Views from the Hawke’s Nest: For All Mankind – The Life & Career of Mick Foley – Disc 3

WWF Raw
November 17, 1997

Dude Love vs. Rocky Maivia (w/ The Nation of Domination)

I am a big mark for Dude Love, and I only wish that I could have been watching WWF during any of the periods of Love. Sadly, this math did not capture much of his charm, as it was a halfhearted brawl until the DQ finish (Nation interfered after Dude hit the double-arm DDT.). Steve Austin ran in afterwards. This served virtually no purpose other than to get Dude on the DVD. This was an angle for the Rock/Austin story over the Intercontinental Championship. (*)

 

WWF King of the Ring
June 28, 1998

Mankind vs. The Undertaker [Hell in a Cell]

I have always considered this to be one of the very best matches in the history of wrestling. The common complaint I see about this match is “it’s just two big spots and nothing else.” First of all, that completely undersells two of the most memorable high spots in wrestling history. Secondly (and more importantly), those two spots kick off an amazing story. Mankind surviving those two moves and everything that happens after that makes for one of the most compelling spectacles that I’ve seen in any art form. As everyone reading this already knows, Taker eventually won after a chokeslam and a tombstone. (*****)

 

WWF Raw
July 13, 1998

The New Age Outlaws (Jesse James & Billy Gunn) (w/ Chyna) vs. Mankind & Kane (w/ Paul Bearer) [WWF Tag Team Championship]

This match contains three guys who have never been good, and a legend that usually required someone very good in order to produce something special. That is not a recipe for success! The match became a huge clusterfuck (an improvement over watching paint dry) when The Nation of Domination and D-X started to brawl on the floor. D’Lo Brown gave Jesse James a chest protector-frog splash, and Kane then gave him a tombstone to win the match and titles. This was an Attitude Era mess. (*1/2)

 

WWF Rock Bottom
December 13, 1998

The Rock(c) vs. Mankind [WWF Championship]

They did a very long setup for this match before it finally started. Mankind was mad that Vince screwing him made it look like he quit. Rock was claiming to be too injured to work. I don’t know; it was a mess.

Rock and Foley had some legendary matches together during their time in the WWF, but this set has so far shown three of the boring ones. They did some very weak brawling for a while, and then the overbooking kicked in to save the match. They did ref bumps, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon got involved, and a Dusty Finish. Mankind won the match when he made Rock pass out to the Mandible Claw. Vince announced that Mankind did indeed win the match, but that the belt can only change hands via pinfall or submission…not referee stoppage. What a terrible finish to a PPV world title match. (1/2*)

 

WWF Smackdown
September 2, 1999

The Rock & Sock Connection (Mankind & The Rock)(c) vs. Triple H & Shane McMahon (w/ Chyna) [WWE Tag Team Championship]

This was a meaningless, if watchable, television tag title match from the Attitude Era. The only surprising thing is that HHH took the fall for his team because Mr. Ass ran in and gave him a FameAsser. (**1/2)

 

WWF Smackdown
December 16, 1999

Mankind vs. Al Snow [Falls Count Anywhere]

This was a plunder brawl with an obviously hobbled Foley and an undercarder who had an inflated in-ring reputation for whatever reason. They eventually ended up in the backstage area. Snow tried to get Mankind into the D-X dressing room, but it was revealed to be The Rock’s dressing room. Rock apparently hit Snow with a chair and that got Mankind the win. (**1/2)

 

WWF No Way Out

Triple H(c) (w/ Stephanie McMahon) vs. Cactus Jack [Hell in a Cell for the WWF Championship]

Cactus Jack would have to retire if he lost this match.

I think the main issue with this match is that, by this point, everyone knew Foley would do something stupid and/or were waiting for Foley to do something stupid. That includes Foley and HHH who started this match off with some perfunctory brawling in the cage. Things picked up big time though when HHH bladed, and they managed to find a way to the outside of the cage. Foley takes the Shawn bump from the side of the cage through a table. After a labored setup to get them there, they did some brawling on the top of the cage. Foley then lit the barbed-wire 2×4 on fire and hit HHH with it. Foley went to piledrive HHH onto the flaming 2×4, but HHH back-body dropped Foley through the top of the cell and onto the rigged ringmat. HHH still had to finish Foley with the pedigree though to win the match.

As far as “One Last Stand” stories go, this was done fairly well. The difference between this match and the Taker HIAC match is that doing the major spots first set the tone and told an amazing story. Here, you felt like they were just waiting to get to the major spots. On top of that, the fact that Foley un-retired a month later and ended up working 43 more matches after this match makes it impossible to remembered as the moment as it should be. It also pales in comparison to the Royal Rumble match these two had a month earlier. (***3/4)

 

Watch free Mick Foley matches!

Cactus Jack vs. Sting

Mankind vs. Shane McMahon [NUTTY Attitude Era programming]

Dude Love & Steve Austin vs. The Hart Foundation

Mankind vs. Kane [Hell in a Cell]

Cactus Jack vs. Triple [Street Fight]

The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection vs. The Undertaker & The Big Show [BURIED ALIVE]

The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection vs. The New Age Outlaws

Mankind vs. Triple H

Mankind vs. Big Bossman [Ladder Match]

Mick Foley vs. Sting vs. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett

Mankind vs. Bob Holly

Mankind vs. The Big Show

Cactus Jack Manson vs. Mil Mascaras

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

This is the rare WWE DVD set where the in-house documentary is more valuable than the collection of matches included with them. Foley does a great job of telling his story, and WWE avoids some of the major pitfalls that plagued their docs. If listening to Foley talk about his career and grab some solid interviews with people like Vader and Terry Funk is enough, this set actually might be for you. It certainly "carried" the set. However, if you were hoping for a set full of Foley gems, you're mostly going to be left disappointed. Besides the WCW Power Hour match with Sting, none of the matches really over-delivered. Instead, we get a bunch of forgettable (if mostly watchable) matches that did not seem particularly significant to Foley's career. Heck, in two Foley sets, none of his "classic" matches with Vader or The Rock were included. We only get the relatively meaningless ones. While this set is easy to watch, you need to assess your own priorities to judge whether or not you truly need to get it.