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Submitted by Xan on Friday, June 2, 2006 at 5:26 PM EST
 "All things must change to something new, to something strange."--Henry Longfellow Is Mick Foley nothing more than a sock? This week on RAW, that seemed to be what the debate was about, didn't it? Mick Foley called himself the greatest superstar in the history of the sport, and Paul Heyman asked him how many times he won the World Title before taking a sock out of his pants and trying to cheer up Vince McMahon with it. It's a fair question, isn't it? For all the people who think Mick Foley is a legend, how many of them were fans of him before that moment? I was, as I always liked him ever since his days as Cactus Jack in WCW, but was that truly Mick Foley's break-out moment, pulling a sock out of his pants? No. The first time the public really took notice of Mick Foley was when he was thrown off the top of the Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring 1998; months before first donning Mr. Socko on his right hand. What the sock did was start Foley's metamorphosis from professional wrestler to living cartoon. Is this how Foley prostituted himself? By becoming a muppet? I'm not real sure of the answer to that question. When he joined the WWF, the organization was clearly going to a darker style of gimmick. The character he played, Mankind, was a deranged individual who liked to sit in boiler rooms and rock back and forth while muttering to himself. That's hardly the kind of character that would show itself on Saturday morning cartoons, but it was still a gimmick, still a character, and was a sign that the WWF had no real interest in what you could do in the ring or what you wrestled as previously. This, of course, was nothing new. After all, Terry Taylor was transformed into the Red Rooster, former 6-time NWA World Champion Harley Race was never mentioned as a former World Champ and was given the moniker "The King of Wrestling," and Ted Dibiase became The Million Dollar Man. But, while not new, it was certainly regressive thinking by the WWF to go with the Mankind character at around the same time that Steve Austin was breaking out of the "Ringmaster" shell he'd been placed in and had started on his way to being the major icon that was one of the reasons for the revolutionizing of the industry. Hell, all of this was also right at the same time as the emergence of the NWO, as well, so Mankind really seemed like a throwback to a time the entire business was trying to move on from, but luckily for the WWF, the man behind Mankind was more than what they believed him to be. His ability and charisma were such that he was able to connect with the audience despite the weird mask and deranged character he was playing. While Mankind certainly wrestled differently than Cactus Jack did, the flair that thrilled Foley's fans in past incarnations was there, though held in check. The amazing promo skills that you could always count on him for remained as well, though subdued. I don't think Vince McMahon ever really believed in Mick Foley as a performer. Maybe he only signed him to a contract because he figured he was taking away from his competition and giving himself a decent midcard performer that would also allow him to see another creation of his own mind exist on the grand stage of the World Wrestling Federation. Regardless of McMahon's reasoning, though, if you truly believed in a wrestler's ability, why hide him behind half of a mask, why take away his traditional unique finisher--the double-arm DDT--and stick with one of the stupidest ones ever--the stick your finger down someone's throat until they pass out? And why decide not to cash on his name recognition at all, and completely change his name to Mankind? Even Terry Taylor got to keep his name, for God's sakes! "Don't be sad, don't be angry, if life deceives you! Submit to your grief; your time for joy will come, believe me."--Aleksandr Pushkin I wonder how much of the "Face to Face" that went on between Foley and Heyman on RAW were the real feelings of each man. Undoubtedly, Heyman would rather Foley(and Austin, for that matter) had stayed in ECW rather than migrating to the WWF, and undoubtedly Vince McMahon has much deeper pockets than Paul Heyman ever will, but does Mick really think that all wrestlers are prostitutes and he just sold himself to a richer, more powerful pimp? It sure came across as a genuine belief, and while I won't say I'm 100% sure that he feels that way, it would make sense that he does, wouldn't it? For one thing, this angle is really starting to click and we've seen in recent years that the best angles usually spring from real life feelings or situations. Will this be one of the best angles? Time will tell, but it certainly seems that an angle that had a "Wha?" feel to it has become much deeper and interesting over the last 3 weeks. I'm not one of those people that gets on my hands and knees to grovel at Paul Heyman's feet, but the fact of the matter is that he has a much stronger point here than Foley does. Other wrestlers may have given up a little bit to "make it" in professional wrestling and join the WWF, but Foley sold his soul. I've never really held it against him and I wouldn't now, except for the fact that--in character or not--he's being a hypocrite and a liar. A lot of what Terry Funk said a couple of weeks ago about ECW being a family was true. They were a family that banded together to survive and had an agenda that flew very much in the face of the two major players in the world of wrestling, WCW and the WWF. While Foley had never before worked for the WWF in any lasting capacity, he had been an upper midcard player for WCW and had a hell of a lot of fun pretending that he enjoyed the WCW style more when he was in his anti-hardcore phase and calling a man he had absolutely NO regard for "Uncle Eric." WCW made Cactus Jack a bit of a household name among wrestling fans, but it was in ECW that he became a legend. He didn't prostitute himself for ECW, he had absolute freedom in Extreme Championship Wrestling to do what he wanted to do, whether it be to get guys over that he felt deserved it, or whether it be the directions his feud should go in, or just about anything else. Sure Heyman paid Foley for his services, but that doesn't make him any more a prostitute than I am in my job or that you are in yours. If you're hired to do a job, you do it. But, it seems to me that when he signed on with the WWF he really did prostitute himself. He ceased being Mick Foley or Cactus Jack for all intents and purposes and became Mankind. He stopped using the style that he'd been using for years and adopted a new one, a new personality and a new finisher to go with his new gimmick, and what seemed to be nearly a completely different take on being a professional wrestler. He walked out of ECW as the legend known as Cactus Jack and walked into the WWF as the nobody that was Mankind. Eventually, of course, his Cactus Jack persona--along with the one he'd never used before, Dude Love--found its way into the World Wrestling Federation, but that's neither here nor there. The fact is that Foley, for all that he's adored by the public really did sell his soul to Vince McMahon. Did he get benefit out of it? Of course he did. He gained financial security for his family, he gained worldwide television exposure with the #1 company in pro wrestling, held the World Wrestling Federation Title 3 times, and used his success in the organization to springboard his current career as a best-selling author. "It is by losing himself in the objective, in inquiry, creation, and craft, that a man becomes something."--Paul Goodman None of this, of course, though, means that Mick Foley is, as he claimed on Monday night the biggest star the sport has ever seen. I'm sure that statement was completely in character, and maybe some day I'll write a column about who the biggest star in the history of professional wrestling is, but it's clearly not Foley. However, while he may not be the biggest star in the history of the industry, he's easily the retired star that can contribute most to the WWF. While he seems to come back once every year or two to help put a new star over, he hasn't been overused, overexposed, and completely exhausted like other frequent returnees like Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin have. One could argue that Foley's only back because it just makes sense for him to work his magic with ECW one more time, but I hope that's not the case. I hope he's back full time. While there are guys that can put together a more exciting promo than Foley or a more exciting match, nobody seems to take the kind of chances he does. I said he sold his soul to McMahon when he came into the WWF and became Mankind, and I believe he did, but it still took guts to do it, because he had no way of knowing if it was going to work. In fact, I think he thought it wouldn't. But, somehow he not only managed to pull the character off, but was able to institute twists that couldn't really have been seen beforehand and made someone who could have been a stock movie monster into a complex character we could all care about. Mr. Socko may have been cartoonish and started Foley on the way to what he's seen as now, which is the muppet that I talked about earlier and Edge mentioned a few months back; but, it also is what helped Foley really and truly get over with the audience. If the fall from the Cell is what helped WWF fans first sympathize with Mankind, it was Mr. Socko that got them to love him. But, that doesn't mean that's all Foley is or was. He's not just a guy that pulls a sock out of his pants and stuffs it down the gullet of his opponents. There are layers in Mick that we probably haven't seen or read yet, and I think we're seeing that now. Is this stuff against ECW similar to his anti-hardcore time in ECW? I can't tell you for sure. I wasn't there. Not because I didn't dig the organization, but because no channel on the Iron Range carried it. I followed it as best as I could through what IWC there was at the time, but most of my ECW experience comes from the DVDs they've put out, however, I don't believe this current angle is so much anti-hardcore as it is anti-ECW, and that's an important distinction. You see, while I see clearly that Mick Foley is a sell-out, I harbor no ill will toward him for it and I can respect his decision. Sure, he gave up his wrestling name, look, style, attitude, and finisher and adopted a completely new persona, but he got his dream fulfilled in return. He didn't grow up with the intention of wrestling in front of 2000 people in a bingo hall, remember, or even wrestling for the NWA/WCW. He grew up wanting to leap off a cage onto his prone opponent in Madison Square Garden. He got to do that at SummerSlam 1997: Hart and Soul. He grew up wanting to perform in the WWF and eventually be their champion. He got to do both, and besides all that, he was able to secure financial security for his family. There's not a single one of us who wouldn't have done the exact same thing in his position, which is what makes him the perfect foil for Paul E. and ECW. He didn't leave ECW for the big time the way the angle is being made out to be; and yet he did. He didn't leave ECW because he got paid little money to perform with lots of violence in front of little crowds; and yet he did. He gave everything he had to give to realize his dream and support his family, and now he's back to give back to the organizations that let him do it. ECW gave Foley the experience, exposure, and body of work to show McMahon what he could really do, the WWF made Foley a major star and helped him on his way to becoming a best-selling author and now he's working his ass off to contribute to both, because his angle against the ECW old guard is going to be a major selling point for ECW One Night Stand, and ultimately for the ECW brand overall. Extreme Championship Wrestling is 5 years gone, but thanks to last year's One Night Stand, The Rise and Fall of ECW, and Bloodsport: ECW's Most Violent Matches, it's reached a wider audience than it ever has before so despite the naysayers and the fear about what's going to be produced, this really is the best time to restart the brand, which means this is also the perfect time for Foley to make his full-time return. I've always envied Foley to an extent because while he's got a body a lot like mine, his desire to become a professional wrestler overcame what could have been physical limitations. Not only that, but he wrestles like Shawn Michaels while having the physique of the Iron Sheik. Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, Mankind, or Dude Love; whichever you refer to him as has always been about the every man--or even a lower class than that--defying the odds to rise up and become better than he ever could have predicted. I can't think of a more apt analogy for ECW or a better man for a job of bridging the gap between the two promotions, whether it be between ECW and the WWF or between ECW 1995 and ECW 2006. Either way, this prostitute is going to do a helluva job as an ambassador. This will conclude today's voyage on The Northern Star, but please go check out The Project for some original non-wrestling related writing. Send any feedback to for today's column to XanManX@hotmail.com, with the words "Northern Star" or "feedback" in the subject line. The Northern Star will rise again. Until then, Long days, pleasant nights
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