Original subtitles

- I have never witnessed

a championship match

like we have just witnessed here tonight!

- The Triple H-Mick Foley rivalry was amazing

because you had two superstars

who needed just a little bit more

to get to that next level.

And that’s exactly what they found in each other.

- We had this really great chemistry together.

- You have two guys with something to prove.

We wanna steal the show every night.

- It’s thousands of thumbtacks!

Oh, no!

- You can’t have the good guy without the evil guy.

[intense music]

- One of the things that makes Mick

an incredible performer

is his ability to take characters

and morph them into who he is.

- The roar was deafening.

I hadn’t received reactions like that,

and that has a lot to do with the guy I’m in the ring with.

- We both want it to be great...

- For God’s sake.

- Willing to do anything to make it great.

[cheering]

- This rivalry has just escalated into a war.

[crowd jeers]

- When two legends collide,

their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories

behind the greatest rivalries of all time.

- Gentleman, we have been waiting a long time.

- I’m Freddie Prinze Jr...

[crowd jeering]

And this is "WWE Rivals."

♪ ♪

- I am the game!

- Triple H versus Mick Foley, a man of many faces.

We know him as Dude Love,

we know him as Cactus Jack,

we know him as Mankind,

and he even gave us the pleasure in this rivalry

of giving us all three characters at once.

Can the blueblood Triple H

be as tough as Mick Foley?

- [sighs] The life of a gentleman.

A life you’ll never know.

[classical music]

- Hunter Hearst Helmsley

is a guy that says he’s gonna bring

class and civility to the WWE.

- Hunter Hearst Helmsley was sort of built

on the Northeastern Connecticut snob,

the very proper, you know, American former Englishman.

- Make no mistake about Hunter Hearst Helmsley

and his wrestling expertise. This man ranks right up there.

- That’s right, and he’s got a lot of class, too.

something that, as I look out among these peons here,

they are certainly lacking.

- When I’ve got my guy down that they want to see

beat my ass, and I’ve got him beat up,

and I stand over him, and look out at the people,

and do that little bow,

and they just boo me out of the building,

that’s the reaction I want.

And when I do that, I go, "Yeah."

- It was a bit of a cartoonish character.

And it had some good dimensions to it,

but in the end, he was defined by the character.

- That was Hunter’s character

to get in the door, I think.

And it was something that he did well,

but that character kind of had a ceiling on it.

And he offered so much more.

- What an aggressive athlete

this Hunter Hearst Helmsley is.

- You have to have a backstory.

You have to have a personality.

You have to have something that makes you

resonate with people.

Otherwise, why do they-- they can watch anybody wrestle.

- If you were looking for the polar opposite

of Hunter Hearst Helmsley,

look no further than Mankind.

- Weighing 287 pounds,

Mankind!

- When I debuted in 1996 as Mankind,

that character was kind of a tortured soul

along the lines of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

- Mankind was demented.

I mean, there were no limits to what he would do

to himself to inflict pain on his opponent.

He was just maniacal.

- Look out! - Look out!

Look out! Down below, look out!

- Oh, my gosh!

- [sighs] I remember having a match with him.

He was legit pulling his own hair out.

I remember him taking a stick and jabbing it in his leg

over and over and over again.

I mean, that’s just another level of dedication

to making a character viable.

It was nuts.

But we believed him.

[wrestler shouts]

- Oh!

- Those of us familiar with who this guy was

knew that he had lived in existence as Cactus Jack

before he got to WWE.

The scars on his body from his life as Cactus Jack

was very real.

- He’s branding Cactus

with a flaming branding iron!

- Then he does this interview on TV.

- Over the next few weeks,

I’m going to take you on a different kind of odyssey,

a 26-year journey of a young boy

named Mick Foley,

boyhood dreams turned into a living hell.

[dramatic music]

- The death match stuff,

that got Cactus into the game, perhaps.

But the sit-down interview with Jim Ross,

that actually got him into the end zone.

♪ ♪

- Obviously, these matches were bizarre.

They were dangerous.

What made Cactus Jack different

was he just wanted it a little bit more.

He was somebody, in an era of bodybuilder physiques,

who carved out his own niche,

said I’m gonna make it on my own style.

Said no one else is going to tell me what to do.

I’m not going to dye my hair.

I’m going to be exactly who I am,

and I’m going to do it my way.

I’ve never felt this bad in my life,

but I’ve never been happier!

- The Jim Ross thing really touched base

because that was something that--

I remember watching it.

And, to me, it was like, when they showed

his senior year picture,

that looks like anybody.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- And now we’ve got this heap of humanity

that’s pulling his hair out.

I mean, like, what torturous life has this soul had?

- I’ve heard rumor about these horrible matches

that took place.

♪ ♪

And I didn’t care.

♪ ♪

As far as I was concerned, this was my destiny.

♪ ♪

And I walked out the first time,

I saw barbed wire strung up in place of ring ropes...

♪ ♪

and I said...

♪ ♪

I’m finally home!

♪ ♪

Mrs Foley’s little boy!

He’s finally home!

I’m not sure I’ve ever been that on as I was

that night as I brought this character to life

and created an enormous amount of empathy

just by being 100% honest.

It took just about all the money I had in the world,

but I got a front row seat.

And I saw the move that would change my life.

♪ ♪

when Jimmy Snuka came off the top of the cage

and I saw people stand up.

I wanted to hear people cheer for me

because of some act of bravery that I committed.

So I ascended up onto my friend’s roof...

♪ ♪

And I dove off.

♪ ♪

- We got to know Mrs. Foley’s baby boy.

We got to know--we got to see the home footage of Mick

jumping off his garage onto a mattress.

And all of us were doing the same thing

off of our couches, you know?

- It felt intimate, and it struck a chord,

and it endeared Mick Foley to a worldwide audience.

- We can be a line of work

that everyone knows is entertainment,

but you can still connect

and be a character that resonates with people

where they go, "I understand that.

I get that."

- Once he started breaking out of that shell

of the original Mankind character,

he was different than everybody else

because he was a lot more like the people watching

than everybody else in the ring with him.

[soft dramatic music]

- As soon as I did these interviews,

without actually turning in a classic way--

I didn’t apologize for my misgivings.

I was just the same guy,

and every single week,

more and more people were cheering me.

- They like him. What’s going on here?

[cheers and applause]

- I don’t think a change

has ever come about that organically.

- He didn’t fit, but he made himself fit.

And it makes for a great rivalry

when you have someone who doesn’t fit

against the most "I fit" guy there is in a Triple H.

- Live from Providence, Rhode Island.

It is the King of the ring.

- King of the Ring at the time

was an annual WWE tradition that was a single elimination

eight-man tournament.

- And Chyna, the bodyguard

of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, checking things out.

- Hunter Hearst Helmsley with a Pedigree.

Oh, no!

- A lot of times, the finals of the King of the Ring

would be two different superstars

that were on the cusp of maybe getting to that next level.

- The Mandible Claw!

[match bell clangs]

Mankind gets the victory!

- We had the fans.

They’re ready to react,

but they need something to react to.

- And this is what it’s all about,

the finals here at the King of the Ring.

- Two longtime superstars who’d been grinding forever.

King of the Ring set off the rivalry

between Triple H and Mick Foley.

[crowd cheering]

- And this is what it’s all about,

the finals here at the King of the Ring.

Helmsley probably feels that this is his birthright

to be the King of the WWE.

- King of the Ring is kind of tailor-made

to be something that gives someone credibility

or says to the viewer, "That’s a top guy."

- Oh, no! - [groans]

- And now again, they’re out here

in no man’s land!

- Mankind! But look at him! He’s back.

No!

[crowd exclaiming]

Helmsley sets him up with a Pedigree!

[soft dramatic music]

Is that enough to beat him?

It is.

[match bell clangs]

- The winner of this cup

and new King of the Ring...

[angelic choir singing bombastically]

- Hunter Hearst Helmsley!

♪ ♪

- The snob won, and the snob had to cheat.

- Your scepter was destroyed, but...

here is your crown.

- To be able to do it with Mick,

he was a great opponent for me for that,

and it helped put me at a different level.

- No!

And Helmsley with that crown... [match bell clanging]

just hammering into the back of Mankind.

- Has Helmsley lost his mind?

- Triple H gets to be the King of the Ring.

And the sympathy I gathered, not only from losing the match

but from suffering that beat down after the match,

this was like, "That’s uncalled for.

"That was unprovoked.

We like that guy."

And it just became this great study in contrasts.

- What I did last night was take my destiny,

my career, into my hands.

- It was a story that, as time went on,

you just continued to enjoy.

- This ring is now my house.

- ’Cause you knew they were going to take it to places

you’d never seen before.

- Knock, knock, Hunter! Oh, Hunter!

[crowd cheering] Knock, knock.

I’d like admission to your house of pain.

- We had this really great chemistry together.

Neither one of us being top tier main event guys

at that point in time,

but being able to create something special.

- Mankind with a high-risk move.

- Oh, no!

- Dropping the elbow right into the sternum.

- He was willing to do anything

and take any bump and do anything crazy

and put his body on the line.

- Mankind-- - No way!

- Yes, right on the steel wrap!

- He liked it when it came back the other way.

I don’t think he got to work with that many guys

that were that way.

- Mankind and Helmsley fighting

in the penalty box.

- When you’ve got these two superstars

having battles that are spilling all over arenas,

there’s only one logical thing to do.

Lock ’em in a cage.

- 15-foot-high steel cage,

that’s where it’s gonna happen

between Mankind and Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

- All he’s gotta do is be the first man

to escape this steel cage.

- Look out.

[crowd roars]

- The fans, they were kind of yearning

for this bright spot

in this dark character of Mankind.

They loved this guy.

They wanted to see that transformation.

♪ ♪

- And Mankind...

let him out!

Nothing’s gonna stop him!

Nothing’s gonna stop him!

Now wait a minute.

He just took off that leather mask.

What’s he doing?

He’s going back up.

And you hear the fans chanting,

"Superfly, Superfly!"

- What?

- What’s he doing?

Oh, good Lord!

300 pounds off the top, just like Jimmy Snuka!

Mankind’s going down.

Chyna’s pulling Helmsley, Helmsley closer to the door,

and Mankind wins.

[crowd roaring]

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, did what he wanted to do

as a 14-year-old from Long Island.

- We would have that match,

and it would sort of be the culmination of that storyline,

but also a start of Foley and Dude Love.

♪ ♪

- Mr. McMahon caught wind

of this fictional character I’d created named Dude Love.

I created him when I was 18 years old,

made a couple of home movies.

We’re here for only one reason,

one reason only, fame, honor, fortune.

- Not only did Mankind used to be Cactus Jack,

but as a kid, he didn’t have aspirations

on being this mutilator.

He had aspirations to be a heartthrob.

♪ ♪

- Mr. McMahon wanted our universe to see this guy,

wanted that dream to come to fruition.

[upbeat funk music]

It’s me, Dude Love,

and I am coming to save the day!

Ooh, have mercy!

♪ ♪

- Introducing the public to Dude Love,

I mean, that’s a huge, awesome undertaking.

But isn’t it every little boy’s dream?

And that’s what he’s living out.

- Mick was never gonna go anywhere further

than mid-card if he didn’t have those layers.

♪ ♪

- For that time period,

I remember Vince McMahon saying

Dude Love makes people feel good.

- And that must be Dude Love.

♪ ♪

- He’s a heartthrob. - What?

- He’s a sex idol.

He’s Dude Love.

- Dude Love was an unqualified hit.

But there’s that other guy.

He grew in legend in WWE

where he becomes almost like that mythical creature.

♪ ♪

- Ladies and gentlemen, you’re gonna see

a Falls Count Anywhere match-up

that will feature-- and listen to this--

Dude Love one-on-one with Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

- Ooh, have mercy!

Hunter, my man, I believe it’s time

we had a little rap, oh.

Because you see, Falls Count Anywhere.

Well, that’s not exactly my bag, baby.

- Dude Love was kind of like the comedy character.

- But I know somebody daddy whose bag it indeed is.

Oh, Mankind my main mandible, up high, big man. Down low--

[chuckling] Ooh! You’re too slow.

- Mankind he was kind of always on the end of the ass kicking.

- As much as I’ve dreamed

about destroying Hunter Hearst Helmsley...

- I know you have.

- As many horrible things as I’d like to do to him...

- I know you can.

- I know someone who dreams about it even more.

- Who is it, Manny?

- Someone who’s willing to do even worse things than I am.

- Can you bring him out, Manny?

- Here he comes.

- Where is he?

- Cactus Jack is back!

- Somebody spank me! I thought he was dead!

- He’s alive! - Helmsley.

- He’s alive!

- It may be the darkest day of your life.

- Cactus Jack was a psycho.

- And Mrs. Foley’s little boy...

- Bye, bye, Hunter. Have fun. - Is finally home.

Bang, bang!

[tense music]

- A lot of credit goes to Triple H,

who sells it as if

it’s a ghost from wrestling past.

It becomes the biggest response I’ve ever received.

- To simultaneously be able to pull off

three different characters at the same time,

that’s really difficult to do.

- When he shifts his personality into that guy,

it’s a whole different world.

- Even though Mankind was crazy,

Cactus Jack was always the one like,

oh, this is a problem.

And Triple H made it clear through his actions

that Cactus Jack was on another level.

- This match has no disqualifications,

and Falls Count Anywhere!

- One of the things that makes Mick an incredible performer

is his ability to take characters

and morph them into who he is,

but then also be able to deliver

any kind of match that you want.

- All hell is breaking loose in Madison Square Garden!

[crowd cheering]

[match bell clangs]

- It was like a dream come true,

Cactus Jack in Madison Square Garden.

And I grew up taking trains there, hitchhiking.

And now we are rocking the house,

and it’s the best match of the year for me.

- Mick Foley was the underdog.

Mick was the ultimate underdog

because you had seen how tough

and how durable Mick Foley was,

and go through hell, and get up and come back.

[soft dramatic music]

- Throughout the late ’90s,

Mick Foley continued to flip from one character to another.

Three characters that talk differently,

act differently, and fought differently.

♪ ♪

- Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love,

it didn’t matter which character he was portraying,

you had a level of Mick Foley in all of them.

♪ ♪

- It’s gonna be Mankind versus the Rock,

the WWE championship’s on the line.

- You have to be willing to adapt

and to create something new,

that evolution of who you are and what you do.

- No, no!

Don’t do it!

[match bell clangs]

Mankind did it!

Mick Foley did it!

Mankind has achieved his dream and the dream

of everyone else who’s been told you can’t do it!

♪ ♪

- I never realized what a big deal it was

until I actually had the WWE Championship in my hands.

♪ ♪

- Seeing him successfully shift himself

out of those characters was definitely inspiring.

♪ ♪

At the same point in time, the Rock and Austin

have these moments and do all this stuff.

- Austin--he got him!

- As that’s happening,

I’m thinking like, "We need a Darth Vader here."

You can’t have the good guy without the evil guy.

You gotta have the bad with the good, you know?

[tense music]

- Hunter had everything you need.

Really smart guy and a terrific wrestler,

but he knew he had to transform himself.

And I think at the time if you would talked to him,

he would probably know this is my coming of age.

This is my rite of passage.

This is what I have to go through to be that guy.

♪ ♪

- Three, two, one.

- You asked that Chyna not be involved in this interview,

and I’m just wondering why.

- Why? Everybody wants to know why.

You know what?

Because this one is about me, JR.

It’s not about Chyna or anybody else.

You guys talk about being students of the game.

I am The [bleep] game, JR.

There is nobody that eats, sleeps, or breathes

this business more than me.

- Who knew in that moment that just those words

would change him and take him

to an entirely different level?

[soft dramatic music]

- What was that moment like watching the transformation

to the promo of "I am The Game,"

which is what we all know him as today,

the modern fan anyway?

- There is the difference between just a wrestling promo

and, I guess, a piece of art.

There’s a lot of good wrestling promos,

and then there’s things that you don’t ever forget.

- This is about me.

It’s about me reaching my goals.

Especially as a bad guy,

your why has to carry some believability

and some reality to it, even if it’s warped.

There’s gotta be true in there.

And to be able to sit down and have that kind of interview

where you can emote that passion,

you know, it’s a mission statement.

- It’s about me getting what I want out of this business,

and that is becoming the WWE champion.

- When it’s real, it’s hard to beat.

It’s hard to top.

And veering that way always is the best,

and it worked out incredibly for Triple H.

- Didn’t plan it ahead of time,

it just came out.

But the next week when I walked out,

I would start seeing signs everywhere.

[crowd cheering]

I’m gonna show you,

and I’m going to show the world...

I am The Game!

So you do something that clicks,

you run with it.

♪ ♪

I’m gonna enjoy what I’m about to do.

Here, hold this.

[crowd jeers]

Now, Mick, I want your ass out here.

I want what is mine,

or I am gonna break his arm.

- You don’t have to threaten JR!

You want a shot at this belt, all you have to do is ask.

[crowd cheering]

- Triple H and Mankind, WWE championship on the line.

[all grunting]

Oh, man. Did you see that?

♪ ♪

Mankind in the ring, Pedigree time.

He got it! Triple H with a Pedigree.

- This is unbelievable.

- Will it be? Will it be? Triple H, Triple H!

- Yes! - Triple H!

Triple H wins the WWE title!

Finally! - And the new...

- Right here! Right here!

- World Wrestling Entertainment champion...

- Please!

- Is Triple H!

♪ ♪

- The guys inside the business will joke about it,

like there’s a moment when you win that title

for the first time where it’s all real.

And you sort of get that feeling,

which was, you know, certainly a validation level

of reaching the top.

[tense electronic music]

♪ ♪

I was determined

because I wanted to be the most hated guy

there’d ever been.

♪ ♪

A lot of people dislike me.

A lot of people are--

upset with the things I’ve done--

Oh, OK, they can do what they wanna do.

But it really doesn’t affect me, and I don’t give a --.

So why let it bother me, you know?

♪ ♪

- He’s on the precipice of greatness,

but he still hadn’t had

that one decisive moment,

♪ ♪

A signal to everyone watching,

this is someone to be reckoned with.

And he just needs that certain somebody.

I think you know the guy.

[crowd cheering]

And I think you knew him pretty damn well!

♪ ♪

His name is Cactus Jack!

- He’s back!

- We are just moments away

from what could be the most memorable title match

in World Wrestling Entertainment history,

a street fight pitting Cactus Jack

against the champion, Triple H.

[dramatic music]

- We built this match up

to be something incredibly special.

Cactus Jack returns to Madison Square Garden.

It’s my match.

and this is where you have this great heel,

and he’s going to get his comeuppance.

- Triple H had to go against somebody

that was basically, eight years earlier,

lighting himself on fire in Japan.

♪ ♪

- I think both for Mick and I to know

that we were going into the garden--

we’re being handed the main event spot at the rumble.

For both of us, it was something

we wanted to prove we both should be in that spot

and we both should hang in that spot,

and that should be where we belong.

- Just two years after we had a series of epic encounters,

but in a way, we’re two new characters.

It’s Cactus Jack and Triple H.

It’s not Mankind and Hunter Hearst Helmsley,

Beauty and the Beast,

It’s two forces.

[dramatic music]

- Here we go.

I don’t know what Cactus Jack

had to say to the champion,

but the talking has stopped.

- What makes the street fight different

is that it often goes other places.

Street fights can go anywhere.

- Physically, they’re incredibly demanding.

- Triple H back drop right into the concrete floor.

- The mental game, you have to be a little bit

off your rocker to wanna do a lot of stuff in them.

But people enjoy it.

[Cactus Jack shouting]

- I’m talking wooden pallets on a concrete floor--

- Now wait a minute. Look out--

both: Oh!

- After this suplex on this wooden pallet,

that Triple H is just pouring blood

down his calf and into his boot.

- I remember looking down and seeing a piece of wood

sticking out of my leg.

I knew that was a pivotal moment for me.

♪ ♪

crowd: Oh!

- Through those moments,

no matter what you think of him...

you see things like that and you see the toughness.

♪ ♪

You gotta respect the hell out of him.

- This guy went out there and didn’t call for the medics.

They didn’t call for the doctor.

Nowadays you would probably do all of that,

or the doctor would call on you.

- Yeah, they’d make him. - They would make you stop.

It’s kind of, also, this rite of passage.

You know, eventually you’re gonna work hurt.

And when you do, it’s just part of--it’s part of the game.

- Look at that. - What?

- Is that-- that looks like barbed wire.

- Look out.

[crowd cheering]

crowd: One...two...

- We’ve got a new champion.

crowd: Three! [cheering]

♪ ♪

- If there are doubters out there...

♪ ♪

I don’t think anybody ever questioned

his toughness again.

♪ ♪

- For them to put their bodies through this

is nothing short of incredible.

[all shouting]

- Going into that sequence at the end,

we both want it to be great

and were willing to do anything to make it great.

- Uh-oh. - What is that?

What the hell is that?

- What? Wait a minute.

- I don’t know. Is it--oh, God.

- Oh, my God!

- It’s thumbtacks.

It’s hundreds. It’s thousands of thumb tacks!

- Oh, no!

♪ ♪

Look at--ahh! - Oh, no.

Oh, my God!

Cactus Jack is a human pincushion!

♪ ♪

- Mr. McMahon came into the dressing room

and said, "No thumbtacks."

And as soon as he walked out the door,

Hunter turned to me and said,

"You already put them under the ring, right?"

I said, "Yeah, yeah. I got it covered."

[dramatic music]

- For the love of God, Triple H--

the Pedigree!

The Pedigree! That’s gotta be over!

Nobody gets up from the Pedigree!

crowd: One, two--

- Cactus kicked out!

[crowd roaring]

- When I kicked out, I mean, the roar was deafening.

I hadn’t received reactions like that,

and that has a lot to do with the guy I’m in the ring with.

- Look at this.

- And that Foley chant goes up in Madison Square Garden.

Oh, no, no.

Not the tacks!

[all shouting]

A second Pedigree on the thumbtacks,

a second Pedigree.

crowd: One, two, three!

- Got him. - My God.

[match bell clangs]

♪ ♪

- That match was a bona fide

main event making match for the both of us.

♪ ♪

- That was up there in top five for sure of my entire career.

♪ ♪

- It added ten layers to the Triple H character

because he had survived Cactus Jack.

- He really put the stamp on me

of being a guy that could hang with anybody

in a physicality standpoint.

♪ ♪

- You want another towel under your head?

- Don’t worry. - OK.

- It’s much better to do something

and ask for forgiveness

than it is to ask for approval.

And Mr. McMahon wasn’t even angry at us.

It’d be impossible to be angry after all we’d done.

- Should we stitch it right here?

- We’ll have to go to a hospital.

- Stitch it right here. - Yeah.

- At that time word didn’t get around

like it does now, like about the bad knees

and the bad--

you know, I had a lot of wear and tear

on my body at that point.

And at that point, I start thinking

about the, uh, you know, the physical toll

that the match had taken on both of us.

♪ ♪

- I think at that point in time,

he was serious about I’m going to step away,

and I’m not going to do this any longer

and medically needed to be done in-ring for a while.

♪ ♪

- You’re in the middle of looking

at two guys that gel, have great chemistry,

and the audience is totally invested in.

And all of a sudden, one of your performers

comes and says, "I’m ready to hang it up."

The carpet’s pulled out from under you,

and you’re like, "OK, what next?"

[dramatic music]

- All rivalries come to a point.

This one came to a retirement match.

It’s gotta be easier if you know that going in,

but I feel like at a part of that storyline,

no matter how scripted it is,

it has to be painful,

but it also has to feel great.

- I’m not a kid anymore, Jim.

I’m 32 years old, and I’m concerned

with what type of legacy I’m going to leave this sport.

I thought going into the Royal Rumble

that was going to be my final match.

I think I talked to Mr. McMahon.

[crowd cheering]

And I brought up the idea of a loser must retire.

♪ ♪

- But now we’re going to put a sense of finality to it.

- This has gone on too long.

It’s time to finish it once and for all.

[crowd cheering]

At No Way Out.

One more time, but this is it,

your last shot at me,

your last shot at the WWE title.

- What? - But one stipulation.

- You name it.

- I want your career on the line.

♪ ♪

- What more can you do as a heel

then take a lovable character,

like you force him to then retire?

- And I can have any other match

I damn well desire?

- Yes.

- You leave me with only one choice.

Hell in the Cell!

[crowd roaring]

At that point in time,

the Hell in the Cell match was mythical.

- What we’re about to witness

is without a doubt the most dangerous match

in the World Wrestling company’s history.

- And they’d gone from the classic

that Taker had and Sean had.

And then you have Taker and Foley.

- Oh, no! - Good God almighty!

As God as my witness, he is broken in half!

[crowd roaring]

- How do you begin to follow that?

- Guys like Mick Foley are a rare breed.

I mean, that’s really cool to say, "All of my career,

everything I’ve done, I’m going to give it all to you tonight."

- The Hartford Civic Center has been sold out for weeks

in anticipation for "No Way Out."

- I had the legend of the cell

to my name.

But I said, "OK, let us take that ball

and run with it as far as we can."

♪ ♪

- Will Cactus Jack’s career end tonight

or will Triple H’s reign of terror?

[soft dramatic music]

[ominous music]

- It’s quite a task to get ready

for something like Hell in a Cell.

♪ ♪

I more or less have to metamorphosize

into a different human being.

♪ ♪

Generally, I need just some type of jolt

with something big.

- Oh, man.

- Did you hear the impact?

- And once there was a big move...

♪ ♪

I would be jolted into that alternative reality.

- Cactus!

- What a catapult! Face first...

- Oh, my God! - Right into the steel.

- I remember watching this match

and everything that Mick went through

and how hard he fought

thinking, he has to win this.

This can’t be the last Mick Foley match ever.

- Stop him Heffner, stop him!

Oh, my God!

Now what?

- And now Cactus has those heavy steel steps.

- Look out.

Oh, my God.

He just threw the steps at Triple H.

- I have to do my part to make sure that

this is as epic as it deserves to be for him.

♪ ♪

- And Triple H falls through the steel!

♪ ♪

- Triple H, probably,

he hopes for safety at the top of the cage.

- Be careful, Triple H!

♪ ♪

Cactus. - Look out!

- Oh, for God’s sakes.

Oh, my God. Cactus has broken in half!

- That’s it.

♪ ♪

- We’ve had an exciting match,

and we just have to find a way to create a memory.

- Oh, look at this. Jack is on the top.

That idiot! What is he doing?

- Cactus climbing to the top,

and Triple H has got the barbed wire.

Cactus must win the title, or his career is over.

Double arm, DDT.

♪ ♪

Cactus Jack has got the 2x4 and the barbed wire again.

- And what could be worse than a 2x4

wrapped in barbed wire?

- Well, there’s an art to presenting your toys,

and so you’re not rushing it.

You want people to enjoy what is essentially

an hors-d’oeuvres of violence.

- I don’t know if anything could worse.

Oh, my God, fire.

- Oh, my God.

- The 2x4 and the barbed wire is burning.

- What?

- The 2x4 is burning!

- He’s gonna piledrive him on the fire!

- I think that’s what Cactus was signaling,

a pile driver.

- Once I let go of him, I have no control.

- Oh, thank goodness.

Oh, my God!

[crowd exclaiming]

- Oh, my God!

For the love of God!

The cage broke!

The ring broke.

- The best rivalries across history

involve a protagonist and an antagonist.

That’s what we understand more than anything.

- Foley was one of these guys that once you

give your body for so long, fans start appreciating you.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Wait, wait, wait, wait!

Cactus--he’s-- Cactus is moving.

- What?

- And Triple H can’t believe it!

Cactus is moving, somehow, someway.

♪ ♪

The crazy son of a bitch is moving.

♪ ♪

- My God, this’ll finish it.

- Triple H going for the Pedigree.

- No dream is worth it.

- That’s it.

That’s gotta be it.

- No dream was worth this.

- Kick out. Kick out, Cactus!

[match bell clangs]

[heavy metal music]

Wow.

- And still World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

Triple H!

♪ ♪

- I think it was important for him

to go out in the biggest way possible.

♪ ♪

For me, the fact that he was willing to do that for me

on the way out was incredible

and something that I can never forget.

[somber music]

- I remembered just being in tears,

in tears at the thought

that that was the last Mick Foley match

that we were gonna see in WWE.

[downbeat music]

- I turn around,

and it’s the classic blood, sweat, and tears.

It’s there on my face, plain as day.

Blood mixed with sweat,

tear in my eye.

Triple H allowed me to ride off into the sunset

with my head held high.

He allowed me the type of exit

that, you know most people can only dream about.

- You’re gonna be missed, Cactus.

Godspeed, Mick Foley.

- I went to a much nicer hotel

than I otherwise would have stayed in,

had a nice room service meal.

Sat on my bed and cried like a baby

because it was over.

♪ ♪

- He felt like one of us

by the time that story was done,

and everybody loved him.

And it was heartbreaking to see him go.

And the respect that he earned

comes out in that moment more than any

because we know it’s the last time.

It’s that final standing ovation.

And so that’s how I’m gonna remember

this rivalry from now on.

- There’s a time, I feel like, for every fan

of wrestling when they finally--that’s my guy.

That’s my girl, that’s--

I gotta watch this.

And that was for me for when I really

went all in on Triple H.

Hunter did look the part,

did work the part.

But if he didn’t have someone to beat the piss out of,

if he didn’t have somebody to sell, sell Triple H,

and it’s not Triple H to do that.

It’s the opponent.

If he didn’t have that, it doesn’t work.

And Mick’s humanization and all that

doesn’t come out unless he’s got a bully.

♪ ♪

- This was the place of so many great moments.

It’s just coincidence that most of them

took place with Triple H.

I had the debut of Cactus Jack here in 1997...

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Where I faced Triple H.

The 2000 Royal Rumble, the street fight.

[cheers and applause]

But without exaggeration, it was great to be right here

in Madison Square Garden.

♪ ♪

Thank you so much, and have a nice day.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- You sort of can look at it

as a period of time when Austin would leave,

Rock would be on the way out.

If I don’t rise to that, like, there’s a big gap.

Foley doing that for me certainly

was not only impactful and meaningful to me

but impactful and meaningful to the WWE as well.

♪ ♪

[both chuckle]

- You doing good, man? - What’s going on, man?

- It’s good to see you. - How are you?

- I’m doing great.

♪ ♪

- That rumble match to me

has a different level for both of us,

and that kind of made me answer the question of,

am I a player?

Am I tough enough to be in that role?

whatever that question was.

I think we both came out of that

looking like main event guys.

♪ ♪

[crowd exclaiming]

- When I was laying in that hole,

I just thought, "This went really well."

- Yeah. - "This went really well."

Didn’t know I’d end the night by crying like a baby.

- Real emotion.

We believed everything. You know what I mean?

The guys that are the best at it,

when they walk through that curtain, it’s all real.

- I was able to ride off into the sunset

with the matches that I loved having.

- Yeah.

- And I think that that was so important to me.

- Goodbye, Cactus.

Thanks for the great memories, buddy.

Godspeed, Mick Foley.

♪ ♪

- I’ve got an opportunity here for you.

I think I’ve got one more left in me.

I got a bag of tacks in the warehouse,

just like Stallone and Apollo Creed

at the end of "Rocky."

- And there’s no cameras

and right when we go to throw the first punch, it ends.

- And cut. [laughter]

- Yeah, I’ll agree to do that one. Yeah.

[bittersweet music]