Probably the most under rated guy there is.
I won't even go into why he made WCW and ECW enjoyable, I mean outside of a feud with Vader that was the only reason to watch WCW and outside of cutting some of the best promos ever in ECW and putting over the younger talent that made that company what it was, Cactus Jack surely didn't do anything for those two companies...
So Foley moves to the land of the Federation. At this point, the Undertaker in his career is essentially a glorified Great Khali. He's slow, immobile, his matches are pretty terrible to tell the truth. The Undertaker's feud with Goldust began to crack the ice of what he would eventually become. Mick Foley and Mankind came to the WWE and cracked that ice completely. No longer was the Undertaker just a slow, methodical giant. He became an aggressive brawler, with high flying tendencies and more mat skill. His matches with Taker in the Boiler Room Brawl, Buried Alive and at Survivor Series 96 were the matches that transformed the Undertaker into the in ring general he is today. Thank You Mick Foley.
Triple H. Buried because of his selfishness, (no really, Triple H selfish, how dare I say that) after the Curtain Call, Vince was set to give this guy a push again. So he sticks him with a young man by the name of Chyna. Outside of that freak show, Triple H still wasn't getting over. Who to the rescue, Mick Foley of course. Mick Foley puts Trips over at King of the Ring, solidifying him in the mid card. That wasn't enough, Mick nearly steals the show at Summerslam 97 in the steel cage match to open the show.
Fast Forward 2 years later, the turn of the Millennium. The Internet is running amuck with wrestling forums saying how Triple H was a terrible choice for champion and that he wasn't ready. Hmmm, I guess the IWC was right about something. Triple H wasn't ready for the spotlight, and this was his third reign as WWF champion, that's sad. Here comes Mick Foley to the rescue. Street Fight and Hell in the Cell. Two of the matches that made Triple H as a wrestler. It took him from a snobby wrestling technician and turned him into the Cerebral Assasin, the Game as we know it today. The bloodthirsty dirty wrestler willing to bust you open with a sledgehammer. How did that get over? Because Mick Foley made it and Triple H look damn good.
The Rock: In 1999 The Rock was just a cocky guy on the mic. sure he was over, but he wasn't the megastar he was today. He was too cocky on the mic and really not humanized. It took Mick Foley to play the lovable goof to the Rock's asshole persona that made the Rock into the star he became. The Rock and Sock Connection made the Rock into the megastar he was.
Randy Orton. In 2004 we have a young punk by the name of Randy Orton. Sure he made a name for himself by beating up 60 year old retired wrestlers, wow that's impressive. Randy Orton didn't get famous until he started to call out Mick Foley. Mick Foley took Randy Orton and made him a superstar in his match at Backlash 2004. Without that match, Orton is just another asshole with a microphone, this at least showed he could bring his game up to the next level.
Edge: Oh yes, the Rated R superstar. One meaningless title reign into his career, Edge was somewhat over. Edge didn't get really over until his WM 22 matchup with Mick Foley. That match right there brought out a darker side in Edge, a sick side in Edge.
I could go on and on. Why did the WWF choose Mick Foley to feud with the Undertaker, Steve Austin, the Rock, and Triple H immediately after they won WWF titles? Why, because Mick Foley has an uncanny ability to make the people he works with look good. Mick is violent and a brawler, but he sells like no other in this business. He'll injure himself to make others look good. That is what wrestling is, making other people look good just as much as making yourself look good. Any asshole can go out there and no sell and get over as a monster, but no one can get over based upon their ability to take punishment.
I just find it Ironic that the two biggest Mick Foley critics are the two biggest egos and most insecure personas probably in the history of the business. Triple H and Ric Flair have made their careers out of burying younger talent and wrestling the same exact match night in and night out. They latch themselves onto whoever the next hot thing in the business is just to give them limelight. They bitch about anyone that would dare retire from the business to spend time with their family, how dare they. Triple H and Ric Flair are probably pissed because Mick Foley will probably be remembered just as much, if not more then both of them by WWF/E fans. It doesn't matter how many world titles either of them win, more people will remember Mick Foley taking the sickest bump ever off the top of a cage.
I listen to guys like Bret Hart, Steve Austin, the Undertaker and on and on of guys like this that say that their was none tougher then Mick Foley. That Mick Foley is one of their guys. I take a glorified stuntman busting his ass every night in the ring over two stuck up snobs that believe that what they think wrestling should be is the only way to go. I take a guy like Mick Foley that walks out on Vince McMahon the night after the screwjob because he thought it was the right thing to do. I take Mick Foley, the guy that was blacklisted by the WWF in 2001 for shooting on the company for fucking up the Invasion storyline. I take Mick Foley, the guy that's not afraid to speak his mind about anything in the business.
Foley isn't good, Foley is god.
