Views from the Hawke’s Nest: For All Mankind – The Life & Career of Mick Foley – Discs 1 & 2

 

Disc 1

The Feature

While For All Mankind does not break any of the structural tropes of WWE’s in-house documentaries, it works simply because they mostly just put the camera on him and let his career story unfold. Foley has overexposed himself quite a bit in terms of telling his life story of course. I could not help but be sucked in all over again though, as Foley is generally very self-aware about the periods of his career that were successful and failures.

On top of that, it helps that Foley’s unquestionably most successful period of his career was in the WWF. It saves the company from the temptation to rewrite history too much. Sure, they leave some periods out (TNA gets zero mention), and there are clear signs that this was obviously made during a time where Foley and the company were on good terms. It is the rare WWE in-house documentary that is actually worth watching on its own merits, which is incredibly rare for the company. That’s a low bar to get over of course, WWE usually falls short of it though.

 

Disc 2

WWF
September 13, 1986

Jack Foley & Les Thornton vs. The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid) (w/ Lou Albano)

This was Foley’s second ever match. He apparently made a bunch of suggestions backstage for the match. Dynamite Kid decided to teach him a lesson and tore a ligament in his jaw on a lariat. Dynamite hit a back superplex on Foley for the victory. You would certainly never guess that Foley would go on to become one of the greatest wrestlers based on this match. (DUD)

 

AWA All Star Wrestling
October, 1988

Cactus Jack & Gary Young vs. Scott Steiner & Billy Travis

This came off as very awkward and clunky. There was no rhythm or flow to the match at all. Young hit Steiner with a boot, and Jack pinned him for the win. Yikes. (1/2*)

 

Wild West Wrestling
April 1989

Cactus Jack Manson vs. Brickhouse Brown

This was some amateur-hour level stuff from these two. Neither looked good or comfortable in the ring. Foley had to control the match, but he had no idea how to go about it in a compelling way. The cherry on top of this bowl of ass was that it went to a time-limit draw. (DUD)

 

WCW Power Hour
March, 1990

Cactus Jack (w/ Kevin Sullivan) vs. Keith Hart

Foley explained this match was included because it was one of the few matches where he got to give a beating instead of taking one. Jack did in fact do a great job of giving this kid a beating, and it makes me wonder how much mileage companies could have gotten from having him beat up Colin Delaney types. Jack obviously won what was essentially a squash for him.

 

WCW Power Hour
November, 1991

Cactus Jack vs. Sting [Submit or Surrender]

This match is behind the eight-ball to start because submitting and surrendering are essentially the same thing in professional wrestling. Anyway, once you get past that it turns into a heck of a good time. Jack gets control after a few minutes of plunder brawling, and he just dominates Sting for a while. This is the rest of the match. Jack finally hits the big Truth or Consequences Elbow, but Sting refuses to quit. Jack gets a chair and accidentally knocks himself out with it. Sting applies the sharpshooter on the floor, and the ref eventually ends the match.

Foley just had a way of working with non-hardcore wrestlers and making them seem tougher for working with him. It is a great way to get stars over on a different level. It of course helps when he has tremendous chemistry with the opponent, as he did with Sting. (****)

 

WCW Clash Of The Champions
January 21, 1992

Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer [Falls Count Anywhere]

This was a pretty solid match even though Van Hammer really could not match Jack’s intensity or ability to commit violence. It turned into a plunder brawl that spilled outside of the building. Abdullah the Butcher ran in and tried to hit Jack with a shovel, but he accidentally hit Van Hammer. That gave Jack the win. Abby and Jack brawled after the match, and Abby ended up throwing Missy Hyatt into a water trough for some reason. Hashtag WCW. (**3/4)

 

ECW
July 20, 1995

Cactus Jack vs. The Sandman (w/ Woman) [Barbed Wired Match]

Sandman was the ECW Champion at the time, but this was a non-title match. I have give to give these two guys credit for working a barbed wire match in a *relatively* safe way. It is not the kind of match that interests me, but it’s an accomplishment that this did not annoy me really at all. While the match did not have an interesting story going on, they at least had Jack pin Sandman with a DDT clean to set up a future title match. If nothing else, this match gave you a taste of the stupidity Foley was willing to do himself in unimportant situations. (**)

 

ECW Cyberslam
February 17, 1996

Cactus Jack vs. Shane Douglas

They did a weird setup for this match. Jack claimed that he was just coming from a wedding and in no condition to compete. Douglas then attacked him to start a match. They actually were doing a surprisingly engaging brawl given that each just got a turn to completely dominate. It was all a swerve though.

When Jack started to come back late in the match, it was revealed that Douglas was in cahoots with the ref who handed him handcuffs. Douglas hit Jack with the cuffs and then handcuffed him. He attacked Jack ruthlessly. It looked like Mikey Whipwreck might make the save, but he just hit Jack in the head with a chair. That gave Douglas a win. Without context, this seemed like a mess of an angle with the unprotected weapon shots to the head aging very poorly. The brawl was fun though. (**3/4)

 

Cold Day in Hell
May 11, 1997

Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia

This was a below-average, back-and-forth brawl. There was not too much heat or intensity to this one, and it was just barely watchable as a result. The finish was Mankind rolling through a diving crossbody and getting the Mandible Claw for the victory. This was nowhere close to their epic matches from 1999. It was a better finish than either of their 1998 PPV title main events though! (**1/4)

 

Canadian Stampede
July 6, 1997

Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Chyna)

While I think openers should generally have a clean finish, I wasn’t at all annoyed about it here. This was the type of indecisive finish that makes you interested in seeing the next match in the feud. That is an aspect of wrestling booking that the company has struggled with for years. It’s weird to be reminded of a time when they did it well. They got counted out for brawling in the crowd and were later seen on the show still brawling.

This was a strong brawl that managed to make me care about a feud that I did not get to see at the time. GOOD stuff. (***1/4)

 

Watch free Mick Foley matches!

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

Two discs down, one to go...