411’s WWE Rivals Episode Six Report: Triple H vs. Mick Foley

-Back at it with the latest episode of WWE Rivals. A few of the moments from this rivalry I touched on with my recent run of Retro Reviews. I have been going through WCW and WWF PPV from 25 years ago and this feud kicked off during that period. I’ll gladly plug my review as we get to each moment. Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder this show airs on A&E and was developed by Freddie Prinze Jr. He hosts a roundtable that jumps in with thoughts in between the talking heads. At the roundtable this time with Freddie: Beth Phoenix, Cody Rhodes, Kevin Nash, and JBL.

-Freddy sets the stage as he brings up the question of if the blueblood, HHH, was tough enough for Mick Foley. We see early HHH vignettes and Shawn says the character was built on a proper, Northeast rich snob. Kane calls it a cartoon character and he was defined by it. Shawn says the same and that the character had a ceiling, but HHH had more to offer.

-Mick Foley points out that Mankind was the polar opposite of Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Taker calls Mankind maniacal and there were no lengths he would go not to hurt his opponent. He puts over the crazy things Mick would do with the character.

-Sam Roberts brings up that people knew that was Cactus Jack which gives us some WCW and ECW footage. To the roundtable where Cody says the deathmatch stuff got Mick Foley in the game, but the sit down interview he did with JR on RAW, got him into the endzone. Yep, stuff was great as it gave Mankind a character instead of just being a gimmick. It told the story of Mick Foley and introduced Cactus Jack and Dude Love to WWE TV. Nash loved the interview and notes that when they showed Mick’s yearbook photo that could be anyone. Between all the talking heads they splice in some of the barbed wire stuff in ECW.

-Mankind relates the story of Jimmy Snuka coming off the cage and how it changed his life. The video of Mick jumping off his friend’s roof is shown as Beth tells us we got to know Mrs. Foley’s baby boy. Paul Heyman notes it felt intimate and endeared Mick Foley to a world-wide audience. Kevin Owens mentions that fans picked up on the fact that Mick was like all of them watching at home. The interviews turned Mankind babyface and Mick says he isn’t sure a change has ever come that organically.

-King of The Ring 1997: My retro review is here. Sam Roberts talks about The King of The Ring Tournament and how it was the jumpstart of someone getting a push. In this case it was the start of a rivalry.

-Commercials!

-Shawn talks about the importance of winning KOR as it indicates that the winner is being setup to be a top guy. HHH gets the win by cheating and tells us that Mick was the perfect opponent and helped bring him to a different level. Mick notes he lost and took a beatdown, but the sympathy he got was great.

-The next night, HHH cuts a victory promo on RAW and Mankind interrupts. HHH says they had great chemistry and we see highlights from their match at Canadian Stampede (my review is here). Much better match than the one from the previous month.

-Next step was a cage match at SummerSlam 1997. My Retro Review for that show should be coming this weekend. Mankind finally gets a win to a massive pop and he got to live his dream by jumping off the cage like Snuka.

-Dude Love: Vince McMahon caught wind of the character that Mick created when he was 18 years old. Nash says Mick would have been stuck in the midcard, but he had all these layers. Mick notes Dude Love was a hit, but there was another character out there.

-RAW: MSG: Sept 1997: It was supposed to be Falls Count Anywhere between HHH and Dude, but Dude backed out. Great stuff here as Dude and Mankind have a conversation with each other and neither feels they are suited to face HHH and that introduces Cactus Jack to the WWE for the first time. HHH sold this perfectly as he lost his mind on the ref. HHH: “Cactus Jack was the psycho.” Mankind gives all kinds of credit to HHH for the way he sold it. HHH says it is a different world when Mick channels that character. KO says that Mankind was crazy, but Cactus was something else entirely. They tear down the house in MSG with an amazing match. Mick says it was a dream come true to have Cactus in MSG and calls it the best match he had that year.

-Commercials! Edge gets A&E Bio treatment next week.

-They discuss how tough Mick was and how he would flip from one character to another. This all leads to Jan 4, 1999 where Mankind wins the WWF Title from The Rock to a massive reaction. Sadly, they don’t include Austin’s run-in with one of the loudest pops ever.

-HHH brings up that Rock and Austin were on top and were drawing huge and he felt they were missing a Darth Vader character. You need an evil guy to make the good guys work.

-HHH gets his own sit down interview with JR and coins his “Game” nickname. “I am the fucking game JR.” Cody says there is a difference between a wrestling promo and a piece of art. This was one of those that you never forgive. HHH brings up the thought that even as a bad guy there has to be some truth in what you are saying or the fans won’t buy into you. Much like Austin 3:16 wasn’t planned, this wasn’t either, but it worked and signs started popping up.

-HHH threatens to break JR’s arm unless Mankind gives him a WWF Title Match. This is the night after Mick won the Title in a Triple Threat with Austin. The rumored story goes that Austin didn’t want to drop the Title to HHH so Mick won it and then 24 hours later in was moved to HHH. He notes that when you win the Title for that first time there is a moment where it is real. I always love seeing people win their first World Championship as you can see where it hits them. Best example is when Edge cashed in on Cena. You can see him starting at the WWE Title getting emotional and then he snaps back into character. Those moments are always awesome!

-SmackDown 2000: Cactus Jack returns and again, HHH’s sell of it is something else as it looks like he has seen a ghost.

-Commercials!

-Royal Rumble 2000: Funny how things work as they are back in MSG and it’s Cactus Jack vs. HHH again. Nash mentions HHH needed that match and HHH says that he and Mick both felt they had something to prove. They tear the house down again with a fantastically, awesome brawl. They mention HHH took a suplex on a wooden pallet and a piece of the wood punctured his leg. He was pouring blood from the leg and JBL mentions that today they probably stop the match. Funny moment as Cody is looking at home and JBL says “sometimes you work hurt.” I am not sure if this was taped before or after Cody’s performance at Hell in a Cell. Thumbtacks get introduced on WWF TV for the first time as HHH notes that wanted to do something memorable. Yeah! Funny stuff as Mick says that Vince told them “no thumbtacks.” As soon as he left the room, HHH asked if he put them under the ring and Mick assured him they were there. Nice! As CM Punk said in his WWE documentary it was easier to ask forgiveness than asking for permission. Cactus kicks out of a pedigree, but a second on in thumbtacks ended an all time classic.

-HHH says the match was a Main Event making match for both of them and Mick calls it one of his give greatest matches. HHH puts over Mick for putting him over in a way that showed he could hang with anyone in a physical match like that. Much like Mick did for Sting, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Edge, and the list goes on.

-Some gnarly backstage footage as we see the extent of the injury to HHH’s calf. Nasty! Mick brings up the CM Punk point I just mentioned and says Vince wasn’t angry. “It would be impossible to be angry after all we did.” Great stuff as we see Mick talking to Vince in Gorilla after the match with tacks still in his shirt.

-Mick knew his career was about to end due to all the injuries. Prichard says it caught them off guard as Mick was on fire and now the carpet was being pulled out from under them. I always thought Vince knew Mick was ready to retire, but Austin’s injury had him hang around a bit longer for one last run at the top with HHH? I could be wrong on that though and Mick may have no told Vince he was wanting to retire because he saw an opening when Austin went out. I guess I should go back and read the second book again.

-Commercials!

-Mick thought the Rumble match would be his final one, but had the idea to have a match where if he lost his career was finished. The story is HHH grants Mick one last match but his career has to be on the line. Mick gets to pick the match though and picks Hell in a Cell. HHH: “at that point in time, the Hell in a Cell match was mythical.” You had the all time classic with HHH/Taker and then the spectacle that was Taker/Mankind. HHH wasn’t sure how they could begin to try to top either of those matches.

-Mick says he had the legend of that match with Taker to follow up. He talks about how he had to change into a different human being. He needed a jolt with something big to get him into things and we see him bumping all over the cell. Becky Lynch watched as a fan and felt Mick had to win because this couldn’t be his last match ever. HHH wanted to do his part to make sure this was epic for Mick. Mick’s goal was to find a way to create a memory after having such an exciting match. So, why now light a 2×4 on fire and then take a backdrop through the roof of the cell into a ring that breaks on impact. Thankfully, the learned from the last match and gimmicked the ring. Still insane though!

-Commercials!

-Next week it is John Cena vs. Edge. Nice!

-Beth says the best rivalries have the best protagonist and antagonist. Cactus eats a pedigree and that is the last match we ever see from Mick Foley. HHH wanted to make sure Mick went out in the biggest way possible and he will never forget what he did for him that night. Becky cried at home as Mick Foley was done. Mick says HHH let him ride off with his head held high and an exit people only dream about. He sat on his bed in the hotel and cried like a baby.

-Cody says they needed each other as HHH needed someone to beat the piss out of and Mick needed that bully to help bring out all the emotion.

-Mick gets inducted into the HOF in MSG and mentions his wars in the building with HHH. Hunter says it was his time to rise with Austin out and Rock being in and out and he needed Foley to get him to that level.

-Foley and HHH meet up to take the rivalry. HHH puts over that the feud made them both Main Event stars. Mick jokes he has one more match in him and has a bag of tacks in a warehouse. He compares it to Rocky vs Creed and HHH says if there are no cameras and they freeze before the land a punch, he is down for it. Fantastic!

-Again, easy show to watch and I am a sucker for anything that talks wrestling history. The roundtable format is still weird as they just pop up here and there, but after six episodes I am used to it now. Good stuff this week as again anything that takes me back to my childhood and teenage years of wrestling will always make me happy. Thanks for reading!