April 24, 2018 ▸ People

Episode 291: Mick Foley: Mankind and Mutilation

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we jump off the top rope and hit you all with the life and times of the one and only Mick Foley. Call him Cactus Jack, Dude Love, or Mankind, Mick Foley is one of the all-time greats of professional wrestling. Not a fan of pro-wrestling? Give this one a listen anyway because the story of Mick Foley is pretty incredible, and I promise you by the time you’re done with this episode, you’ll be visiting YouTube to watch some of the amazing clips from this man’s dangerous career. Plus, you’ll learn a lot about Brad’s time as a hardcore wrestler. It’s pretty crazy.

We all know that professional wrestling is “fake” (I prefer the word “scripted”), but the career of Mick Foley is so impressive because he constantly blurred the line between fact and fiction, safe and dangerous. His career as an extreme/hardcore wrestler saw him take bumps that most people wouldn’t dare attempt. In an era where steel chairs weren’t used in the ring, he let people use them on him. From barbed wire to six inch spikes and from sacks full of thumbtacks to barb-covered baseball bats, Foley took every type of hit imaginable. And real or not, you can only fake being thrown off a 20 foot steel cage so much.

Oh, and he got thrown off a 20 foot steel cage. A lot. He was set on fire with C4 explosives, thrown on beds of nails, had his teeth knocked out of his mouth, suffered concussions, bit a hole in his lip, and had his ear ripped off in the ring. In every single case, he kept coming for more. On top of all that, Mick Foley is an amazingly charismatic and funny man, and he’s quite intelligent and articulate. In fact, he’s had multiple books on the New York Times best seller’s list, and none of the were ghostwritten.

So what matches made Mick Foley become the hardcore legend that he is today? How much did people backstage know about his infamous Hell in a Cell match, and did he lie to Vince McMahon (owner of WWE)? Who exactly is Mr. Socko? Listen, laugh, learn.

Hell in a Cell: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x50cdbp

Japanese Death Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrY1i2bUTmo