This was truly his last big singles match in the WWE and it was a great one to go out on. Even so, something like that had never been seen before in the WWE, and it was a reminder that Foley was willing to push the envelope no matter how old he got and no matter how much of a beating he took. It was old hat for Foley, though, as he had wrestled many brutal death matches in Japan.
Edge proceeded to spear Foley off the apron and through the flaming table in one of the craziest spots in wrestling history. Foley attempted to set up a table outside the ring, but Lita hit him between the legs with a barbed wire bat and then lit the table on fire. Not surprisingly, Lita got involved on Edge's behalf and that is when the tables turned. The match itself was extremely entertaining and Foley was actually in control for much of it. Edge had an obvious advantage as the younger man and he also had plenty of experience in hardcore matches, but it was Foley's specialty, so he had a fighting chance against a superstar in his prime. Edge attacked Foley following the bout, which led to a hardcore match at WrestleMania 22. Mick Foley in-ring appearances had grown sporadic by 2006, but he developed a feud with Edge after officiating a match between him and John Cena. Foley may have come up short, but he gave it his all and put Orton over in a major way.
Orton took a thumbtack bump as he missed an RKO, but he ultimately hit Jack with an RKO on the barbed wire bat for the win. Foley became famous for his use of thumbtacks even though he was often the one on the wrong end of things. Foley also had an ace up his sleeve in the form of a bag of thumbtacks. Jack broke out his signature barbed wire baseball bat and both men took the brunt of that particular weapon. Despite Foley's declining skills and the beating that his body had taken over the years, he managed to turn in an incredible performance and didn't shy away from any of the spots that fans grew to expect from him. Foley wrestled under his most vicious persona, Cactus Jack, in the match as he usually did in a hardcore setting. Orton was the Intercontinental Champion and he put his title on the line against the former WWE Champion. Foley wanted to put an end to that, so he challenged Orton to a hardcore match. At the time, Orton had a legend killer gimmick where he would routinely embarrass veterans. Foley was always more about entertaining fans with a hardcore style rather than a technical style, however, so his match with Randy Orton at Backlash still stands as one of his best. Here are the top seven matches over the course of Foley's WWE career that best exemplify his eventual and well-deserved status as a WWE Hall of Famer.īy 2004, there is no doubt that Mick Foley was past his prime in terms of his in-ring work. Not surprisingly, he had some extremely memorable matches against all of his contemporaries as well. Whether he wrestled as Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love or under his own name, Foley always gave it his all in between the ropes and that is why he will soon be immortalized by the WWE.Īlthough he isn't often mentioned along with the likes of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker and Triple H in terms of being one of the Attitude Era's biggest stars, he is as much responsible for the WWE's success during that time period as the rest of them. With the Hall of Fame ceremony taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York, Foley was obviously the perfect choice to headline the class.įoley was never the most technically-sound wrestler and very few of his matches would be classified as masterpieces, but he still managed to entertain the fans in an undeniable way. The first name was released a couple weeks ago in the form of the Hardcore Legend, Mick Foley. With WrestleMania quickly approaching, the WWE has been announcing its 2013 Hall of Fame inductees.