MICK FOLEY SPEAKS
Mick Foley aka Mankind/Dude Love/Cactus Jack was the special
guest on an addition of Byte This, the WWF real audio
program hosted by Kevin Kelly. Here's what he said:
"To clear up one thing... I don't want people to think that I wrestled the last
five minutes with a big white booger in my nose... (it was a tooth). I don't
know how it got there.... one big long one could be put back in. I had a
concussion, and a couple of ribs were out of place, dislocated shoulder...
apparently my jaw was dislocated but put back in while I was unconscious.
The thing that's really bothering me now.... under my lip, there's a big hole
there right now, I can put my tongue through, it could be a new type of
French Kissing."
"The Thumbtacks? That's nothing! I was numb by then anyway..... the
conversation I had with the Undertaker after the match was basically, "did I
remember to use tacks?""
He said that he didn't realize Terry Funk was choke-slammed, and was puzzled when he came-to and
saw Funk's sneakers in the ring. Comparing Hell in the Cell to other gimmick matches, he chose HITC
as by far the worst kind in his experience, because it went beyond pain to sheer loss of self awareness.
"I kept trying to pull it together.. it was frustrating that I couldn't"... "That's the first time my wife
shouted at me after a match... no sympathy from the wife"
His wife, Colette complained "It made me sick! I didn't think he was going to get up! I knew he was
trying to get the Undertaker to.... I knew a little bit, but when I saw that cage start to give I knew
something was going to happen... when the Undertaker choke slammed him, he started dropping... I
thought it was the end! I was furious with Mick.... My kids see all the wild matches, Buried Alive, all
the wild ones, in ECW, WWF, they're not phased anymore.... (but this time) they were hysterical. The
kids were crying, my daughter was screaming and crying, I was cursing. I could see in his face that he
wasn't there, he got up, but he was not home."
"What was so sick... after all the abuse, he comes out with a little sack of tacks.... and I thought, "I am
married to this whacko?!?""
Kelly asked him about the prognosis for his return; "I don't say (to doctors) "when can I wrestle
again?"... I just say.... aah. I'll be there in Boston!" continued the beaten hardcore hero. "I'll defiantly
be there. The thing about wrestling, you have to learn how to fake it, I have to pretend I feel good, to
get in there,I have to pretend I'm healthy."
Foley finished on how he felt about the crowd's great reaction to the hardened heel after the match,
when assorted fans were clearly audible, calling him "the best there is", "the greatest of all time" and
chanting his name ("Foley") in a truly touching moment in respect for his sacrifice and passion.
"It was kind of touching. People chanting my name... I wasn't really coherent then, it was the next day
when we watched the match in the catering room, where we eat lunch around tv tapings, the guys all
clapped.... It made me feel pretty good!"
*All Credit on the above article goes to wwf.com/byte this and also
Blake Norton and the Bagpipe Report.
