 It was a complete bloodbath for the two men involved, with Foley suffering extreme pain from the mixture of cuts from the barbed wire along with the second degree burns from the C4 explosion. To make matters worse, he also had to endure these burns during his 14 hour flight back to America the next day. Recently Foley had stated that for this entire event, he had only been paid $300. This is why it was a relief that my man got ripped to shreds over a weekend for just $300. When I know for a fact they made way more than that. What's good y'all? It's your boy Ross, back again with another video so I'm going to check out Mick Foley destroying his body for our entertainment man. Now Mick Foley is a legend. He's one of the greatest to ever wrestle in this business. The guy legitimately destroyed and wrecked his body over the countless of years just to entertain us. Just so people can remember who he was in the rain. The guy took so many spots, so many brutal spots and segments just to entertain us. The guy literally went through a flaming table to put over edge. The guy literally went through thumbtacks and all this other stuff to put over Randy Orton and Triple H like the guy legitimately fell off the top of the hell in a cell and then fell through the cell itself to the ring mat below just to get the undertaker even more over. He subsequently got himself more over, got the match over. It's iconic. So we're going to check this out, man. I love when wrestling flashback does videos like this on, you know, talking about a particular wrestler and what they've done for the business and Mick Foley definitely deserves his flowers and his accolades and praise because the guy he's just he's a legend. It's Mick Foley, bro. So we're going to check this out. Once again, shout out to wrestling flashback. Y'all go subscribe to him if you haven't already. Let's keep right into this video. I'm looking forward to it. April 2nd, 2006, about halfway through the four hour biggest show of the year, while the outside of the Chicago Allstate Arena would be covered with lights, flashy signs and marquise that plastered the words WrestleMania 22. The inside of the arena would be littered with broken weapons, burning skin and fans in all of faces and bodies covered in blood. And within this mess, they one man in particular, a man who, although he may have lost the match, managed to win over the hearts of fans on this night. And on many nights before by continuously giving his all to the sport he loved by making his name synonymous with the word hardcore. This man was Mick Foley on this night. Foley entered the match with a 42 year old overworked body that up to this point suffered a broken toe, a broken wrist, a ripped off ear, a twice broken nose, two herniated discs, four knocked out front teeth, five broken ribs, eight concussions and a dozen more breaks, tears and fractures. Yet despite bro just to get it over. I don't I don't like I said the guy's a legend. He's a goat. He's a goat. Just to get somebody over. He was willing to damn near destroy his body. That's just a list of some of the injuries he had over his career. It's just crazy at these physical limitations. He was determined to put on the night and did he ever in the sport of professional wrestling? It's not only the winners who go on in the love of the fans. Viewers now understand that what it takes to make a good match is the in-ring relationship between both the winner and the loser. The loser must make to ensure that the winner looks like a complete force to be reckoned with. This is called putting over a wrestler and by enduring decades of pain and torture in the ring. This is something that Mick Foley has been doing since his debut, all in the name of respect for the wrestling business. Mick Foley entered the world of professional wrestling with a body type that some would say is unconventional for wrestlers of his time. He traded in the bulging biceps and the perfect abs for messy hair, a sight's out and a crooked smile. But even in the 1980s, his physical appearance meant nothing when considered alongside his passion and determination. The same passion that had him making six hour drives from his New York college campus to his wrestling school in Pennsylvania. This is where his skillset began to match his passion under the tutelage of Dominic Danucci, a tenured legend with global experience who had a multitude of styles to teach his students at the time. Eventually, this determination would land him small on-screen matches for the WWF where he would quickly be squashed by more established wrestlers. This is where his penchant for pain and injury began when in one of these squash matches, he faced the dynamite kid, a wrestler known for going off-script and throwing stiff punches at the new guys as a form of initiation instead of the typical performance punches that look much more painful than they actually are. It was one of these stiff punches that injured Foley so drastically that he wasn't able to eat solid food for several weeks. After this short stint in the WWF, he tore different independent promotions until landing in world-class championship wrestling where he went by the name Cactus Jack. Under this moniker, Mick Foley would become notorious for dangerous feats such as being on the receiving end of stiff strikes and delivering top rope elbows onto the concrete floor. After witnessing his love of high-risk danger in the form of a 12-foot elbow drop onto fellow wrestler Kevin Sullivan, Rick Flair, who was the WCW Booker at the time, along with Kevin, decided to offer Mick Foley his first ever full-time contract, a contract that came right at the time when he was having massive financial struggles due to traveling from promotion to promotion, chasing his trees. It was during- And I want y'all to understand, bro, how dedicated and how, like, driven he was, like he said, like Rest on Flashback said. In fact, he's driving to different cities. Damn, they're probably going through his bank account because he's trying to make it. He's doing whatever he can to make it, bro, with very limited money, putting his body on the line. No guaranteed contracts at that point. Like, you gotta want it. And Mick Foley was one of those individuals. He wanted it. He wanted it that bad enough. And hopefully that inspires somebody out there that's watching this with me. Hey, if you really want it bad enough, you'll do whatever it takes to get and achieve your goal. Mick Foley is definitely one of those individuals. During this time that Foley gained his distinct look of the missing front teeth, but surprising to many wrestling fans, this wasn't a moniker gain from in-ring damage. Foley was actually involved in a car crash at this time that took two of his eventual four missing front teeth. A look he was more than happy to keep so as to help him live up to his extreme gimmick. It was at this point that Foley would once again dabble in smaller promotions like UWF and TSW where violence would become even more embedded into his style. During this run, Foley would become the innovator of a weapon that American audiences weren't yet used to barb wire. Whether it was hanging wrestlers using the wire or participating in matches where the ring ropes were wire, Foley became synonymous with the spike-covered stringy substance. This was the birth of the maniac stint of Cactus Jack, a rebirth version of his former self, which made its way back to WCW where he began to use his signature phrase, bang, bang, as he laughed hysterically. Although debuting as a heel, it's eventually made him a fan favorite which pushed him further into main event feuds. But one of the most memorable feuds of this time was with Big Van Vader, a wrestler so well-known for stiff strikes that he was at a point in his career when many wrestlers would refuse to work with him. Out of fear of actually being physically injured, but to no surprise news like this only excited Foley more and he jumped at the opportunity to work with Vader, making this one of his most vicious feuds up to this point. During their second match together, Foley was scripted to become injured at a certain point, but he wanted this injury to feel as real as possible for the fans. So although most ringside activities always use protective mats to shield the possibility of real injury, for this match, they decided against it. So fans can feel the true impact of the bumps. However, Vader's power bomb to the unfatted concrete floor actually gave Foley a legitimate concussion. Oh my God. Insanity. All for our entertainment, bro. Oh my God. And even caused him to lose feeling in his left leg momentarily. To make matters worse, a month later after recovering from this injury, Foley went right back to his feud with Vader in what WCW called a Texas death match. A match so brutal that steel chairs, steel posts and steel steps were only some of the more typical weapons used, while cameras, pre-dog graves, and even tasers were uniquely utilized as weapons until both men were beaten to a bloody pulp. Though this must have been a physically demanding experience for both men involved, it proved to make great TV. So six months later, although the two men were now banned from ever putting on a televised show again due to their brutality, they decided to have a house show instead. And it was one that actually ended up being their most legendary matches today. It was here that the two men attempted to pull off a scripted stunt called the hangman where Foley's neck would be hung in between two ropes as he dangled ringside. However, what these men didn't know was that the ropes were actually applied extra tight that night and Foley found it impossible to move as he was being choked out when he finally freed himself. The picture of the rope he had to scrape through to survive left a massive split on his ear that had left a third of it hanging off his face. In the spirit of the show must go on, the two men continued trading blows until Vader eventually ripped the piece of the ear completely off. A piece that the referee would then pick up and hand to the ring announcers becoming one of the most horrific sites in professional wrestling to this day. Shortly after this. And I've heard the story, but it's still, it still makes you squeamish that he legitimately still kept going on and the guy said, fuck it and rip. Oh my God. Holy. Oh man. As Foley then ran through numerous stints in SMW, IWA and ECW, bringing his signature style of brutality everywhere he went. Many of these matches began to involve things like bricks, body bags, thumb tacks, flaming chairs, flaming iron rods, and of course, Bob Wyatt. And especially vicious series of matches was known as the King of the Deathmatch Tournament, a Kawasaki dream in Japan, which was an all day event that started early in the day and only got more and more brutal as it went on into the night. This show drew a crowd of 28,757 attendants, which was the largest crowd ever for an IWA Japan show. The first round of the tournament started in the daytime and was a barbed wire baseball bat and thumb tacks match, which Foley then, he then went on to win the semi-final match, which was a barbed wire board and spike nail match. And just when you thought it couldn't get any more inhumane, nightfall came. And along with it came the tournament main event, which was a barbed wire rope exploding barbed wire balls and exploding ring time bomb deathmatch, which proved to be as hard to watch as it was to say. Yet no one in the attendance could look away. It was a complete blood bath for the two men involved, with Foley suffering extreme pain from the mixture of cuts from the barbed wire, along with the second degree burns from the C4 explosion. To make matters worse, he also had to endure these burns during his 14 hour flight back to America the next day. Recently, Foley had stated that for this entire event, he'd only been paid $300. This is why it was a relief that- My man's got ripped to shreds over a weekend for just $300, when I know for a fact they made way more than that. You know what? I'll be making jokes about people that be doing this on the independent scene for, you know, RB's gift card, but you know what? I think I'm gonna stop making fun of that, people like that, that do that, because you know what? Mick Foley, one of the greatest of all time, literally did that, flew all the way over there for $300. Sure they didn't pay for his flight or nothing. I'm sure the flight was more than the actual money he got, and that's how much he loved it. So you know what, if you get paid in RB bucks, I mean RB bucks, RB gift cards or Bucky points, whatever, if that's what you love to do, I gotta stop making fun of people doing that, because Mick Foley's one of my favorite individuals, and he was doing that for $300 over a weekend of getting your body destroyed. Much respect, man. Shortly after, Foley had been signed to a full-time contract with the WWF, one of the top promotions at the time. Due to years of mutilation and damage, Foley already wasn't looking too good at this point, so WWF head, Vince McMahon, wanted to cover up his face, so instead of debuting as the infamous cactus Jack, he came in as Mankind, a leather mask wearing mentally unstable psychopath, known for dwelling in boiler rooms and speaking to a rat named George, pulling out his hair and randomly screaming Mommy during matches. During his early years as Mankind, Foley once again began performing in brutal matches, such as buried alive matches, steel cage matches, dumpster matches, and the infamous boiler room brawl, a match created as a result of Mankind's penchant for lurking around in the boiler room. But the most infamous of these specialty matches was his 1998 Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker, which is one of the most iconic matches in resting history. This match became known for its high level of danger and its low levels of precaution. When planning the match, Mick Foley had pitched the idea of starting up the bout with him being thrown off the top of the cage, then climbing back up and being thrown off again. Undertaker, his opponent for the match, replied with, Mick, do you want to die? Foley replied, we've got a heck of a legacy to live up to, and I don't want this match to ruin it. And they definitely lived up to it by following through with Foley's absurd pitch of Undertaker throwing him 16 feet off the top of the cell, crashing through the wooden announcer's table and landing on the concrete wall. Oh my God. And just as he planned less than five minutes later with a dislocated shoulder, he climbed back to the top, only to later be choked some through the top panel of the cell. The additional fall was actually not part of the initial plan and resulted in Foley losing both the tooth and the match. Years later, the referee for the match, Tim White, said that although he was aware of the planned spots, he still felt like he was having a heart attack throughout the whole match. A feeling I'm sure everyone could relate to as the lasting image of this match being a bloody Mick Foley laying on the mat as his tooth hung out of his nose. Although this was a loss, a feeling that Foley was more than used to at this point, this match may still be the spark that ignited his rise to main event status. The mankind character then became more liked and lighthearted instead of unstable and dangerous. And eventually, the fans got behind this change. This lovable gimmick was only further heightened when juxtaposed with the hated. And it worked, bro. He got over, he got over because he never, he kept fighting, bro. He kept fighting, he kept coming back. Don't matter how many times you throw him off the cell. This is why it's one of the greatest, if not the greatest hell in the cell of all time. Because it was something that no one had ever seen done before. And they've replicated it, replicated it, but it will never, it will never have that feeling of, bro, this motherfucker really just threw him off the top of the cell. I thought he died. And then he got back up only to fall through the cell. I thought he died. And then he still got back up. It's just ridiculous, man. Just insanity. Characterization of WWF owner, Vince McMahon, who began working with The Rock to abuse and defile Mankind, although he looked up to McMahon. It was during this time that the resting industry was also going through a huge disruption with the constant opposition between the industry's two leading promotions, WCW and WWF, both of which had their flagship shows on Monday nights at the same time. This was dubbed the Monday Night Wars. And up until this point, WCW had been winning for the most part. So after weeks of loss and brutalization from The Rock and McMahon on the January 4th, 1999 episode, Mankind was finally scheduled to win the most prized title. The WWF Championship, a move that WCW executives got wind of due to pre-tapings. So in an attempt to maintain viewership, WCW did something that goes against all rules of professional wrestling. They spoiled the match ending. Midshow Live on WCW, the announcer Tony Chivani, revealed that Mankind would be winning so that there was no need to even watch the WWF that night. However, this proved to be their biggest mistake. Immediately after the match result was revealed Live on WCW, Nielsen ratings indicated that over 600,000 people switched over to WWF programming. This was monumental because it not only put WWF in the ratings lead for the Monday Night Wars, but it also showed that results on their own aren't what matters to wrestling fans. Yeah, and that's where they made a mistake, bro. 600,000 said, what? Hold on, let me check. And this was one of the greatest Monday Night Raws ever, bro. That reaction that he got was just goose bump inducing. Goose bump inducing. If you haven't seen the clip, go watch it. It's literally one of the greatest Monday Night Raw reactions of all time, bro. What matters is the ability to witness history being made with the characters we've watched grow and be a part of these sentimental moments that show us that anyone can achieve their dreams. From that point, WCW never surpassed WWE in the ratings and Foley continued his must-see feud with The Rock, but this time as a world heavyweight champion. And this feud would culminate in a match that would require Mick Foley to do something he has never done in the ring, quit. The 1999 Royal Rumble I Quit match between Foley and The Rock and the especially savage stipulation of only being able to end once one participant said the words, I quit. And based on Foley's past of enduring brutalization, everyone wasn't sure that it would be impossible to make him say those words. During the match, not only did Foley take numerous hits with tables and ring bells in the ring, outside of it and in the stands, not only did Foley take a 12 foot fall onto the live electrical equipment that sparked and caused lights to go out as he hit it, but what truly made this match one of the era's most brutal was The Rock's use of one weapon in particular, steel chair. The steel chair has been a mainstay in professional wrestling since the fifties, so it was no surprise to see it in any match. Most chalets are Mick Foley's, but the level of brutality that audiences witnessed that night, there's beyond any way the steel chair had been utilized up to that point. Here's some steel chair ground rules. For starters, wrestlers would often put their hands in front of their head last minute to shield their skull from any true damage, but The Rock had Mick Foley handcuffed for a large portion of the match, so that was impossible. Secondly, the most chair shots at rest there was allowed to take during a 10 minute match was three. Within the span of two and a half minutes, Foley had taken 11 unprotected chair shots directly to the head. This site took an emotional toll on everyone in attendance. For the first time in Foley's risky career, the bloodthirsty fans that were regularly yelling for more would now get to stop. Unleading the screams was Foley's wife and five- Bro, I ain't gonna hold you. It's still one of the hardest things to watch in wrestling because those are unprotected. You can't fake that. Those are unprotected chair shots, bro. There's nothing he can do. He can't protect himself. Not even gonna lie to you. That shit's always gonna be hard to watch because it's like, bro, he, bruh. He can't protect himself. So he willingly is letting the rock, like, hey, bro, you got to lay into these shots and the rock is swinging for the fences. Oh my God. Her old daughter, who was sat in the front row in tears, believing that the head of their household was about to die. Yet when given the final opportunity to say the words, I quit, Foley tiredly mumbled into the microphone, you'll have to kill me. Although the plan finished, Foley looking into the eyes of his family and saying, I quit. He fell unconscious due to constant hits in his skull, leaving the officials backstage no choice, but to play a previous recording of him saying, I quit over the speakers, making rock the winner. And although a stretcher was brought out for the bloodied and concussmic Foley, he refused it and walked out with his head high, content with the fact that he never actually quit, a pattern that we would see in both his matches and his career as a whole. For the next year and a half, Foley continued to be a staple in WWF programming due to his highly entertaining feuds and friendships with top wrestlers like Stone Cold, Triple H, and The Rock. But at this point, years of wrestling began to take a toll on his body, both physically and cognitively, with him beginning to forget simple bodily motions and forgetting how to write and spell basic words. He knew it was time to retire, so his last match was scheduled for November 1999, but it was at this point the wrestling world received the devastating news that Stone Cold Steve Austin, arguably the biggest star in wrestling at the time, would have to spend months away due to the severity of a neck injury that would eventually lead to his own retirement. So typical Mick Foley, the man who always put the fans first, became more concerned with fan reaction to losing two major superstars at once. Then he was with his own help, so he decided to continue wrestling for a few more months until Austin could begin making appearances again. When that time finally came, Foley wanted to go out on his own terms in a way the fans could remember him for decades to come. So what better way to do so than with the match that made him famous in the first place? The Hell in a Cell, with the stipulation that Foley would have to retire if he lost, he put on another fantastic bow against Triple H that included thumbtacks, aiming two by fours, and yet again, barbed wire. But in the end, Foley was launched through the roof of the cage, much like he was years prior, falling 13 feet into the mat as Triple H pinned him to finally retire the legend. But if there's one thing we've learned about Foley, it's that he's a man who never knows when to quit, both in matches and in life. For the next six years, he continued to have on-screen appearances that involve little to no wrestling, but every time he did step back into the ring, he knew it would only be to give back to the industry and performers that he loved this whole life. Although he had been sacrificing more than most his entire life, this true era of the giving- And this is why he once again, he deserves to be in that goat conversation because he was about putting people over. He didn't care if he lost. He wanted to make a memorable match because people always bought into Mick Foley as this guy, you literally have to bring him to the brink of death for you to end him. And he's going to put somebody over that ultimately helps them. Like, damn, you went toe-to-toe with Mick Foley. This is why he's one of the greatest that ever do it, bro. Being back, Mick Foley began in 2003 when he decided to begin a storyline with a young wrestler who was new to the industry at the time but has gone on to become a legend in his own right. A young Randy Orton was being pushed as one of the most deplorable wrestlers at the time by running through beloved legends that were way past their prime. So in order to live up to the legend killer status, he began tormenting a legend that fans grew to adore by pushing Foley down a flight of stairs on June 23rd, 2003. After a lengthy feud that saw the return of the Rock at WrestleMania 20, it eventually culminated at the backlash pay-per-view in 2004 where Foley brought Cactus Jack out one more time for a hardcore match that saw Orton utilizing Foley's signature barbed wire baseball bat in his own unique ways in order to win the match. To this day, Foley says this was one of the best matches of his career. And although this match did wonders to push Randy Orton's legend killer persona over the edge, there was still one more edge that Foley felt like he needed to conquer. And that came in the form of Adam Copeland, AKA Edge. A wrestler who had already dominated in the middle of the card for years but was recently given that main event push that he so deserved. If you thought Randy Orton was a top villain, Edge had been taking notes from the same book and magnifying them tenfold. So Foley knew that the perfect icing on the cake for Edge's already heated career would be a match against the greatest hardcore legend that would be one of the most intensely brutal bouts that WWE would see at the time. So let's take it back to where we started. 42 year old man with more injuries than titles. On April 2nd, he entered the WrestleMania arena with a body that had gone through bruises, breaks, fractures, tears, burns and concussions. So the question on the mind of every fan was, does he have what it takes to do it one last time? Well, this was a man who was constantly winning over the hearts of fans by losing to some of the greatest, whether it was The Rock, Triple H or Randy Orton. Foley made a career of making other wrestlers look like stars and this one was no different. Although there were- And that's, that is something to be commendable. He got over by making other wrestlers look like mega stars, look like dominant individuals. Get him in his wours. For many intense spots that utilized chairs, tables and a plethora of thumbtacks, there was one planned spot that would be the Magnum Opus of the day. The spear from the inside of the ring onto the burning table outside. In order to convince management to let them do the spot, they had to do multiple pre-match tests and even had plants in the crowd that were actually fire marshals, just in case anything went awry. WWE officials even covered the rest of the entire bodies with flame retardant gel. But according to Edge, due to the large amounts of sweat from both nerves and strenuous activity, the gels washed off in about two minutes. This same gel was meant to be applied to the table as well, but at both performers' request, it was not. The final spot resulted in something that would take all fans out of their seats, as Edge and Foley went flying into a burning table as it exploded into a dozen pieces of wooden ember. Both wrestlers suffered secondary burns as the camera did a close-up of Edge's traumatized face, which he later revealed was a completely real reaction to him smelling his own flesh being burned, as both men lay over the rubble and chaos they had created. Edge shakily crawled over to Foley's unmoving body and laid his arm over him as the referee counted to three, making Edge the winner of one of Foley's final matches with the WWE. At that moment, he lay on top of the legend, he whispered four words, that every fan in attendance was probably either thinking, whispering, or yelling as well, I love you, Mixta. And typically, the always cheering, always happy Mick Foley did what he did best. He gave it right back by whispering, I love you too. Words that were said to Edge, but were surely also meant for all the wrestlers, fans, and the industry that gave his life too. Just a goat, bro. Ah, man, that video is fucking fantastic. We're gonna go ahead and like this, because this is fantastic. Go check out Wrestling Flashback. He has some other great videos. Guys, should definitely check out. Yeah, man, this was fantastic. Fantastic. I was looking forward to checking this out. I'm glad I did get a chance to check this out. Mick Foley deserves all the love and respect from the industry, because the guy will literally go through a flaming table to get you over it if you feel like you needed that. You don't really see too many people like that that care about the business, the industry, to help talent that they see. Hey, this guy can be something. Thank you, Mick Foley. That's all I can say. Thank you, Mick Foley, for all you've done. We're wrestling fans for the wrestling business. We appreciate you. We love you, man. Comment down below. Let me know your favorite Mick Foley match. Let me know. Doesn't matter what company. Let me know your favorite Mick Foley match, and let's just have that conversation down below to show Mick Foley some love, man. I appreciate all love, sport, road to 150K, and I'm Steve Young, speedy YouTube, wrestling champion of the world. Appreciate y'all kicking in with me. See y'all next week. Peace.