Mick Foley & Jim Ross
Mick Foley & Jim Ross
Mick Foley & Jim Ross
Mick Foley & Jim Ross
Jim Ross (commentating): Tonight we look further into the macabre musings of the Deranged Mankind. Last week, we learned of Mick Foley's evolution into Mankind through a dream that wouldn't die.
Mankind: I didn't want to ride horses along a field. I didn't want to fish for trout in a stream. I wanted to be where the blood and guts were, Jimmy.
So I put out my thumb, Jimmy, and it took sixteen or seventeen hours, but I made my way to the Garden. It took just about all the money I had in the world, but I got a front row seat, and I saw the move that would change my life, when Jimmy Snuka came off the top of the cage. I saw people stand up, and I saw people cheer, and I knew that I wasn't the only person who's life was changed in that arena. I realized, Jimmy, that I wanted to do the same thing. I wanted to hear people cheer for me for some act of bravery that I committed. I wanted to hear, see people's emotions. I wanted to see children cry out of love for me at the things I could do inside of the ring.
Jim Ross (commentating): In the next hour, we'll take you through a bizarre journey through the twisted training grounds for the man known then as Cactus Jack.
Mankind: And I walked out there the first time and I saw barbed wire strung up instead of ring ropes. And I said, "I'm finally home!! Mrs. Foley's little boy, is finally home!!".
Jim Ross (commentating): Mankind. What fuels the insanity? So far, we've explored the tormented youth of Mick Foley. And we've seen his bizarre, underground home video. Tonight, we'll explore his formative years of his wrestling career. One that began with a brief stint in the WWF as the unheralded Jack Foley in 1986. But despite performing before several organizations, success wasn't achieved until Mick Foley unveiled his dark alter-ego, the sadistic, Cactus Jack.
Mankind: What made Cactus Jack different......was he just wanted it, a little bit more. He was willing to go the extra length. He was willing to sleep in a filthy car in order to achieve his dream. He was willing to forgo fun and romantic relationships to be the best. He was somebody in an era of bodybuilder physiques. Who carved his own niche. Said, "I'm going to make it on my own style" said, "No one else is going to tell me what to do. I'm not going to dye my hair. I'm going to be exactly who I am. And I'm going to do it my way".
Jim Ross (commentating): As the legend of Cactus Jack grew, so to his affinity for pain. Concerned independent promoters soon asked him to tame his increasingly brutal behavior. But Mick Foley always did things his way. Instead of compromise, he left the United States to seek satisfaction in a bizarre, sadistic wrestling sub-culture in Japan.
Mankind: When I've heard rumor about these horrible matches that took place, and I didn't care. As far as I was concerned, this was my destiny. And I walked out the first time and I saw barbed wire strung up instead of ring rope. And I said, "I'm finally home!! Mrs. Foley's little boy is finally home!!". And Jimmy, I kid you not when I say it didn't matter the match. I wrestled on bed of nails. I wrestled on 10,000 thumbtacks. I wrestled on c-4 explosives. And the funny thing was, it didn't matter how mutilated I was, physically, I filled myself......spiritually. Because for the first time, I was respected. I'll go so far as say I was loved. People lined up and chanted my name, "Cactus Jack!! Cactus Jack!!". They sure as hell didn't line up, like they do here to spit on me!! To pee in paper cups and pour it on me!! I had my dignity, and I'm not sure I got it anymore.
Jim Ross: Obviously, these matches in Japan were bizarre, they were dangerous, career threatening. If I'm not mistaken, I've see you've been rubbing your own arm a lot since we've been talking. Very significant scars there. Those occurred in one of those matches in Japan that you've talked about?
Mankind: Ye shall strip his sleeve and show his scars and say, "These wounds I had at St. Crispian's day. And the good story shall be told from father to his son. For we shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we brothers. For he who sheds his blood with me today, shall be my brother". It's kind of touching. Isn't it?
Jim Ross: Ooh, you know a little Shakespeare. You're very well read. Aren't you?
Mankind: You see Jimmy, it shows me that...I'm not alone. There's nothing freaky about being proud. When I look in the mirror, you know what I see?
Jim Ross: I'll be afraid to guess. I don't know.
Mankind: I see a life fulfilled. I see a road map of everywhere I've been. I just have to look and see Tokyo Japan, Munich Germany, Louisville Kentucky and everywhere in between.
Jim Ross (commentating): The nomadic reign of Cactus Jack lasted eleven years. But his fondest memory occurred aboard a commercial airliner where his battle ravaged body made an indelible impression on a fellow passenger.
Mankind: I'm a coach class person. But they took one look at my wounded face, my stitched and battered arm, my stitched head, my stitched hand, my stitched ear, and they bumped me up. The woman sitting next to me didn't quite understand that. She spent double her money and ended up moving back to coach to get away from me. She felt that much of me, that she couldn't stand to be around me. And not a day goes by when I don't think of her face, drifting to the back. And I stretched out in her seat, and I had the ride of my life. I was the Deathmatch Champion, and I had the ability to make people sick!!
Jim Ross (commentating): Next week, the metamorphosis is complete as Mankind impacts the WWF.
Mankind: Every time I put on the Mandible Claw, in my mind, that's Vince McMahon, and I'm saying, "Why didn't you take me when I was good?!! Why didn't you take me when I was young?!!"
“I was the Deathmatch Champion, and I had the ability to make people sick!” was produced by WWE.
Mick Foley released “I was the Deathmatch Champion, and I had the ability to make people sick!” on Mon Jun 02 1997.