Michael Francis Foley was born on June 7th, 1965, in Long Island, New York. He was nicknamed Mick by his father because his father was a big Yankees fan especially a big Mickey Mantle fan. All it took for Foley to know that he wanted to be a wrestler was a match he seen live between Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Don Moraco in New York City. He trained under the tutelage of Dominic DeNucci, alongside such wrestlers as Shane Douglas and made his debut in the late 1980's. He wrestled all around the U.S., Europe, Japan and Africa before landing a job in World Championship Wrestling as under the name Cactus Jack. Later he would wrestle for WCW under Paul Heyman, and in Japan, where he took place in (and won) the now legendary IWA King of the Death Match (1995). This attracted the attention of 'Vince McMahon', who brought Foley in to the World Wrestling Federation, under the name Mankind. Foley's first feud was with The Undertaker, against whom he wrestled several classic matches, most notably, King of the Ring 1998, where, in possibly the most famous professional wrestling moment of all time, The Undertaker threw Foley off the top of a 20-foot cage, through a table. Foley's lifelong dream came true on December 28th, 1998, when he defeated The Rock to win the WWF World Title. He would hold the belt three times before his career ended at Wrestlemania 2000.Foley then went on to write a bestselling book and became an acclaimed author, having wrote two autobiographies (both of which topped the New York Times bestseller charts), a series of children's books, and a novel. Though retired Foley was still involved with wrestling, Foley had a stint as WWF commissioner. Through out the years Foley though retired would still become involved in many WWE story lines.
In 2008 Mick Foley would replace Jonathon Coachman as the Smackdown color commentator where he sat with Michael Cole at first but now sits along side Jim Ross.
On the August 1, 2008 edition of Smackdown Edge was going to have a surprise guest on his Cutting Edge show. No one knew who his special guest would be until Edge slid out of the ring and near the announcers table and introduced his special guest as Mick Foley. Foley was as surprised as anyone else! Edge wanted some advice for his upcoming Summerslam 'Hell in a Cell' match against the Undertaker. Since Foley had a long history with Undertaker and 'Hell in the Cell' battles Edge wanted the man who knew Undertaker the best. Foley stepped in the ring and gave Edge some advice, some of his advice was that the old Edge would have had a chance at 'Hell in a Cell' but this current Edge who confesses his love to Vickie Guerrero doesn't have a chance. Edge, not liking the advice punched Foley and Foley fell out of the ring. Edge went after him but Foley fought back and the crowd was behind Mick Foley 100%. The two went at it some more in the ring but Edge ended up on the winning side and Smackdown went off of the air with Mick Foley lying in the ring motionless and Edge with a smirk on his face.
WWE sold that Mick Foley was recovering from injuries but Foley allowed his contract with the WWE to expire on September 1, 2008. WWE and Foley had mutually agreed to sever business ties at this time. On September 3, 2008, Foley's agency, the Gillespie Agency, issued a press release that stated Foley had signed a short-term deal with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Foley claimed in the statement to be "very excited about the specifics of this agreement and the potential it holds". Foley made his TNA debut on September 5, at a TNA houseshow in hometown of Long Island by giving a short speech about how he loved the product.
Mick Foley Facts:
Birth Name: Michael Francis "Mick" Foley
Birth Date: June 7, 1965
Height: 6 ft 2 in
Weight: 287 lbs
Was the first ever WWE Hardcore Champion
Was WWF Champion three times
Has held a title over 25 times
Foley is a multiple-time New York Times bestselling author
