I mentioned a couple weeks back that I was reading Mick Foley’s second book Foley is Good. At the point that I was at in this book Foley was really frustrating me. He seemed to far too highly of his own career. I was surprised to find myself thinking this, since I actually enjoyed Foley’s third book The Hardcore Diaries.
Now enter Countdown to Lockdown; Foley’s first post-WWE book and his second diary-style memoir. This book was more of the same if you read Hardcore Diaries. It was the same style where he went in and out of a narrative building up to and including a big match. The big match this time was Mick Foley vs Sting for the TNA World Championship at Lockdown 2009. I have to come clean and say that I was very negative when this match actually happened. Foley and Sting in a World Championship match with all of their limitations in 2009 was ridiculous and did not help the company. That will really be all of the wrestling criticism in this article.
Foley was his vintage self in this book. He was extremely likable and showed why he is the wrestler most able to take his matches and put them on the page. Where some wrestling books just describe matches in terms of moves leading to a finish, Foley makes it an art form. He uses emotion and his own thoughts to make the reader feel what he does in a match. This is a huge part of why this book is entertaining.
Sometimes Mick Foley happens to get too cute for his own good. He talks about meeting Tori Amos as if it were the greatest moment in history. He makes you feel for him in these moments, but he indulges himself in writing just a little too much about it. The same goes for his fear of Kurt Angle, which is a story that he seems to thread through the book with no payoff in the form of an actual match. He mentions him in the epilogue, but he still does not have the true match with him (that we get to read about).
As far as his departure from WWE, Foley is candid without being rude. He mentions that he got tired of Vince McMahon dropping the F-bomb in his ear and decided that life on a headset was not for him. Foley shows a lot of respect and appreciation for his former employer.
He takes a serious tone when he writes about drug use in professional wrestling. He also mentions the Chris Benoit murder-suicide as a black eye on the business. These chapters are extremely enlightening seeing as they are written by a man in constant pain. These chapters are a must read for anyone trying to understand the drug problem in wrestling.
To be honest, I would rather read Mick Foley writing about TNA wrestling than watch a lot of the shows from this era. Foley knows how to write and even with his flaws is a gifted writer. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read Mick Foley’s memoirs. If you have not given him a shot since Have A Nice Day, go ahead and check this book out. It’s easily his best effort since that book. If you have never given Foley a read and want to, this is not a bad place to start.
This post is from my blog at itswilltime.wordpress.com. I strongly suggest you give it a read.
