It would seem that we are fast approaching the Pocket of Suck. That magical time between WrestleMania and somewhere around mid-June that seems like the WWE decides to phone everything in for three straight PPVs, give us lots and lots of rematches that we’ve seen a dozen times before, and just in general be an all around let down when compared to the Road to WrestleMania time of the year we had just gotten to experience.
Now, there are good things and we can try and focus on those. We got more Undertaker action that I ever though we would. Ziggler is the World Heavyweight Champion. The Shield remains undefeated and a dominant force in the company. But I still can’t shake the feeling that we are fast headed toward a dark timeline within the next month or so.
And so, in an effort to avoid getting bummed out about the impending months of wrestling, I had myself a bit of a “treat yo self” moment and grabbed the new Mick Foley DVD. So rather than dread the doom and gloom of what could happen in the near future, I’d rather focus on the good stuff that already happened.
I’m sure at some point here, I’ve stated that Mick Foley sits comfortably atop my list of all time favorite Wrestlers. That’s not to say he’s the best in the ring, or really the best at any one aspect of the business really, but he is my personal favorite and because of that whatever small specific complaints I may have about the set later in the column, I can’t help but recommend it. Because, Mick Foley you guys.
First and foremost, we have to talk about the Documentary, the main part of the DVD. Like just about any of these WWE DVDs, the documentary takes us from Foley’s childhood years, through his early wrestling days and on into his time at WWE. (His time with TNA is completely glossed over and never mentioned, but really, that’s to be expected.) As somebody who’s read the first three of Mick Foley’s books there is no real new information, and in fact a lot of stuff is left out, because after all, over fifteen hundred pages of stuff can’t really be crammed into a two hour documentary without a few things getting dropped. However, all the important stuff is there. And there’s even more of it in the bonus stories on the second disc of the blu ray.
One nice moment, is when during the interview, Mick mentions that he had spoken to Vince about hiring an up and coming wrestler named CM Punk (and Samoa Joe, though he didn’t get picked up) It’s an easy thing to say “I saw talent there first” about CM Punk now that he’s one of the biggest names in the company, but the conversation was also mentioned in Foley’s book Hardcore Diaries which was written back when CM Punk was signed, but still in developmental. Much of the documentary plays out in that fashion. For those who have read Foley’s multiple memoirs, the doc serves as sort of a greatest hits, only this time with pictures. Not taking anything away from Foley’s ability to write, but at the end of the day, wrestling is a visual medium and you can write “He threw his opponent off of the cage” in as many different ways as you want, but seeing it happen with still leave the biggest impact.
As we move on to the matches, I do think I have to question some of their match choices, especially those that the decided to leave off. Even though they were discussed fairly thoroughly in the documentary, both his Backlash match with Randy Orton, and his WrestleMania match with Edge were not included in the collection. And yes I know that there are other DVDs I can get where I can see those matches no problem, but this DVD set is billed as the end all be all, all encompassing career reflection of Mick Foley, and while the documentary hits that goal, the match selection doesn’t necessarily do the same. On the documentary Foley stated that his match with Shawn Michaels at Mind Games in 1996 was his favorite match until his one with Randy Orton in 2004. This means that Mick’s personal two favorite matches are not included on this DVD. And that’s a problem. The documentary does a great job of making you want to see both of these matches again, and for someone who may have only bought this Foley set, they can’t just switch discs to watch a match. In fact, speaking of Foley’s personal favorite matches, in 2010, he posted a list on his personal blog of his favorite matches. Of Foley’s top ten, only the famous hell in a cell match makes it on the blu ray.
Not that the matches that were selected aren’t great. A lot of his work with the Rock and Triple H are featured, which if you will recall was some great work. But as I watched that Hell in a Cell match for the umpteenth time, I realized that this was the first time I was seeing the match without any giant obnoxious blurs trying to hide the WWF logo. There are a few more matches that I’d really like to have in a form free from unnecessary blur, now that that’s a possibility, and more than a few of those matches could have gone here.
