10 Unbelievable Secrets Behind Mick Foley's Most Extreme Matches
Jessica Wilkins The career of Mick Foley is filled with matches that are defined by gory spectacle. Whether you're awestruck by Foley's audacity or horrified at all the bloodshed and mangled limbs, there's no way that you can look away once the high spots happen.
Mick Foley’s Ear & 9 More Visually Shocking Wrestling Injuries
When some injuries do happen in the ring, even the most naive fan knows full well - “that didn’t go right at all.”Though the Mickster's extreme stunts are all out in the open—immortalized in video clips on YouTube and the WWE Network—there are a lot of fascinating details about his matches that remained hidden for quite some time. With a little help from his friends, the passionate storyteller Foley has now pulled back the curtain on some memorable encounters.
10 Cactus Jack Vs. Eddie Gilbert: A Hospital Trip For The Ref
Usually, it's the competitors in need of a medical facility
Ring Name | Eddie Gilbert |
|---|---|
Nickname | Hot Stuff |
Billed Height | 5'10" |
Billed Weight | 222 lbs. |
Before Mick Foley became a cult favorite in ECW, he wrestled for the promotion's precursor Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. As Cactus Jack, he wrestled "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert on several occasions. One of these matches—held on May 18, 1991—was so intense that the referee got caught up in the physicality and was rushed to the hospital after the match.
The trip to the hospital, however, was all part of the performers' commitment to their craft. In reality, the referee suffered no serious injuries when he took his bump and was simply working the medics.
9 Cactus Jack Vs. Sabu: Little Dewey Was In Attendance
It wasn't "Take Your Child to Work Day"
Sabu's Career Matches in ECW | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
366 | 276 | 58 | 32 | 75.4% |
In no way, shape, or form could ECW be described as a child-friendly product or workplace. For reasons known only to him, Foley decided to bring his three-year-old son Dewey to the September 30, 1994 ECW event.
That night, Cactus Jack went toe-to-toe with Sabu in a match that was most certainly not PG-13. During the match, Sabu broke his ribs on the guardrails after a moonsault attempt and Jack took several blows on the head from a soda bottle that was oddly durable. Meanwhile, Dewey—who probably should have been left at home—was crying in the locker room.
8 Cactus Jack Vs. Terry Funk: Inadequate Bomb Explosions
Chainsaw Charlie, bless him, was insane
Terry Funk's Career Matches | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2,549 | 1,346 | 890 | 313 | 52.8% |
At some point, wrestlers who are passionate about the hardcore style need to be restrained from themselves. Case in point: when Terry Funk and Mick Foley were putting together their death match for IWA Kawasaki Dream in 1995, Funk wanted to retool a specific detail.
After seeing a demonstration of the explosions that would go off on the barbed wire boards, Funk decided that the C4 explosions couldn't just be four strong. They had to be six strong. Artistic decisions like these set Funk and Foley apart from lesser mortals who can't even fathom the concept of an explosion within a wrestling match.
14 Greatest Matches Of Terry Funk's Career, Ranked
The death of Terry Funk has made everybody appreciate what a great wrestler he was. Here are The Funker's best matches.7 Cactus Jack Vs. Shane Douglas: The Story Behind The Suit
Vicious competitor? Yes. Good friend? You bet.
ECW Title won by Douglas | No. of Reigns | Cumulative No. of Days as Champion |
|---|---|---|
ECW World Heavyweight Title | 4 | 874 days |
ECW World Television Title | 2 | 350 days |
Though wrestlers adopt in-ring personas that are fictitious in nature, glimpses of their personal lives can be caught from time to time. When Cactus Jack stepped into the ring at ECW CyberSlam 1996, he was clad not in his typical wrestling gear, but in a pretty nice suit meant for formal events. As it turned out, Mick Foley had attended a special occasion earlier that day.
Foley was at a friend's wedding, and apparently, he saw no need to change his attire for his match against Shane Douglas. (It's possible, of course, that he had no time to put on his wrestling tights after arriving at the venue.) There was nothing elegeant or formal, though, about the way that Douglas handcuffed Cactus Jack and inflicted chair shot after chair shot. As dangerous as that sounds, this wouldn't be the last time that Mick Foley would be cuffed and repeatedly blasted on the head.
6 Boiler Room Brawl: Continuity At The Expense Of Well-Being
Somehow, someway... The Undertaker's legend continues to grow
Date of 1996 PPV Match | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
November 17, 1996 | Undertaker def. Mankind | Singles match at Survivor Series |
October 20, 1996 | Undertaker def. Mankind | Buried Alive Match at In Your House: Buried Alive |
August 18, 1996 | Mankind def. Undertaker | Boiler Room Brawl at SummerSlam |
June 23, 1996 | Mankind def. Undertaker | Singles match at King of the Ring |
What do Mick Foley and Mark Calaway have in common? They've both shunned their physical health in favor of putting on a memorable performance. Such was the case when they taped the first half of their Boiler Room Brawl for SummerSlam 1996.
As they slugged it out in a boiler room the day before SummerSlam, Undertaker sustained an elbow injury that led to a significant amount of bleeding. Though medical staff offered to sew up the wound, 'Taker refused because it would hurt the continuity of the match's second half, which would take place in front of the live SummerSlam audience. On the day of the PPV, the bleeding on Undertaker's elbow would persist, even causing Terri Runnels to have a word with him regarding the unpleasant sight.
5 King Of The Ring 1998:Not-So-White Lies
Mick Foley lied to Vince McMahon, not once but twice
Superstar | No. of Hell in a Cell Matches | Wins | Losses | Draws/No Contests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mick Foley | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Undertaker | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
Just hours before the infamous Hell in a Cell Match at King of the Ring 1998, Mick Foley knew that McMahon had misgivings about the spot where Undertaker would throw Mankind off the top of the Cell. So, Foley assured McMahon that he had already managed to climb to the top of the structure beforehand; and that he was actually comfortable standing several feet above the ring.
Both these claims, however, were outright lies. McMahon nevertheless agreed, which meant that Foley now had the boss's approval to create an immortal moment.
4 "I Quit" Match: The Finish That Would Have Been
Could this have caused less distress to the Mickster's family?
Superstar | No. of WWE Title Reigns | Cumulative No. of Days as Champion |
|---|---|---|
Mick Foley | 3 | 47 days |
The Rock | 8 | 367 days |
During their "I Quit" Match for the WWE Title at Royal Rumble 1999, The Rock mercilessly delivered 11 chair shots to the head of Mankind. It was a gruesome sight to say the least, but apparently, this carnage was not part of the original plan for the match.
16 Violent Wrestling Matches That Are Hard To Watch
Brutality has always had a place in professional wrestling, but these violent matches were pretty hard to watch.On his podcast Foley is Pod, the Hardcore Legend said that the planned finish was going to be his actual utterance of the words "I quit" after looking out into the crowd and seeing the distress on his children's faces. Bizarrely, Foley second-guessed this finish because he thought that his kids—confident in their dad's resilience—might not have a look of concern when the time came.
3 Mankind Vs. Triple H: An Act Of Insubordination
Once again, Foley didn't listen to the Chairman
Superstar | No. of Matches in 2000 | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mick Foley | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 50% |
Triple H | 137 | 57 | 70 | 10 | 41.6% |
Shortly before Royal Rumble 2000, Vince McMahon had a very specific edict for the Triple H vs. Cactus Jack street fight. His edict: "No thumb tacks." The two competitors, hell-bent on putting on a match for the ages, did anything but comply with McMahon's mandate.
In an episode of Hot Ones, Foley narrated how he and his dance partner were of the same mind. "As soon as Mr. McMahon walked away, Triple H goes, 'You put them under the ring already?' And I said, 'Yeah, I got it taken care of.'" And so it was that the Chairman of the WWE was overruled.
2 Backlash 2004: The Rib Before The Rampage
Amidst the brutality that night, there was a lighthearted moment
Date of 2004 PPV Match | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
April 18, 2004 | Randy Orton def. Cactus Jack | No Holds Barred Match for the IC Title at Backlash |
March 14, 2004 | Evolution (Randy Orton, Batista, and Ric Flair) def. The Rock and Mick Foley | Handicap tag team match at WrestleMania XX |
At Backlash 2004, Randy Orton had his baptism of fire when he went up against Cactus Jack in a No Holds Barred match. The first blow he had to endure, however, wasn't a steel chair to the head but an affront to his integrity.
That night, Michael Hayes told Orton that, per orders of Vince McMahon, Orton had to wear a hockey helmet during his entrance. Orton, who was barely two years into his main roster run, obliged. Mercifully, Hayes told him that Orton it was a rib right before he came out for the match.
1 Mick Foley Vs. Edge: Sign Here, Please
Edge had some paperwork to fill before the Showcase of the Immortals
Edge's Matches in 2006 | Wins | Losses | Draws | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
157 | 37 | 119 | 1 | 23.6% |
Waivers aren't usually associated with pro wrestling performances, but there was one involved for a certain match at WrestleMania 22. Before the Street Fight between Mick Foley and Edge took place, Edge was made to sign a waiver declaring that WWE would not be liable for what he'd do in the ring.
"That was a lot of stupidity on my part," said Edge on the Brotherly Love podcast. "I always say that I'm probably missing a chip." Of course, if Edge hadn't signed that waiver, the unforgettable image of him spearing Foley through a flaming table might have never happened.
