mrbrownstone
Fucking Hostile
This is my first review of hopefully many more to come. Considering this is my first review any feedback on it be it positive or negative would be appreciated so I can improve on this.
Review Of Mick Foleys Greatest Hits and Misses
Disc 1
Your host naturally is Mick Foley. Foley introduces the DVD and puts over Vader a bit saying he was one of his favourite opponents, he also points out how dull Vader was in the WWF compared to his WCW days which is very true.
Cactus vs. Vader: Rating: ***1/2
This is a really stiff hard hitting brawl, not superb from and in ring standpoint but if you ever get someone telling you wrestling is fake this is the match to show them. The bullshit ending brought rating down a wee bit, for me a count out just doesn’t cut it as an ending for a match like this although Jack getting the upset win over the World Camp was pretty cool to see. Apart from that though this match certainly lived up to its reputation of being stiff as hell, those shots to Jacks face from Vader looked amazing and sounded great. The Jack wearing a crimson mask is always a great visual and this was no exception. I was slightly disappointed by this one to be honest though. Perhaps because it had such a reputation to live up to because of all I have heard about it on the Internet and in Foleys book or perhaps it just doesn’t age that well. Very good match for sure but not quite the classic I was expecting. These two have certainly had better matches.
Mick talks about how he was going to take a break from WCW to get some work done on his ear. He talks about the Nasties having a reputation of being sloppy in the ring but he knew they were good brawler so he thought this could be a good match.
WCW Tag Team Titles, Chicago Street Fight: Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne: ****
Wow, considering who was in there this exceeded all expectations I had for this match by a mile. This is by far the best match I have ever seen from the Nasties and possibly their best match ever, This was just an all out brawl and it worked brilliantly, if you didn’t know better you would say this match had taken place in ECW. All four men brought everything they had to this match and the end result was outstanding. They took this match all over the building and left carnage everywhere they went. As ever Cactus Jacks ability to take punishment is a highlight as those pool cue shots at the start and the fall from the ramp/shovel to the head at the end were absolutely sick as hell. Not much more can be said really, awesome match and probably the best the Nasties ever had.
We see part of the promo of Cactus spitting on the WCW tag team titles, which pissed off Flair. Foley says if Flair had seen the promo and not just heard of it he would have got what he was going for. Foley also talks about Sabu and says this next bout was seen as something of a dream match.
Cactus Jack vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911) ***1/2
Pretty good stuff here, Sabu is actually pretty fun to watch when he isn’t botching all over the place as was the case here. This was exactly what you would expect from these two hardcore legends, a wild all over the arena brawl with weapon shots and broken tables galore. Not a classic by any means and possibly not even the best match these two have ever had together but a good, fun brawl, which at the end of the day is all this was meant to be.
We see a promo on where Mick rhymes the words giant Cheeto and Candido, funny stuff. Foley puts Candido over for his ability to play a cowardly heel in a era dominated by monster heels.
Cactus Jack vs. Chris Candido: (w/ Tammy Fytch) ***
JR is on commentary here which surprises me as I never knew he worked for SMW. Not bad here but at the same time I just couldn’t get into this one for some reason. The in ring stuff was all right I suppose with some cool spots being incorporated by both guys. There is just something that I can’t quite put my finger on that kept me from really enjoying this one. We actually got to see Cactus do something resembling technical wrestling in this one as opposed to the brawling of the other matches, which is a nice change of pace. Not bad but nothing worth going out of your way to see.
Mick says that he and the Sandman had some great matches but this next one is not one of them, apparently the WWE people picked this match not him. Great endorsement there,
Texas Death Match: Cactus Jack vs. The Sandman (w/ Woman) *1/2
This is an absolutely appalling match. According to Cactus, Sandman was legitimately knocked out here so I guess I can excuse them for that. Sandman really did look out of it and almost Zombie like at times. They started to pick this up marginally near the end with some sick Cain shots to the head from Jack and then an elbow on the concrete with the chair but Sandman basically no selling two DDTs on the concrete took me right back out of it. Joey Styles says that Sandman is better than The Undertaker without directly mentioning Takers name which makes me laugh, not sure where to start with that one. Poor match, stay away from this one.
Foley talks about setting Terry Funk on fire which caused him to contemplate quitting the business, luckily for us though Terry left him a really nice answering machine message and things were fine.
Cactus Jack/Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer/Terry Funk (w/ Stevie Richards) ***3/4
Another good brawl here akin to the tag match from earlier on. Everyone was on their game here and there were some really cool hardcore spots in this one including a golf club shot to Ravens balls and a VCR shot to the head. I couldn’t help but laugh at Cactus Jack’s forgive me Uncle Eric shirt, that really is some great heel work in front of an ECW crowd or basically any crowd come to think of it. I loved the psychology of the ending too with Funk getting the pin so Dreamer still can’t lay claim to a pinfall victory over Raven. Good fun hardcore brawl, well worth checking out.
We see a clip of Foleys farewell speech from ECW. He says that the crowd reaction he got in this match is his favourite moment of his career.
Cactus Jack vs. Mikey Whipwreck ****1/4
That rating is for the moment as well, if I was rating the match just on its own merits then it is probably in the vicinity of ***3/4. Anyway, the reaction the fans give Cactus for his last match in ECW is amazing, after being a damn good heel for a while they give him a standing ovation and treated him as a face throughout the match. The match itself is very good too, Cactus brought everything he had for his last match in ECW and got an amazing match from Mikey Whipreck of all people, in my opinion probably the best match of Mikeys career. Mikey was very good in this match, including a sick dive of the stage. This is worth seeing just for the moment alone but the match is definitely a very nice bonus.
Disc 1 Extras
We get an interview with Foley from after his match with Vader. He says that despite his family fearing for his safety he must fight Vader one more time.
Cactus Jack vs. Sting ****
Great match and I can understand why Foley viewed this as his best match up until the Mind Games match with HBK. Awesome brawl as Sting was at the peak of his powers here and Cactus was still young and wasn’t beat up too badly yet. Taking that into consideration these two had an amazing match with a lot of sick bumps taken from Foley in particular. Having Foley and Coach on commentary is really cool too as Foley offers some great insight regarding what was going through his mind through out the match and talks about what they were going for in terms of the psychology of the match.
Cactus Spits on the WCW Belt: This is the full promo of Cactus spitting on the ECW belt as well as Paul E’s rebuttal. Lost in all the controversy of Jack spitting on a WCW belt is some exceptional mic work from Paul E in his response.
Cain Dewey Promo: We get the famous Cain Dewey promo which is still absolutely amazing stuff. Foley included a transcript of it in his book and rightfully so as it is one of the best promos of all time in my opinion.
Anti Hardcore Promo: Another great promo from Foley here, his mic skills during his time in ECW were absolutely amazing and this is no different.
Sabu vs. Cactus Jack (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911) **1/2
Not a great match here but it is far from unwatchable; their match from earlier on in this DVD was far better though. The bottle shots to the head that Jack took were unbelievable and according to him on commentary completely unplanned. The botched (it is a Sabu match after all) moonsault onto the railing from Sabu was also pretty sick, outside of those two spots though this was a pretty run of the mill hardcore match that has been seen about a million times before. The guest commentary was by far the highlight of this match as Foley again offered some really great insight into what he was thinking and feeling during this match. Decent stuff in ring but the commentary is what makes this worth watching.
We get the full Mick Foley ECW farewell speech; the crowd’s reaction to this is amazing. Foley puts over the guys in the back and says ECW will survive without him.
Les Thorton/Jack Foley vs. The British Bulldogs (w/ Lou Albano) ½*
Just a squash here but it is quite interesting to see Mick Foley before he became the hardcore legend we all know and love. Nothing match but a cool inclusion for the DVD set considering it was his 2nd ever match.
Mick Foley talks about some charity work he did with a group called operation smile, wrestlers doing charity stuff like this is always awesome and this is no exception.
Disc 2
Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) vs. Cactus Jack (w/ Paul Bearer) ****3/4
This was a 5 star match for me right up until that bullshit ending I understand why they did it but it still sucks. Foley has said that he was in his best physical shape ever leading into this match and after that I would be inclined to believe him, these two both went at each other full tilt for nearly 30 minutes and the end result was incredible. Amazing match that incorporates all different styles of wrestling from hardcore brawling to some high flying stuff from HBK to some technical wrestling which, surprisingly, came from Cactus as well, not just HBK. Also, that hangman spot from Mick Foley is great stuff. Awesome, awesome match and probably one of Foleys best ever if not his very best.
We see the always-awesome interview with Dude Love, Mankind and Cactus Jack.
Foley says this was his best match of 1997 and that he was caught by surprise by the enormity of the pop for Cactus Jack.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Chyna) vs. Cactus Jack Falls Count Anywhere ***1/2
Another good brawl here as has become the norm for this DVD thus far. This showed HHH’s aggressive streak off very nicely and we all know how good of a brawler Cactus is so they meshed together well for a very good match. It is really cool to see some rarer Raw matches on this DVD set instead of just PPV matches that have been seen a million times before. Great hardcore brawl but not even close to the best match these two would have which is scary considering how good this one was.
Mick says this was one of his all time favourite matches; this was also one of only 2 matches in his career he wrestled as Mick Foley.
Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk ***3/4
Great stuff and exactly what you would expect from these two guys. If you put these two in a ring and give them free reign with weapon shots then you are bound to get a good match and that is exactly what happened here. Stone Colds commentary was hilarious too, especially him going of at JR because his mic wouldn’t work. Great brawl as would expect with the added bonus of some awesome commentary from Stone Cold.
Mick talks about how incredibly tight the shirt was that Vince wore in this next match. He isn’t wrong and it looks hilarious.
WWF Title: Stone Cold (c) vs. Dude Love ****
Another great match here as me saying that is starting to become something of a trend in this review. I can’t help it though as we are just getting amazing match after amazing match and this is no exception. Great stuff from two of the best brawlers of all time highlighted by Stone Colds leg going through a car windscreen in an awesome visual. Vince making up the rules as he went along was great heel work and JR’s reactions were great. The image of Taker following Vince around to make sure he didn’t fuck up was great too. Great stuff and I cant recommend this DVD highly enough so far.
Foley talks about how this match is what he will be remembered for. He also talks about being knocked out for only the third time in his career by the choke slam through the cage.
Hell In A Cell: Mankind vs. The Undertaker *****
This match needs absolutely no introduction, without question this is the most violent match there ever has been and in all likelihood ever will be in mainstream pro wrestling. Foley getting chucked off the cell is still an awesome visual even after all these years. This match is often looked at as being two (awesome) big spots and while that is true the part of the match that follows those two spots is still pretty damn good considering the condition Foley was in. Takers steel step shots to Foley, his over the rope dive into the cage and the thumbtacks are all awesome as well. Amazing match here and pretty required viewing for every wrestling fan.
Foley talks about how awesome it was to win the WWF title. These little interview segments are a really good insight into Micks views on the matches and they supply some cool background info.
WWF Title: Mankind (w/ DX) vs. The Rock (w/ The Corporation) (c) **1/2 for the match but ***** for the moment
The match is pretty much irrelevant here although with the time they had to work with is was pretty decent and was highlighted by a Rock Bottom through the table. What was important here is the magical moment of Foley finally winning that WWF title, I have watched this multiple times and still get goose bumps when seeing it as it is just that awesome. On a side note, Austin’s pop here is absolutely earth shattering and one of the biggest I have ever heard. This is a great moment that Foley thoroughly deserves.
Foley talks about this match being important to his career. He says he knew retirement was imminent and he wanted to go out with a bang, which he did here.
Cactus Jack vs. HHH (w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) Street Fight ****3/4
Simply an amazing brawl that incorporates basically every weapon you could think of trashcans, chair shots, steel steps, tables, barbed wire, thumbtacks, bricks, handcuffs, you name it and they used it and it all hurt. This match put HHH way over as a sadistic brawl and it made Foley look like the hardcore legend that he is. What more can I say, this is one of my personal favourite matches of all time and it is just an incredible hardcore match.
Disc 2 Extras
We see 5 vignettes for Mankind.
We get an interview with JR from before the Mind Games PPV.
Jim Ross Interviews Mankind: This is the famous sit-down interview. In terms of Foleys interviews this is only slightly behind the Cain Dewey one in my opinion.
We see the always-funny segment featuring the debut of Mr Socko
We get some clips of Al Snow and Mick Foley doing various things in Vegas including strip clubs casinos and chasing some wannabe Rock. Foley also gets in some good jokes against Al Snow. Funny stuff.
We see a segment between a commissioner Foley and Kurt Angle, kind of pointless stuff here basically Foley puts Angel in a match with Taker. Odd choice for the DVD but it is a 2-minute segment in the bonus features so I can live with it.
Overall: 9/10
This is one of the very best DVD releases the WWE has ever put out in my books. It features a definite look at the career of Foley featuring matches and promos from all the way throughout his career from WCW, ECW, SMW and WWF. There is only one truly bad match on this DVD with everything else being above *** and SEVEN matches above the **** mark. We also get some of Mick Foleys best promos throughout his career. I have only two minor criticisms of this DVD 1. There is nothing here from Foleys work in Japan and 2. They didn’t include anything from the Rock N’ Sock connection, I would have loved to seen the this is your life segment included on this. Those are both minor things though and hardly hurt the quality of the set overall. Great DVD set here and I highly recommend it to any wrestling fan.
Review Of Mick Foleys Greatest Hits and Misses
Disc 1
Your host naturally is Mick Foley. Foley introduces the DVD and puts over Vader a bit saying he was one of his favourite opponents, he also points out how dull Vader was in the WWF compared to his WCW days which is very true.
Cactus vs. Vader: Rating: ***1/2
This is a really stiff hard hitting brawl, not superb from and in ring standpoint but if you ever get someone telling you wrestling is fake this is the match to show them. The bullshit ending brought rating down a wee bit, for me a count out just doesn’t cut it as an ending for a match like this although Jack getting the upset win over the World Camp was pretty cool to see. Apart from that though this match certainly lived up to its reputation of being stiff as hell, those shots to Jacks face from Vader looked amazing and sounded great. The Jack wearing a crimson mask is always a great visual and this was no exception. I was slightly disappointed by this one to be honest though. Perhaps because it had such a reputation to live up to because of all I have heard about it on the Internet and in Foleys book or perhaps it just doesn’t age that well. Very good match for sure but not quite the classic I was expecting. These two have certainly had better matches.
Mick talks about how he was going to take a break from WCW to get some work done on his ear. He talks about the Nasties having a reputation of being sloppy in the ring but he knew they were good brawler so he thought this could be a good match.
WCW Tag Team Titles, Chicago Street Fight: Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne: ****
Wow, considering who was in there this exceeded all expectations I had for this match by a mile. This is by far the best match I have ever seen from the Nasties and possibly their best match ever, This was just an all out brawl and it worked brilliantly, if you didn’t know better you would say this match had taken place in ECW. All four men brought everything they had to this match and the end result was outstanding. They took this match all over the building and left carnage everywhere they went. As ever Cactus Jacks ability to take punishment is a highlight as those pool cue shots at the start and the fall from the ramp/shovel to the head at the end were absolutely sick as hell. Not much more can be said really, awesome match and probably the best the Nasties ever had.
We see part of the promo of Cactus spitting on the WCW tag team titles, which pissed off Flair. Foley says if Flair had seen the promo and not just heard of it he would have got what he was going for. Foley also talks about Sabu and says this next bout was seen as something of a dream match.
Cactus Jack vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911) ***1/2
Pretty good stuff here, Sabu is actually pretty fun to watch when he isn’t botching all over the place as was the case here. This was exactly what you would expect from these two hardcore legends, a wild all over the arena brawl with weapon shots and broken tables galore. Not a classic by any means and possibly not even the best match these two have ever had together but a good, fun brawl, which at the end of the day is all this was meant to be.
We see a promo on where Mick rhymes the words giant Cheeto and Candido, funny stuff. Foley puts Candido over for his ability to play a cowardly heel in a era dominated by monster heels.
Cactus Jack vs. Chris Candido: (w/ Tammy Fytch) ***
JR is on commentary here which surprises me as I never knew he worked for SMW. Not bad here but at the same time I just couldn’t get into this one for some reason. The in ring stuff was all right I suppose with some cool spots being incorporated by both guys. There is just something that I can’t quite put my finger on that kept me from really enjoying this one. We actually got to see Cactus do something resembling technical wrestling in this one as opposed to the brawling of the other matches, which is a nice change of pace. Not bad but nothing worth going out of your way to see.
Mick says that he and the Sandman had some great matches but this next one is not one of them, apparently the WWE people picked this match not him. Great endorsement there,
Texas Death Match: Cactus Jack vs. The Sandman (w/ Woman) *1/2
This is an absolutely appalling match. According to Cactus, Sandman was legitimately knocked out here so I guess I can excuse them for that. Sandman really did look out of it and almost Zombie like at times. They started to pick this up marginally near the end with some sick Cain shots to the head from Jack and then an elbow on the concrete with the chair but Sandman basically no selling two DDTs on the concrete took me right back out of it. Joey Styles says that Sandman is better than The Undertaker without directly mentioning Takers name which makes me laugh, not sure where to start with that one. Poor match, stay away from this one.
Foley talks about setting Terry Funk on fire which caused him to contemplate quitting the business, luckily for us though Terry left him a really nice answering machine message and things were fine.
Cactus Jack/Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer/Terry Funk (w/ Stevie Richards) ***3/4
Another good brawl here akin to the tag match from earlier on. Everyone was on their game here and there were some really cool hardcore spots in this one including a golf club shot to Ravens balls and a VCR shot to the head. I couldn’t help but laugh at Cactus Jack’s forgive me Uncle Eric shirt, that really is some great heel work in front of an ECW crowd or basically any crowd come to think of it. I loved the psychology of the ending too with Funk getting the pin so Dreamer still can’t lay claim to a pinfall victory over Raven. Good fun hardcore brawl, well worth checking out.
We see a clip of Foleys farewell speech from ECW. He says that the crowd reaction he got in this match is his favourite moment of his career.
Cactus Jack vs. Mikey Whipwreck ****1/4
That rating is for the moment as well, if I was rating the match just on its own merits then it is probably in the vicinity of ***3/4. Anyway, the reaction the fans give Cactus for his last match in ECW is amazing, after being a damn good heel for a while they give him a standing ovation and treated him as a face throughout the match. The match itself is very good too, Cactus brought everything he had for his last match in ECW and got an amazing match from Mikey Whipreck of all people, in my opinion probably the best match of Mikeys career. Mikey was very good in this match, including a sick dive of the stage. This is worth seeing just for the moment alone but the match is definitely a very nice bonus.
Disc 1 Extras
We get an interview with Foley from after his match with Vader. He says that despite his family fearing for his safety he must fight Vader one more time.
Cactus Jack vs. Sting ****
Great match and I can understand why Foley viewed this as his best match up until the Mind Games match with HBK. Awesome brawl as Sting was at the peak of his powers here and Cactus was still young and wasn’t beat up too badly yet. Taking that into consideration these two had an amazing match with a lot of sick bumps taken from Foley in particular. Having Foley and Coach on commentary is really cool too as Foley offers some great insight regarding what was going through his mind through out the match and talks about what they were going for in terms of the psychology of the match.
Cactus Spits on the WCW Belt: This is the full promo of Cactus spitting on the ECW belt as well as Paul E’s rebuttal. Lost in all the controversy of Jack spitting on a WCW belt is some exceptional mic work from Paul E in his response.
Cain Dewey Promo: We get the famous Cain Dewey promo which is still absolutely amazing stuff. Foley included a transcript of it in his book and rightfully so as it is one of the best promos of all time in my opinion.
Anti Hardcore Promo: Another great promo from Foley here, his mic skills during his time in ECW were absolutely amazing and this is no different.
Sabu vs. Cactus Jack (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911) **1/2
Not a great match here but it is far from unwatchable; their match from earlier on in this DVD was far better though. The bottle shots to the head that Jack took were unbelievable and according to him on commentary completely unplanned. The botched (it is a Sabu match after all) moonsault onto the railing from Sabu was also pretty sick, outside of those two spots though this was a pretty run of the mill hardcore match that has been seen about a million times before. The guest commentary was by far the highlight of this match as Foley again offered some really great insight into what he was thinking and feeling during this match. Decent stuff in ring but the commentary is what makes this worth watching.
We get the full Mick Foley ECW farewell speech; the crowd’s reaction to this is amazing. Foley puts over the guys in the back and says ECW will survive without him.
Les Thorton/Jack Foley vs. The British Bulldogs (w/ Lou Albano) ½*
Just a squash here but it is quite interesting to see Mick Foley before he became the hardcore legend we all know and love. Nothing match but a cool inclusion for the DVD set considering it was his 2nd ever match.
Mick Foley talks about some charity work he did with a group called operation smile, wrestlers doing charity stuff like this is always awesome and this is no exception.
Disc 2
Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) vs. Cactus Jack (w/ Paul Bearer) ****3/4
This was a 5 star match for me right up until that bullshit ending I understand why they did it but it still sucks. Foley has said that he was in his best physical shape ever leading into this match and after that I would be inclined to believe him, these two both went at each other full tilt for nearly 30 minutes and the end result was incredible. Amazing match that incorporates all different styles of wrestling from hardcore brawling to some high flying stuff from HBK to some technical wrestling which, surprisingly, came from Cactus as well, not just HBK. Also, that hangman spot from Mick Foley is great stuff. Awesome, awesome match and probably one of Foleys best ever if not his very best.
We see the always-awesome interview with Dude Love, Mankind and Cactus Jack.
Foley says this was his best match of 1997 and that he was caught by surprise by the enormity of the pop for Cactus Jack.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Chyna) vs. Cactus Jack Falls Count Anywhere ***1/2
Another good brawl here as has become the norm for this DVD thus far. This showed HHH’s aggressive streak off very nicely and we all know how good of a brawler Cactus is so they meshed together well for a very good match. It is really cool to see some rarer Raw matches on this DVD set instead of just PPV matches that have been seen a million times before. Great hardcore brawl but not even close to the best match these two would have which is scary considering how good this one was.
Mick says this was one of his all time favourite matches; this was also one of only 2 matches in his career he wrestled as Mick Foley.
Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk ***3/4
Great stuff and exactly what you would expect from these two guys. If you put these two in a ring and give them free reign with weapon shots then you are bound to get a good match and that is exactly what happened here. Stone Colds commentary was hilarious too, especially him going of at JR because his mic wouldn’t work. Great brawl as would expect with the added bonus of some awesome commentary from Stone Cold.
Mick talks about how incredibly tight the shirt was that Vince wore in this next match. He isn’t wrong and it looks hilarious.
WWF Title: Stone Cold (c) vs. Dude Love ****
Another great match here as me saying that is starting to become something of a trend in this review. I can’t help it though as we are just getting amazing match after amazing match and this is no exception. Great stuff from two of the best brawlers of all time highlighted by Stone Colds leg going through a car windscreen in an awesome visual. Vince making up the rules as he went along was great heel work and JR’s reactions were great. The image of Taker following Vince around to make sure he didn’t fuck up was great too. Great stuff and I cant recommend this DVD highly enough so far.
Foley talks about how this match is what he will be remembered for. He also talks about being knocked out for only the third time in his career by the choke slam through the cage.
Hell In A Cell: Mankind vs. The Undertaker *****
This match needs absolutely no introduction, without question this is the most violent match there ever has been and in all likelihood ever will be in mainstream pro wrestling. Foley getting chucked off the cell is still an awesome visual even after all these years. This match is often looked at as being two (awesome) big spots and while that is true the part of the match that follows those two spots is still pretty damn good considering the condition Foley was in. Takers steel step shots to Foley, his over the rope dive into the cage and the thumbtacks are all awesome as well. Amazing match here and pretty required viewing for every wrestling fan.
Foley talks about how awesome it was to win the WWF title. These little interview segments are a really good insight into Micks views on the matches and they supply some cool background info.
WWF Title: Mankind (w/ DX) vs. The Rock (w/ The Corporation) (c) **1/2 for the match but ***** for the moment
The match is pretty much irrelevant here although with the time they had to work with is was pretty decent and was highlighted by a Rock Bottom through the table. What was important here is the magical moment of Foley finally winning that WWF title, I have watched this multiple times and still get goose bumps when seeing it as it is just that awesome. On a side note, Austin’s pop here is absolutely earth shattering and one of the biggest I have ever heard. This is a great moment that Foley thoroughly deserves.
Foley talks about this match being important to his career. He says he knew retirement was imminent and he wanted to go out with a bang, which he did here.
Cactus Jack vs. HHH (w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) Street Fight ****3/4
Simply an amazing brawl that incorporates basically every weapon you could think of trashcans, chair shots, steel steps, tables, barbed wire, thumbtacks, bricks, handcuffs, you name it and they used it and it all hurt. This match put HHH way over as a sadistic brawl and it made Foley look like the hardcore legend that he is. What more can I say, this is one of my personal favourite matches of all time and it is just an incredible hardcore match.
Disc 2 Extras
We see 5 vignettes for Mankind.
We get an interview with JR from before the Mind Games PPV.
Jim Ross Interviews Mankind: This is the famous sit-down interview. In terms of Foleys interviews this is only slightly behind the Cain Dewey one in my opinion.
We see the always-funny segment featuring the debut of Mr Socko
We get some clips of Al Snow and Mick Foley doing various things in Vegas including strip clubs casinos and chasing some wannabe Rock. Foley also gets in some good jokes against Al Snow. Funny stuff.
We see a segment between a commissioner Foley and Kurt Angle, kind of pointless stuff here basically Foley puts Angel in a match with Taker. Odd choice for the DVD but it is a 2-minute segment in the bonus features so I can live with it.
Overall: 9/10
This is one of the very best DVD releases the WWE has ever put out in my books. It features a definite look at the career of Foley featuring matches and promos from all the way throughout his career from WCW, ECW, SMW and WWF. There is only one truly bad match on this DVD with everything else being above *** and SEVEN matches above the **** mark. We also get some of Mick Foleys best promos throughout his career. I have only two minor criticisms of this DVD 1. There is nothing here from Foleys work in Japan and 2. They didn’t include anything from the Rock N’ Sock connection, I would have loved to seen the this is your life segment included on this. Those are both minor things though and hardly hurt the quality of the set overall. Great DVD set here and I highly recommend it to any wrestling fan.
