he succeeded only because he was such a ass-kisser. Mick Foley on the other hand never was an ass-kisser. He was a guy who made his own impact, because he cared about the business he is in! This man lives, breathes, sweats and bleeds wrestling!

 

[Super Saiyan Goku]

Without Mick Foley this now Harcore in WWE and I mean harcore in Mick way!

 

[PSachkovsky]

Without Mick Foley this now Harcore in WWE and I mean harcore in Mick way!

:upset: Can't understand what you are saying bro...

 

[seabs]

:upset: Can't understand what you are saying bro...

Without Mick Foley there is no hardcore in WWE, at least as extreme as Foley took it I think.

 

[PSachkovsky]

Without Mick Foley there is no hardcore in WWE, at least as extreme as Foley took it I think.

You'll be his translator from now on...

tunga:

 

[Super Saiyan Goku]

Without Mick Foley there is no hardcore in WWE, at least as extreme as Foley took it I think.

close enouth.

 

[PSachkovsky]

close enouth.

*enough

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Underrated by who? I think most realize Mick is a fucking amazing performer.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Great thread though, just not sure if I'd say he is underrated. Depends on who we are talking about I guess.

 

[seabs]

Underrated by who? I think most realize Mick is a fucking amazing performer.

A lot of people tend to only see him as a glorified stuntman from what I've seen, I think it was that kanenenite guy who said he was a poor wrestler at one point also. It's amazing but some people just see him as that guy taker through off of a cell.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

Yea, I see some ignoramuses drop the stuntman line. I like to think intelligent people, who are the only ones I concern myself with, recognize his brilliance.

 

[Lockard 23]

Well, in the ring, he was known almost entirely for his hardcore antics. He even says in his first book that he's a poor technical wrestler. He's nicknamed the Hardcore Legend for a reason. Not that I see anything bad about that, it's one of his big claims to fame. But he also had a wide range of different emotions that he could convey in his promos.

I also love Foley for also bringing life to three...no, four different 'characters.' Mankind was bizarre and deranged, Dude Love was psychedelic and peace-loving, Cactus Jack was the most 'hardcore' and the closest to Foley's real personality (just amped up a little) and then there's just normal Mick Foley himself. Not always a hardcore legend in the ring, he actually shows he can be just an ordinary, fun-loving kind of guy.

He also left his fingerprints on a few important moments in WWE history. He had an awesome feud and was Undertaker's toughest opponent yet (and is still up there right behind Kane as his toughest) and was the first (behind Hogan) guy to defeat Undertaker cleanly. Then there's Paul Bearer turning on Undertaker in favor of Mankind, which was a big moment in Taker's career. They had the first ever Buried Alive match and the most talked about HIAC match of all time. Foley also gets to brag about being Austin and Rock's first ever opponent after they won their world titles (and he won all three of his belts by pinning the two of them on different occasions.) He also helped make Triple H look like a superstar and later put over Randy Orton and Edge in a big way.