Foley: No Love lost for Austin
By JOHN POWELL -- SLAM! Wrestling
How does "Ice Dagger" Steve Austin sound?
Or how about...And that's the bottom line because Frosty McFreeze said so?
According to Mick Foley (aka Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love), those
were some of the suggestions made by the WWF head office when Steve Austin
chose to abandon his Ringmaster gig.
"This is a little known fact but when "Stone Cold" was the Ringmaster and
he wanted to change his image, he expressed his desire to be a cold-hearted
person and they took that word "cold" literally. He was getting a list from
the office that had names like..Ice Dagger. Frosty McFreeze and Baron Von
Ruthless," said Foley in an interview with SLAM! Wrestling and Virtually
Canadian's Law Internet wrestling program.
Out of the blue, Foley (as Dude Love) is the top contender to Austin's WWF
heavyweight title. Playing into the imaginary conspiracy, many fans credit
Foley's over night rise in the rankings as a scheme by WWF Vince McMahon to
dethrone Austin, the working man's champion. The fix may be in but Foley,
known by fans as a hardcore wrestling legend due to his "devil-may-care"
style, has personal reasons in challenging the WWF rattlesnake and
revealing the "truth" about him.
"It's like the "toughest S.O.B." thing. When I see videotape of "Stone
Cold" in bed of nails, thumb tacks, barbed wire and C4 explosive matches
then I'll say okay, he has a claim of being the toughest S.O.B. Until then,
it's copyright infringement," said Foley referring to some of the bizarre
and truly dangerous matches that have shaped him into an infamous competitor.
The McMahon - Austin fictional storyline was a godsend for Foley. As he was
not sure what the future would hold after his and Terry Funk's loss of the
WWF Tag Team championship to the red hot New Age Outlaws. Truth be told,
his tag belt didn't go far as Outlaw member Road Dog is his next door
neighbor in sunny Florida.
Rumors of a Mankind - Marc Mero feud concocted by the WWF bookers had Foley
down for the three count. "I had a bullet with my name on it and a gun to
my head then the phone call came. It was just in the nick of time. I was
about to fire the damn thing," he chuckles.
Thankfully, the WWF offered him an on-going rivalry with "Stone Cold"
playing the role of Vince McMahon's chosen one. It was music to Foley's ear
and a chance for him to haul in a bigger pay cheque. The catch was that
Foley had to assume his Dude Love personality. Some thought a Mankind or
especially a Cactus Jack feud with Austin would detract from the champion's
planned post-WrestleMania push. To be the one making Austin even more
popular than is all in a day's work for Foley. Even if he vowed many to
deep-six the Dude Love character.
"I went out there on Raw Is War and there was three things I swore I
wouldn't do. One is to suck up to a guy like McMahon. Two is to make my
family watch me dance with a couple of second-rate strippers. And three was
to become Dude Love again. By the end of the second hour I was gleefully
doing all things I bloody swore I'd never do," Foley explains.
Dude Love, the retro sixties character inspired by the ring moniker a
teenage Foley gave himself while practicing in a makeshift ring located in
his backyard, has offered something virtually uncommon to the squared
circle veteran: a chance to wrestle without chancing an injury. While as
Mankind or Cactus Jack, Foley portrayed a break neck, kamikaze-style of
wrestling which saw him crash through tables, careen off ladders and absorb
wicked chair shots. Horrendous bumps, hits and falls which took a
devastating toll on his body.
"The Dude is good and should not be overlooked because he taught me that
you don't necessarily have to be in pain to entertain an audience,"
explains the former high school track star and lacrosse player who got
involved in amateur wrestling as way to keep himself in shape. "The
hardcore wrestling fans can say what they want but the fact is the Dude
entertained a lot of people last year and didn't get hurt".
Formerly employed with Extreme Championship Wrestling recognized for its
graphic content, Foley left the federation when it became apparent to him
that the fans were "dictating the matches" demanding more and more
outrageous stunts to the point where Foley was convinced that they really
didn't care about the physical well-being of the wrestlers. Following his
departure some fans labeled him a "sell-out" for softening his technique.
Foley makes no apologies.
"There will be some people out there who'll make valid claims that Cactus
Jack isn't much of a scientific wrestler any more. He doesnit do this. He
doesnit do that. He doesn't look good in a bikini. But to say that I
haven't been involved good matches over the years, I think is just wrong,"
says Foley who went on to a stint in World Championship Wrestling battling
such mat superstars as Sting and The Nasty Boys.
Why then did he leave the lucrative Ted Turner-owned WCW? Foley claims
there was no room for him to grow. He wasn't "best buddies" with the
bookers. He wasn't a former WWF superstar in the mid-eighties. These
circumstances he claims counted as strikes against him stifling his
creative control. Then, there was the issue of salaries.
"I am not saying this to put these people down professionally. I'll let you
draw your own conclusions. The Shark (Aka John Tenta, Earthquake,
Avalanche) is a heck of a nice guy but to pay him twice what Cactus Jack
made..I mean... they are paying guys like Horace Boulder what I was making
when I was there," he says. "To be a successful wrestler (in WCW) you've
got to...One....work your hardest, work hurt, travel 800 miles round trip
for ten dollars, sleep in your car, eat peanut butter and jelly for weeks
on end...or...Two...be somebody's nephew. There's something missing there
and I don't see that going on in the WWF because it is Vince McMahon's
company and he wants it to be successful."
With three characters to his credit in the WWF and let's not forget the
three royalty cheques they command, Foley appreciates the creative freedom
he and others enjoy. Mankind, the crazed Hannibal Lector-like grappler came
about through intense consultation with McMahon. Throughout the entire
process, Foley says McMahon was supportive constantly meeting with him to
make certain that he was entirely at ease with the changes.
"I'll have to give the WWF a lot credit because they let me do the whole
thing. They had a look they were after and they kinda let me fill in the
blanks as to what I was most comfortable with," he says. "Not only have I
done well financially for the past couple of years but I am artistically
pleased. You cannot go out over 200 days a year and go through tables and
be hit in the head with chairs. You can't do it. You gotta pick your spots.
I'll tell yah, I took a lot of chairs across the back from The Undertaker
and that adds up after awhile."
The son of an athletic director, Foley hopes to be remembered by fans for
his feuds with other equally rough and tumble hombres such as Eddie
Gilbert, Terry Funk, Abdullah The Butcher and The Nasty Boys. But no match
ever was a boost to Foley's mystique than a real-life accident in his war
against the mastadon Vader. On March 16th, 1994, while wrestling Vader in
Munich, Germany, (Foley as Cactus Jack) was hurled into the ropes. and his
head got lodged between the top and second ropes. The tension of the
combined cables snapped his right ear completely off and ripped the left
one in half. Astonishing the fans in attendance, Foley continued wrestling
the rest of the match. To this day, he bears no ill will towards Vader for
the gaffe.
"He felt bad about it. He may have bragged a little bit on television but
in his heart he felt pretty bad. He hurts alot of people and he feels bad
about it. Or maybe that's just his cover-up," says the hardcore legend.
Responsible for bringing the high-flying Canadian Chris Jericho to the
attention of ECW promoters, Foley has taken another wrestler under his wing
and would you believe it's the "mighty" Kurrgan?
"Me and The Undertaker were on a flight and we were talking about Kurrgan
in total agreement. We don't know if it's in wrestling but somewhere he's
going to make some money. Me and Terry (Funk) used to sit there at three
o'clock in the morning and just come up with ideas for Kurrgan. He is our
own pet project," states Foley letting it slip that one of the brainstorm
sessions yielded an idea which will be used by The Undertaker in a short
while. What is the plot twist or gimmick? Foley ain't saying.
Looking ahead to his rematch with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at the Over The
Edge WWF pay-per-view this Sunday, Foley is realistic about his chances.
The wide-spread popularity of the "Stone Cold" persona almost guarantees
that he will have a long and prosperous title reign. That's of little
consequence to the proud husband and father living out his boyhood dream as
Dude Love, the character who started it all in that makeshift backyard
wrestling ring.
"To me, it's the most fun Iive ever had. Now, I get to act like a complete
jerk. It's fun," Foley snickers.
Mick Foley reviews
Foley autobiography an ear-ful
Extras in Foley's paperback not worth it
Christmas Chaos pure Foley fun
Mick Foley stories
Foley: No Love lost for Austin (May 28, 1998)
A mat legend in the Mick of time (November 8, 1998)
Foley considered retirement (May 5, 1999)
