Just when Mick Foley was pissing me off

[The Thread Killer]

I used to love Mick Foley.

 

I wasn't any bandwagon jumper either. I followed Foley during his first WCW run...when I saw Sting kick his ass during his infamous "sit down" strike. I loved his Tag Team with Max Pain, and actually paid real money for Spring Stampede 1994 to see the Street Fight with the Nasty Boys. Being a fan of both ECW and IWA/FMW I followed him after WCW. King of the Death Match was the first Japanese Tape I ever bought. I was thrilled when he came to the WWF as Mankind, loved the feud with Taker, and was there watching for his career peak in 1997-2000. I own an autographed first addition of "Have A Nice Day." I wasn't upset when he came out of retirement at WM2000 to be in the Main Event. I own "The Three Faces of Foley" "Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops" and "Greatest Hits and Misses." I've paid a great deal of money to see his DVD's and tapes, get his books, and see him live.

 

Around the time "Foley is Good" came out, I started to get a little tired of Mick. His bitching about all sorts of things in that book, and the fact that it was half sermon defending Vince McMahon, and half attempt to make money from the people who bought Have A Nice Day bugged me. The fact that he constantly refers to his fans as losers who have no life and no girlfriend started to bug me. My wife is plenty hot, thanks Mick...and she liked you too.

 

Then he started showing up everytime he had something to pimp. He wrote two or three new books, and there he was on WWE television pimping them. He came back to fight Randy Orton...somebody who I thought didn't deserve half the rub that Foley gave him. He started to look less and less like the Hardcore Legend and more and more like the cheap shill that he is.

 

When he turned down a chance to help TNA, and went back to Vince, even though he was sick about the WWE direction, that sealed it for me. The man wasn't getting another dime from me. He's already a zillionaire, his constant greed was getting under my skin. I felt like he needed to shut the fuck up and go away. I felt he was turning into a bloated pimp who looked nothing like the man who won the King of the Death Match, cut the "Cane Dewey" promo, or even who fought Triple H at Madison Square Garden twice.

 

I heard he was planning on fighting at WM this year, and for the first time as a one time Foley fan, I didn't give a shit.

 

Then I read this on WWE.com...

 

Foley is Blog: Cheap heat?

By Mick Foley

February 8, 2006

 

I know I promised to share some thoughts on Ric Flair this week, but I honestly feel that I need to address a subject that is more urgent. Like a lot of you, I had some strong feelings about last Friday?s ?Eddie?s in Hell? episode of SmackDown, Apparently, some of my fellow WWE performers feel like I have a certain amount of ?juice? in the company, and I feel like my thoughts will probably echo, to some degree, what is on their minds.

 

To a large degree, I am enjoying writing ?Foley is Blog.? I hope you?ve enjoyed it as well. But, in a certain sense, I regret trying to manufacture controversy in order to get people interested in my web log. To be honest with you, the Flair piece was going to be a classic case of bait and switch, as I would bait the reader with the prospect for juicy Foley rebuttal to Flair?s criticisms of me and then switch to a largely complimentary analysis of Ric?s recent in-ring performance. So, for those of you who are interested in such an article, I will try to deliver it next week.

 

I also wonder if my following concerns might be more appropriately expressed in a personal phone call to Vince McMahon.

 

Before last Friday Night?s SmackDown, the Rey Mysterio/Eddie Guerrero stuff made me feel a little ? weird. And not ?weird in a good way,? either. More like weird in an uncomfortable way. Weird in an ?I?m not sure this should really be on a wrestling show? way.

 

I know there has been a lot of talk since Eddie?s death about what Eddie would have wanted. I really don?t know. I didn?t truly know Eddie well enough to make that call. I had known Eddie for more than 10 years, though. I considered him a friend, and deep down, like most people who knew him, I genuinely liked him a lot. I can?t say with any certainty whether Eddie would have wanted his memory to be such a large part of the current SmackDown product.

 

I was truly blessed to have been Eddie?s roommate on the December 2004 SmackDown tour of Iraq. It had been quite a while since I?d had a roommate in WWE. Sure, I?ve been a notorious cheapskate on the road for many years ? and many of the legendary tales of my thriftiness are not altogether undeserved. I will confess to sleeping on the cot at the Red Roof while representing the WWE as world champion, and I am the proud initiator of ?Foley?s Four Hour Doctrine,? which settles the hotel vs. airport debate at a strict four hour limit. More than four hours before a wake up call for an early flight: hotel. Less than four hours: airport. You can read a book, listen to music, watch a DVD, (although I never owned a DVD player when traveling), and catch a nap. Just don?t waste hard-earned money on such a short hotel stay.

 

I?ve mellowed over the years. Father Time seemed to release the vice-like grip I?d had on my wallet for so many years. I traveled less, learned to love the tranquility of solitary, 200-mile drives, and learned that sleep was far more fruitful when not accompanied by drunken voices, loud sex, police sirens and the occasional gunshot. So, over the years, I grew out of the habit of rooming with anyone ? to the point where I actually feared the potential of such an occurrence.

 

Such an occurrence was inevitable in Iraq. I shudder to think of the sounds that would come out of Big Show?s body. I shuddered as well at the prospect of the words that would come out of JBL?s mouth. Fortunately, I got Eddie. I may not have known Eddie as well as I might have, but I remember breathing a sigh of relief when ?Foley and Guererro? was announced. For Eddie Guerrero was respected and admired not only for his incredible in-ring abilities, but also for his kindness, soft-spoken demeanor and deep faith.

 

We stayed up late the first night talking not only of wrestling, but of God and family as well. Actually, I?m not sure we talked about wrestling at all.

 

So often in life, we fail to tell people who are important to us just how we feel about them until it?s too late. Upon hearing of Eddie?s death, my sole source of comfort (other than firmly believing that Eddie Guerrero is in a better place) was that I had not been a victim of that failure. I had been able to tell Eddie how much I had enjoyed spending time with him and getting to know him better.

 

No, I didn?t know Eddie as well as some. And, as I mentioned earlier, I?m not an expert on what Eddie would have wanted. But, I have to believe that what Eddie would have wanted ? and what we gave him last Friday on SmackDown ? are two very different things.

 

I do not believe that Eddie?s wife appreciated the ?Eddie?s in Hell? declaration. She just lost her husband. Mourning his loss is difficult enough.

 

I do not believe that Randy Orton needs this type of cheap heat to be effective. No one knows better than I that Randy is an incredible talent. He can wrestle, he can talk, and he exudes an extreme brand of cockiness in the ring that makes him a natural bad guy. He doesn?t need this.

 

I?m not against having Eddie?s memory as an enduring legacy of SmackDown. I was touched by Batista?s recent heartfelt words, and I don?t doubt for a moment that Rey Mysterio feels genuinely motivated by his late mentor?s spirit. And as I?ve told Chavo on a few different occasions, I considered the frog splash a tribute to Eddie on the night of his death to be one WWE?s truly great moments.

 

But the recent SmackDown episode did not honor his legacy, it exploited his death. I hope it will end, and the sooner the better. For by exploiting his death we achieve what I thought wouldn?t be possible: We cheapen his life.

I reprinted this, because for all I know, the WWE will take it down once they see it.

 

He might be a greedy pimp and a shill, but it's nice to know he still has morals and will stand up for them.

 

Thanks again, Mick.

[sek69]

I'm undecided on this for a several reasons:

 

1. WWE.com was supposed to have a new kayfabe policy after HHH was upset that they broke the news of his spawn.

 

2. I don't doubt Foley's personal feelings, yet he'll still accept a paycheck from a company that insults the memory of a person he considers a friend. Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

 

3. What's to say this isn't setting up some type of angle, or WWE trying to "work the smarts"?

[The Thread Killer]

Off topic for a second, but both Lance Storm and Test have posted on their sites saying they are disgusted by this Eddie angle, and according to SD spoilers, it continues this week. I am truly disgusted by this, I really am. How Eddie's family must be feeling, I can't even imagine. I won't go as far as saying this is the worst thing the WWE has ever done...I've been a wrestling fan for 27 years and that would be a tough call...but I can say that it will be a long fucking time, if ever...before they ever get another dime of my money. I can pay for TNA shows, like the one this Sunday, knowing that my money is supporting a struggling company which doesn't do stuff like this. The need for a real alternative to the WWE has never been bigger.

 

And I agree that the chance this blog is a work is there. The only thing that makes me think it isn't, is that Foley reportedly has a creative control clause, and I can't see him willingly agree to something like this. He went on record as being against the Katie Vick storyline, and cancelled a Byte This appearance over it, and he also bad mouthed the Big Show's Father Dying of Cancer angle, until they turned it into an obvious comedy bit, when the Bossman crashed the funeral in the Blues Mobile.

 

I do think Mick is a bit of a hypocrite on many levels. He has morals, but ignores them when there is yet another pay check in it for him. I think he could have done loads to help get TNA off the ground, and he pulled out of that deal so he could get Orton and Edge over? Feh. I'd like to think he's real about this blog, I would. If it turns out he isn't, then the little respect I have left for him goes out the window.

[sek69]

What sickens me, is that apparently Eddie's family was asked if it was okay to do this and they didn't like it but said if it helped Rey, they'd agree to it since he was Eddie's best friend.

 

Now the angle's been designed to help get Orton over, and I get the feeling they lied to Eddie's family in order to be able to say "the family's okay with it so everyone should shut up".

[The Thread Killer]

Remember back when Triple H had has famous angle with Booker T leading up to Booker T's World Title Shot at WM19? The one which a brilliant writer at 411 wrote about HERE?

 

When that writer went batshit about the angle in that column, he got a zillion emails from WWE fanboys, explaining that the poor taste was okay...because Triple H was the "bad guy" and Booker T was the "good guy" and was going get his revenge in the end. I had one friend of mine explain to me as if I was an idiot, that the ONLY way that the WWE would do something this risky would be if the good guy won in the end. Otherwise, why would they have done it? Hell, read the quotes from the WWE moron in that 411 article. He as much as predicts that Booker would get some revenge.

 

I wouldn't watch WM19 based on principle, due to this angle. I was told by a person who I trust and respect, that not only did Triple H win the match, he managed to make Booker T extra weak in the process, by hitting him with the pedigree and then waiting an unusually long time to finally cover him and get the pin.

 

Booker's "revenge" never came.

 

There are those pathetic fans now who claim that Rey will go on to win the World Championship and dedicate it to Eddie. Even if that happens, it will not excuse this angle. It won't make up for the damage done. It won't erase what was said. On top of that, as we saw from the end to the Triple H/Booker T feud...in cases like these the good guys don't get to win anyhow. There probably won't be any hollow meaningless storyline victory. If history is any indicator, Randy Orton will be rewarded for his disgusting speech by fighting Kurt Angle at WM for huge money, and Rey will end up fighting on the undercard.

 

If that happens, at this point I'll be hard pressed to feel sorry for him. The only people I feel for at this point is Eddie's family.

[kjh]

2. I don't doubt Foley's personal feelings, yet he'll still accept a paycheck from a company that insults the memory of a person he considers a friend.  Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

Bingo. It's a bit of a self serving gesture. It makes Foley feel better about himself without really risking anything and puts himself over with the online fans for saying what needed to be said. It really hasn't touched a nerve as the article is still up there and so is a video package of the angle Foley found so reprehensible. And the article itself (and Eddie's death for that matter) is trivialised by the headline below it being about how Shelton's momma is recovering from her fake heart scare on Raw as if it was a shoot. I'm sure Vince is revelling in the extra controversy the article brings and doesn't really care what Foley said.

 

Foley could have taken a real stand on this if he privately threatened to refuse to work at Mania if WWE didn't drop the more tasteless aspects of the angle. Maybe that's too much to ask, but does he really need another 6 figure paycheck?

[Marty]

What sickens me, is that apparently Eddie's family was asked if it was okay to do this and they didn't like it but said if it helped Rey, they'd agree to it since he was Eddie's best friend.

 

Now the angle's been designed to help get Orton over, and I get the feeling they lied to Eddie's family in order to be able to say "the family's okay with it so everyone should shut up".

Agreed with you there. You know, it's shit like that which makes me stop and think, "You know, Eddie's really in a better place now instead of before."

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

Aside from the praise about Orton, great read from Foley. Not even so much his words about Eddie, but just for reminding me that Mick's got one of the best sense of humors wrestling's ever seen.