Misplaced Pages

#105894

128-721: On November 16, 2013, at an International Wrestling Association Japan (IWA Japan) house show , Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling founder Emi Sakura defeated Kyonin Shihan to unify the vacant IWA World Heavyweight Championship , the AWF World Women's Championship and the IWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship into the IWA Triple Crown Championship ( IWA三冠統一王座 , IWA Sankan Tōitsu Ōza ) . This triple crown title

256-450: A Falls Count Anywhere match . He then started to team with Tommy Dreamer . According to Heyman, the hardcore style differentiated Foley from other traditional wrestlers, so in ECW, Foley was right at home. However, Foley did not enjoy working with Sandman, as Sandman was often intoxicated during matches and could not perform properly; drinking large amounts of beer and smoking cigarettes made up

384-627: A dark match . The two wrestlers then faced one another in a series of dark matches and house show matches until their first broadcast match against one another at King of the Ring in June 1996, where Mankind defeated The Undertaker using the Mandible Claw after The Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer accidentally struck The Undertaker with an urn . The feud culminated in the first-ever " Boiler Room Brawl " at SummerSlam 1996 , and in addition to escaping

512-473: A falls count anywhere match , lost a stretcher match , and then fought to a double disqualification in a cage match . These matches caught the attention of World Championship Wrestling promoters, in large part due to widespread photo circulation, and in August 1991, Foley re-joined WCW. Foley returned to WCW in August 1991 as "Cactus Jack", wrestling on house shows . On September 5, 1991, at Clash of

640-508: A WWE Network video, Vader admits that after seeing footage that he had indeed removed Cactus's ear. Cactus Jack and Vader wrestled their final match in WCW – a Texas death match – in April 1994, a year to the day since their first match. During the bout, Vader once again powerbombed Cactus Jack on the floor, mirroring his actions of the prior year. Upon watching the match on WCW WorldWide , Foley

768-603: A bout against Sabu at Hostile City Showdown on June 24, 1994. During a promo , Cactus Jack spat on his title belt and threw it to the ground to appeal to the ECW fans who shunned the mainstream promotions, an act for which he was later forced to apologize to booker Ric Flair. Following successful defenses against the Nasty Boys and Harlem Heat , Cactus Jack and Sullivan lost the WCW World Tag Team Championship to Pretty Wonderful at Bash at

896-589: A considerable physical toll, eventually earning him the moniker "The Hardcore Legend". Michael Francis Foley was born in Bloomington, Indiana , on June 7, 1965. He is of Irish descent, and has an older brother named John. Shortly after his birth, he moved with his family to the Long Island town of East Setauket , about 40 miles east of New York City , where he attended Ward Melville High School . At school, he wrestled and played lacrosse , and

1024-624: A crusade to rid Bradley of his valet Tamara Fytch . He ignited a feud between Candido and Bradley when he accused Candido of having sexual relations with Fytch. Cactus Jack left SMW in December 1994 before the feud was resolved. Cactus Jack's first appearance for the NWA-affiliated Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion came on the May 31, 1994, episode, with Cactus revealed as Sabu's opponent for

1152-440: A decade of gradually declining interest the promotion folded on October 13, 2014, following its 20th anniversary event and the retirement of Asano. Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and author. He is currently signed to WWE , under the company's "Legends" program, acting as a company ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including

1280-596: A face. Cactus Jack won the match with a piledriver through a table. In September 1997, Foley (as Mankind) wrestled Sabu at Terry Funk's WrestleFest , an event organized to mark the retirement of Foley's friend Terry Funk . Funk, however, broke his retirement soon after the event, and in December 1997, he joined the WWF as "Chainsaw Charlie", aligning himself with Foley. At the 1998 Royal Rumble , Foley participated under all three personas, Cactus Jack (1st entrant), Mankind (16th), and Dude Love (28th). Charlie and Cactus defeated

1408-599: A falls-count-anywhere match against Orndorff at SuperBrawl III . He then moved on to face Big Van Vader. Cactus Jack wrestled Big Van Vader on April 6, 1993, winning by count-out after being severely beaten. Although talented and athletic, the 400 lb (180 kg) Vader was a notoriously stiff wrestler who had been trained in the Japanese "strong" style, and he hit so hard that most other wrestlers outright refused to work with him, out of fear of severe injury. However, Foley decided to continue his program with Vader, and as

SECTION 10

#1732802190106

1536-481: A fan favorite after engaging in a feud with Paul Orndorff, Harley Race, and Big Van Vader. Jack and Orndorff wrestled each other in a match for a spot on WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader's team at Clash of the Champions XXII . After the match, Race and Orndorff beat up Jack. At the following Clash of Champions event, Cactus Jack helped Sting's team win the match. He engaged in a feud with Orndorff, winning

1664-555: A feud with the chainsaw -wielding Leatherface , whom he had betrayed during a tag team match. But perhaps the most notable matches of Foley's time in Japan were on August 20, 1995, where IWA organized a King of the Death Match tournament at their Kawasaki Dream event at the outdoor Kawasaki Stadium in its namesake city , which featured some of the bloodiest, most violent and most brutal matches of Foley's career. The tournament

1792-415: A five-match "gauntlet" challenge set upon Triple H by Vince McMahon. It was around this time that Foley began to realize he was going to have to retire soon- in addition to the massive physical toll he had inflicted on his body, Foley then began to develop cognitive problems such as forgetting simple bodily motions and trouble remembering how to write and spell basic words. Foley's last match was supposed to be

1920-492: A hardcore wrestling icon and used a slow and technical wrestling style as a way to punish the audience. He said that he was on a mission to save his partner from making the mistake of trying to please bloodthirsty fans. Foley later admitted in an interview in 2015 that after Wrestlepalooza he became indifferent toward ECW and its fanbase. The mismatched partnership between Cactus Jack and Dreamer lasted until Wrestlepalooza, when Cactus turned on Dreamer while they were teaming with

2048-428: A large part of Sandman's overall gimmick. But 1995 proved to be an interesting year for Foley, particularly during his time in ECW. Two incidents caused him to change his opinion of a promotion that most thought made him feel like he was at home. There was a sign in the front of the audience one night that said "Cane Dewey" (this was done with Foley's permission, when he didn't know what this meant, but later understood),

2176-497: A neck injury in a match at SummerSlam in East Rutherford, New Jersey . Dude Love feuded with Hunter Hearst Helmsley , as the two competed in a falls count anywhere match . One of Foley's most memorable vignettes aired before the match began, in which Dude Love and Mankind discussed who should wrestle the upcoming match. Eventually, "they" decided that it should be Cactus Jack, and Foley's old character made his WWF debut as

2304-456: A one-time TNA Legends Champion , and the inaugural WWF Hardcore Champion . Foley's Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker is regarded as one of his most memorable and controversial matches and widely acknowledged as the greatest Hell in a Cell Match of all time. Foley's dedicated and physical style of wrestling led him to often participate in violent and brutal matches that involved him taking dangerous bumps and putting his body through

2432-408: A pay-per-view again. On March 16, 1994, during WCW's "Battle Stars 1994" tour of Germany, Cactus and Big Van Vader had one of the most infamous matches in wrestling history as part of WCW's European Cup tournament. Cactus began a hangman , but neither wrestler was aware that the ring ropes had been drawn extra tight before the event, and Cactus could barely move. When Cactus finally freed himself from

2560-552: A random backstage dumpster and not the original dumpster brought ringside and scheduled a rematch in a steel cage, which the Outlaws won with help from their new allies, D-Generation X . On April 6, 1998, Foley turned heel when Cactus explained that the fans would not see him anymore because they did not appreciate him, and only cared about Stone Cold Steve Austin: after a hard-fought match with Terry Funk in Albany, fans started to leave

2688-407: A reference to using a Singapore cane on Foley's real-life eldest son, who was three years old then (Foley would sometimes mention his family in his promos), and then witnessing a botch in the opening match of Wrestlepalooza on August 5, 1995, where J. T. Smith did a dive, slipped off the ring apron and landed head-first on the concrete. Smith was so severely concussed that his head began swelling on

SECTION 20

#1732802190106

2816-412: A result of Cactus's victory, in a rematch with Vader on April 24, the two executed a dangerous spot to sell a storyline injury. Harley Race removed the protective mats at ringside and Vader powerbombed Cactus onto the exposed concrete floor, causing a legitimate concussion and causing Foley to temporarily lose sensation in his left foot. While Foley was away, WCW ran an angle where Cactus Jack's absence

2944-801: A seat close to the front row and is visible in the video of the event. Foley formally trained at Dominic DeNucci 's wrestling school in Freedom, Pennsylvania , driving several hours weekly from his college campus in Cortland, New York . He debuted on June 23, 1986, in Clarksburg, West Virginia , under the ring name "Cactus Jack". In addition to appearing on DeNucci's cards, Foley and several other students also took part in some squash matches as jobbers for World Wrestling Federation TV tapings of Prime Time Wrestling , WWF Wrestling Challenge and Superstars of Wrestling , where Foley wrestled under

3072-522: A segment featuring himself (as Mankind) and The Rock. The "This Is Your Life" segment aired on September 27, 1999, and received an 8.4 rating, with Yurple the Clown making another appearance. Foley briefly reverted to his Cactus Jack persona for a Hardcore handicap match against Ministry of Darkness members Viscera and Mideon on May 10, 1999, which Cactus won; the match saw Cactus enter using two basketballs as weapons. In August 1999, Foley returned after

3200-506: A significant amount of legitimate pain that's so intense it can inhibit the opponent's vision, and if applied long enough, can force the opponent to black out. The creatively inclined and dedicated Foley initially would prepare for playing Mankind by researching the character, often spending the night in the respective arena's boiler room and sometimes under the wrestling ring for the first few months, but after that, he could get into character almost instantly. His catchphrase, ever perplexing,

3328-440: A single ten-minute match was two, or sometimes three, with their hands in front of their head to ease the blow and lessen a chance of a concussion. However, Foley had taken eleven in the span of two and a half minutes, all unprotected, because he had been handcuffed just before The Rock began his repeated onslaught. Foley was originally supposed to take five chair shots to the head with the final match-ending shot being two-thirds up

3456-455: A successful dog breeding business that is still active as of 2023. Bossman eventually died on September 22, 2004, and by 2005, Jim Duggan and George Hines left the promotion. Johnny Smith's much promoted debut on IWA TV never happened because he decided to retire due to injuries like Rotunda did. IWA held a show dedicated to Steve Williams on October 15, 2004, which AJPW mainstay and "Four Pillars of Heaven" member Toshiaki Kawada main-evented

3584-556: A surefire moneymaking feud as a problem that needed to be solved. The angle was awarded "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . In one of WCW's most violent and brutal matches of all time, Cactus Jack faced Vader in a Texas Deathmatch (a variation of a Last Man Standing match) at Halloween Havoc 1993 in New Orleans on October 24 after having a wheel being spun and

3712-472: A tag team match with Al Snow in November 1999, but with the WWF having to go on with the absence of their biggest star Stone Cold Steve Austin at the time (who was out with a broken neck), Foley felt that the company would suffer too badly if another one of its biggest stars disappeared from the roster- even with The Rock surging in popularity. So Foley, even in the poor condition he was in, decided to go on for

3840-503: A third time by pinning the reigning champion Austin. Mankind's win led to an enraged Triple H to assault Austin, justifying Austin's absence while he healed a knee injury. The next night on Raw is War , Triple H defeated Mankind to win his first WWF championship. A feud then developed between Mankind and Triple H. This included Triple H defeating Mankind in another Boiler Room Brawl on the September 23 edition of SmackDown! , as part of

3968-484: A three-month absence recovering from knee surgery to resume his feud with Triple H , who had kayfabe injured Foley's left knee with his sledgehammer. On an episode of Raw is War , Mankind drew with Triple H in a match for the number one contender for the WWF Championship, which resulted in a Triple Threat match between Steve Austin, Triple H and Mankind at SummerSlam where Mankind won the WWF Championship for

Super Asia Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

4096-667: A title shot against The Rock at Rock Bottom: In Your House . Mankind won the match by using his mandible claw hold (with the Mr. Socko prop on his hand) and the referee declared The Rock had become unresponsive. But McMahon overruled the title change because Mankind didn't keep his pre-match promise to make The Rock submit. After several weeks of going after the Corporation, Mankind defeated The Rock to win his first WWF Championship on December 29 in Worcester, Massachusetts . The taped show

4224-414: A winner, meaning that Mankind retained the title. The next night, Mr. McMahon booked a ladder match for the championship, which The Rock won with help from The Big Show . Mankind would go on to WrestleMania XV to defeat The Big Show and again at Backlash a month later in a violent and brutal Boiler Room Brawl (the first in the WWF since July 1996), where the objective of the match had been simplified from

4352-462: Is regarded as one of the company's most brutal matches. During the match, Foley took several violent and dangerous bumps from The Rock all over the arena, including repeated steel chair shots to the head and a fall from the stands onto solid electrical objects, which sparked upon impact. Although steel chair shots to the head were commonplace in the Attitude Era , the most a wrestler would take in

4480-517: Is the youngest at 20 years old. Hagane Shinno is the current champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Baliyan Akki on the second day of ChocoPro 300 on March 12, 2023 in Tokyo , Japan . As of November 28, 2024. International Wrestling Association Japan The International Wrestling Association of Japan , more commonly known as IWA Japan , was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion operating from 1994 to 2014. It

4608-405: The 1998 Royal Rumble , making Foley the only competitor to enter the same Royal Rumble match three times under different personas. Foley is a four-time world champion (three WWF Championships and one TNA World Heavyweight Championship ), an 11-time world tag team champion (eight WWF Tag Team Championships , two ECW World Tag Team Championships , and one WCW World Tag Team Championship ),

4736-573: The 2000 edition of WWE's premier annual event, WrestleMania . He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2013 . Foley has wrestled under his real name and various personas. His main persona during his time in WCW and ECW from 1991 to 1996 was Cactus Jack , a dastardly, bloodthirsty and uncompromisingly physical brawler from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico , who wore cowboy boots and often used sharp metallic objects, such as barbed wire, thumbtacks, and trashcans. When Foley first appeared in

4864-564: The ECW World Heavyweight Championship . During their match at Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams , Cactus knocked Sandman unconscious and was declared the winner. Referee Bill Alfonso , however, reversed his decision because the title cannot change hands by knockout. Foley then continued to have a series of violent encounters with the Sandman while challenging him and claiming that he had never been beaten in

4992-578: The Headhunters , and Bob Bargail for multiple runs at the W*ING World Tag Team Championship , and a few runs at Tarzan Goto 's IWA World Heavyweight Championship . True to his hardcore style, other matches Foley took part in were more deathmatches that involved objects like bricks, body bags, thumbtacks, barbed wire and window panes, and some matches even involved fire. He would continue wrestling in Japan until June 1996;

5120-769: The Hostile City Showdown event on June 24 at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . After being part of a talent exchange between ECW and WCW, Foley brought his WCW World Tag Team Championship belt and spit on it for a recorded ECW TV segment. Foley continued with ECW and began a feud with Sabu . Foley then began working the ECW tag team division on teams with Terry Funk , Mikey Whipwreck , and Kevin Sullivan . Cactus had two ECW World Tag Team Championship reigns with Whipwreck while in ECW, while at

5248-656: The Sharpshooter , McMahon ordered the timekeeper to ring the bell even though Mankind did not submit, a reference to the Montreal Screwjob from the year before. As a result of the Survivor Series, Mankind officially turned face, while The Rock turned heel and became the crown jewel in McMahon's new faction, the Corporation . After weeks of trying to get his hands on the Corporation, Mankind received

Super Asia Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

5376-772: The United States Wrestling Association in Dallas, where he wrestled both as "Cactus Jack" and under a mask as "Zodiac #2". In July 1990, he wrestled for Tommy Dee at the Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York , where he met his future wife Colette Christie. In September 1990, he began appearing with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -based Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA), the precursor to Eastern Championship Wrestling , whose high-impact and violent wrestling style fit Foley well. In

5504-400: The boiler rooms of buildings, constantly squealed (even throughout his matches), randomly shrieked "Mommy!" , spoke to a rat named George, regularly took to acts of masochism (such as by pulling out his hair), and wore a mask seemingly constructed of oddly shaped pieces of leather that were patched together with rivets. Mankind's finishing move was the " Mandible Claw ". The move is based on

5632-607: The independent circuit , Foley began receiving offers from various regional promotions, including Bill Watts ' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). In 1988, he joined the Memphis, Tennessee -based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), where he teamed with Gary Young as part of the Stud Stable . Cactus and Young briefly held the CWA Tag Team Championship in late 1988. In November 1988, Foley left

5760-414: The "Mandibular Nerve Pinch", a finishing move developed and utilized by former osteopathic physician and neurosurgeon-turned-wrestler, Sam Sheppard . This finishing maneuver is a nerve hold that's applied when the aggressor plunges their middle and ring fingers into the opponent's mouth, under their tongue and into the soft tissue at the bottom of the mouth, while simultaneously forcing their jaw upwards with

5888-488: The 1996 match to only having to escape the boiler room. Shortly after, Big Show would team with Mankind, Test and Shamrock to take on the Corporation at Over The Edge. Later in the year, Foley and The Rock patched up their friendship and teamed up to form a comedy team called the Rock 'n' Sock Connection , becoming one of the most popular teams during that time. The pair won the tag team titles on three occasions. One notable match

6016-756: The Beach in July 1994. After turning on Sullivan, Foley wrestled his final match for the company at Fall Brawl '94: War Games in September 1994, losing to Sullivan in a "loser leaves WCW" match . In October 1994, Foley joined Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) as Cactus Jack, causing Boo Bradley to lose the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship . He often teamed with Brian Lee to feud with Bradley and Chris Candido . Cactus then began

6144-571: The Bulldog alone the next week. Halfway into the match, however, Foley debuted a new face persona known as "Dude Love", who helped Austin take the victory, becoming the new Tag Team Champions. Dude Love had some new and renamed moves, such as the "Love Handle" (a renamed Mandible Claw) and "Sweet Shin Music" (a simple kick to the shins, a play on Shawn Michaels's superkick finishing move). Austin and Foley vacated their tag team titles when Austin suffered

6272-737: The CWA for the Texas-based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). In the WCWA, "Cactus Jack", billed as "Cactus Jack Manson", was a major part of Skandor Akbar 's stable (the addition of "Manson" to Foley's name, due to its implied connection to Charles Manson , made him uncomfortable). Foley also won several titles, including the WCWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and WCWA World Tag Team Championship . He left

6400-546: The Cell and landed on the ring mat, losing a tooth. Mankind lost the match to conclude their storyline. Following a couple of months of teaming with Kane who together won the WWF Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions and various feuds with Kane, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Undertaker, Foley decided that crowds might respond better if Mankind were more of a comedy character, and so he abandoned

6528-623: The Champions X: Texas Shootout , where he took a particularly brutal bump backward off the 3 feet (0.91 m) high apron and landed on the concrete floor, with his head and back taking the impact. Later that month, he formed the villainous " Sullivan's Slaughterhouse " stable with Kevin Sullivan and Bam Bam Bigelow and began a long feud with Norman the Lunatic . At the Capital Combat pay-per-view in May 1990,

SECTION 50

#1732802190106

6656-565: The Champions XVI: Fall Brawl , Cactus Jack burst out of a giant box and attacked Sting , the then- WCW World Heavyweight Champion . After feuds with Van Hammer and Abdullah the Butcher , Cactus Jack faced Sting in a non-title falls count anywhere match at Beach Blast in 1992, which Sting won. For a long time, Foley considered this the best match he ever worked. Unlike Jack's first stint in WCW, where his personality

6784-735: The Dallas-based Global Wrestling Federation , where he formed a short-lived tag team with Makhan Singh known as "Cartel". Cartel took part in a tournament for the newly created GWF Tag Team Championship , losing to Chris Walker and Steve Simpson in the semi-finals. Foley also competed in a tournament for the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship , losing to Terry Gordy in the quarter-finals. In August 1991 at TWA's Summer Sizzler event, Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert had three matches in one night: Cactus won

6912-431: The ECW fanbase everywhere he went. In February 1996 at CyberSlam , Cactus Jack was booked to face WWF hater Shane Douglas , who won after he handcuffed Cactus and then hit him with no fewer than ten consecutive chair shots, and when he put Jack into a figure four leglock , this allowed Mikey Whipwreck to get into the arena and land one last hard chair shot to Cactus's face, knocking him unconscious. Foley's last ECW match

7040-459: The Mat , which shows the impact the match had on Foley, his family, and even the rest of the audience at ringside, and at one point Foley's wife Collette and five-year-old daughter Noelle both cried and screamed in horror, with Noelle believing her father was dying as The Rock pummeled Foley with repeated chair shots. The match at this point had become so brutal that some people in the audience sitting in

7168-515: The Nasty Boys in a violently brutal and chaotic tag team Chicago Street Fight , where Cactus Jack lost the match after he was shoved off a 3 feet (0.91 m) high stage and landed back first on the concrete. Later that month, Cactus Jack formed a tag team with Kevin Sullivan , with the duo feuding with the Nasty Boys. Cactus Jack and Sullivan were scheduled to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Slamboree in May 1994. Foley had to choose between surgically reconstructing his ear or wrestling at

7296-473: The New Age Outlaws at WrestleMania XIV in a dumpster match to win the tag team titles (which was originally supposed to be a barbed-wire rope match- but this often violent and bloody match was scrapped due to the high-profile appearance of Mike Tyson taking part at the event). The next night, however, Vince McMahon stripped them of the belts, citing that Charlie and Cactus had put the Outlaws in

7424-642: The Pitbulls against Raven, Stevie Richards and the Dudley Brothers ( Dudley Dudley and Big Dick Dudley ). Cactus DDT'ed his partner and joined Raven's Nest , as he wished to serve Raven 's "higher purpose". He remained one of Raven's top henchmen for the remainder of his time in ECW. On August 28, Cactus beat the previously undefeated 911 . As part of Foley's heel gimmick , he began praising WWF and WCW on ECW television, which angered ECW fans. Their anger intensified once word began to spread that Foley

7552-558: The Ring 1998 in Pittsburgh 's Civic Arena on June 28, the two performed in the third Hell in a Cell match , which became one of the most notable matches in professional wrestling history. Foley received numerous injuries and took two dangerous and highly influential bumps – the first being tossed off the top of the 16 feet (4.9 m) high Cell by The Undertaker, crashing through the Spanish announcer's wooden table and landing on

7680-579: The Slaughterhouse lost to Norman the Lunatic and the Road Warriors in a six-man tag team match . It was during this period that Foley was involved in a car accident that resulted in the loss of his two front teeth, adding to the distinctive look for which he is famous. Foley left WCW in June 1990 after a conversation with booker Ole Anderson in which Anderson critiqued his style. After leaving WCW in June 1990, Foley briefly returned to

7808-579: The United States in April 1991, Foley resumed wrestling for TWA and the UWF. In May 1991 at the TWA's "Spring Spectacular II" event, Foley faced Eddie Gilbert in a barbed wire match – a sight not often seen in professional wrestling in the United States, and an object Foley would often be associated with. Barbed wire would be wrapped with the ropes all around the ring, and Cactus and Gilbert both bled heavily;

SECTION 60

#1732802190106

7936-531: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Undertaker had won at WrestleMania 13 . Undertaker won the match and Bearer took a leave of absence, continuing the feud. Jim Ross then began conducting a series of interviews with Mankind. During the interviews, Ross brought up the topic of Foley's home videos, the hippie-inspired character he played in them, Dude Love, and his tormented journey in wrestling. The interviews also affected

8064-448: The WWF in 1996, he debuted the persona known as Mankind , an eerie, masochistic , mentally deranged lunatic who was masked and spent his spare time dwelling in mechanical rooms . The following year, Foley debuted Dude Love , a relaxed, fun-loving, jive-talking, tie-dyed shirt-wearing hippie . These personas were known as the "Three Faces of Foley", with Cactus Jack making his debut in the WWF also in 1997. All three characters appeared in

8192-616: The WWF owner as a father figure, into doing his bidding. McMahon created the WWF Hardcore Championship and awarded it to Mankind, making him the first-ever champion of the hardcore division. Mankind was then pushed as the favorite to win the WWF Championship at Survivor Series , as McMahon appeared to be manipulating the tournament so that Mankind would win. He and The Rock both reached the finals, where McMahon turned on Mankind. As The Rock placed Mankind in

8320-538: The WWF's first-ever empty arena match in Tucson, Arizona , on January 31. After 20 minutes of brawling in the ring, the empty grandstands, a kitchen, the arena's hallways, an office, and the catering hall, Mankind took a filthy sock off his foot and stuffed it into The Rock's mouth and then used a forklift to pin a subdued Rock in a basement loading area. The two then competed in a Last Man Standing match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House , which ended without

8448-490: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), as well as numerous promotions in Japan. He is widely regarded as one of the biggest stars of the Attitude Era and one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling, and headlined

8576-409: The airport to take him back to his Long Island home, and immediately smelt something unusual. When Foley got home, his father and wife kept asking him about the awful smell, but he would not say anything, not wanting them to worry. After his father left, his wife persisted, so he revealed the burns to her. Foley continued wrestling in Japan, Later on, he teamed with Tracy Smothers , Tiger Jeet Singh ,

8704-499: The arena a minute or so before their match ended. Howard Finkel, the ring announcer there announced that Austin, who was the hottest wrestler in the WWE at the time would be making an appearance- and the crowd exploded at the news, and many rushed back to their seats. Foley later admitted that this crowd reaction emotionally hurt him, that his hard work could not compete with Austin's popularity and that he would be just another wrestler to face

8832-413: The arena's boiler room, the combatant also had to reach the ring and take the urn from Paul Bearer. After more than 20 minutes of brawling in the boiler room, the backstage corridors, and the entrance ramp, and both men taking some bumps involving metal trash cans, tables, ladders, metal poles, hot coffee, and the exposed concrete floor, The Undertaker appeared to have won, but Paul Bearer refused to hand him

8960-403: The arena's concrete floor. Barely five minutes after the first bump, Foley, with a separated shoulder, climbed back up to the top of the Cell structure after Terry Funk and others tried to stop him. The second bump, which was an unplanned botch , occurred when The Undertaker chokeslammed Foley and the fenced panel Foley landed on broke and gave way. Foley then plunged 13 feet (4.0 m) through

9088-640: The charisma of some of their wrestlers, they decided to produce a show called Kawasaki Dream , which was held on August 20, 1995, at the Kawasaki Baseball Stadium . The main attraction of the show was the first ever 8-man single elimination deathmatch tournament, which featured Cactus Jack , Terry Funk , Shoji Nakamaki, Hiroshi Ono , Leatherface , Tiger Jeet Singh , Terry Gordy and former FMW wrestler Mr. Gannosuke . The show also featured an NWA World Heavyweight Championship defense, as Tarzan Goto challenged then-champion Dan Severn for

9216-466: The company in August 1989 after losing a loser leaves town match to Eric Embry in nine seconds. He then briefly competed in Alabama's Continental Wrestling Federation . In November 1989, Foley began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Cactus Jack". His debut match, which aired on NWA World Championship Wrestling , saw him partnered with a one-time jobber named Rick Fargo to face

9344-456: The company's megastar. Vince McMahon explained to Austin the next week that he would face a "mystery" opponent at Unforgiven: In Your House . That opponent turned out to be Dude Love, who won the match by disqualification, meaning that Austin retained the title. McMahon, displeased with the outcome, required Foley to prove he deserved another shot at Austin's title with a number one contenders match against his former partner, Terry Funk. The match

9472-800: The day before retiring got his revenge on Matsuda, defeating him in singles competition. Instead of Williams, Bossman feuded with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, who defeated Bossman in a TV tournament for the IWA World Heavyweight Title on IWA's 10th anniversary episode. This would be Bossman's last match before he died a month later. After an uptick in interest, IWA would find itself seriously struggling after its main prospects in Williams, Miyake, Rotunda and Bossman were no longer on TV due to uncontrollable circumstances. Miyake decided to retire in July 2004 when Williams's health further deteriorated. Miyake after ending his wrestling career has run

9600-481: The entrance ramp; but, after the sixth shot, Foley was still at ringside and, even after Foley signaled to The Rock to hit him in the back, The Rock decided to keep to the match's brutal tone based on Foley's previous on-the-fly calling of similar shots on the spot, and he hit Foley five more times in the head until they got to the two-thirds mark. This match is featured in Barry Blaustein's documentary Beyond

9728-551: The fans, who began cheering Mankind, even though he was still a heel at this point. Around this time, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels won the WWF Tag Team Championships from Owen Hart and the British Bulldog , but Michaels was injured and could no longer compete. Mankind tried to replace him, but Austin said he wanted "nothing to do with a freak" and resigned himself to facing Hart and

9856-519: The first-ever buried alive match at In Your House 11: Buried Alive . Undertaker won the match, but Paul Bearer, the Executioner , Mankind and other heels attacked The Undertaker and buried him alive. Afterward, The Undertaker challenged Mankind to a match at Survivor Series 1996 , which the Undertaker won. The feud continued after another match at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker for

9984-400: The front furiously showed signs of disapproval at The Rock and shouted at him and the referee to stop the match. The match ended after Mankind lost consciousness, and The Rock's allies played a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview he did with Shane McMahon. Mankind won the title back in a rematch on Halftime Heat, which aired during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII , in

10112-450: The last notable match Foley had as Cactus Jack in Japan was a "Caribbean barbed wire barricade glass deathmatch" against W*ING Kanemura , which Cactus won. In 1996, at the persistence of Jim Ross , whom Foley had known in his days in WCW, WWF head Vince McMahon had Foley sign a contract with WWF, and this time it wasn't to use Foley as " enhancement talent ". McMahon was not a fan of Cactus Jack and wanted to cover up Foley's face, so he

10240-434: The match ended when Gilbert threw Cactus into the ring ropes and he did a hangman — a planned move where a wrestler's head is tangled between the top two ring ropes – only this time his head was tangled with the ring ropes and barbed wire. The following month, at UWF's Beach Brawl pay-per-view, Foley teamed with Bob Orton in a loss to Wet 'n' Wild (Steve Ray and Sunny Beach ). In July and August 1991, Foley appeared with

10368-545: The match's no disqualification and no count-out rules. The objective of the match, in most cases, was to escape the boiler room first. On the April 1, 1996, episode of Monday Night Raw in San Bernardino, California , the day after WrestleMania XII , Mankind debuted on television and defeated Bob "Spark Plug" Holly , quickly moving into a feud with The Undertaker . At In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies later that month, The Undertaker defeated Mankind in

10496-575: The match, both men were covered in blood, ravaged by flesh cuts from the wire, and badly burned by the C-4 explosions. Foley later said that he only received $ 300 (equivalent to $ 600 in 2023) for the entire night. After the tournament, Foley's right arm had second-degree burns from the C-4 explosions from the match with Funk and his arm smelt of explosive chemicals. After a 14-hour flight from Tokyo 's Narita Airport to JFK Airport his father picked him up from

10624-507: The pay-per-view and winning the titles. Foley opted to wrestle and won his only championship in WCW, defeating the Nasty Boys in a " Broad Street Bully match " with Dave Schultz as the special guest referee. During Cactus Jack's reign as WCW World Tag Team Champion, WCW shared a brief co-promotion with ECW during this time in which Cactus Jack represented WCW on ECW Hardcore TV as the WCW Tag Team Champion, culminating in

10752-539: The point that they offered Foley a contract, and Foley finally found some financial stability after years of hardship. Over the following months, Cactus Jack would generally team with jobbers. When the jobber would lose the match for the team, Cactus Jack would attack his partner, throw them out of the ring, and deliver his infamous ring apron flying elbow drop onto the concrete floor. Foley's biggest match to date came in February 1990 against Mil Máscaras at Clash of

10880-592: The ratings indicate that large numbers of viewers switched from Nitro to Raw to see him win the title and took great personal pride from this – and WCW never beat the WWF in the television ratings ever again. Mankind lost the WWF Championship to The Rock in an "I Quit" match (a type of submission match ) at the Royal Rumble at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California , near Los Angeles , in what

11008-525: The ring names "Jack Foley" and "Nick Foley." Notably, a ring announcer once mispronounced Foley's last name as "Faley" before a match against Kamala on a 1987 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge. In another match (the second episode of Superstars ), Foley and Les Thornton faced the British Bulldogs , during which the Dynamite Kid (who had a long earned reputation as a stiff worker in

11136-437: The ring) clotheslined Foley with such force that he was unable to eat solid food for several weeks. During these squash matches, Foley also faced other top-level talents at the time, such as Hercules Hernandez . His run would not last long, as he had not signed a contract with the promotion at the time. During this run, he was also billed from different hometowns and at different weights. After two years of relative obscurity on

11264-465: The rising tag team of brothers Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner – two of the stiffest and toughest workers in wrestling at the time. After taking brutal bumps from both Steiner brothers and losing the match, Cactus then began fighting with Fargo, and then jumped nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) off the apron to elbow Fargo in the abdomen, per Kevin Sullivan's instructions. Lead WCW booker Ric Flair , Sullivan, and other WCW executives were impressed with this to

11392-436: The ropes and fell out of the ring, his ears were badly split at the back. When Cactus re-entered the ring, the two wrestlers began trading blows. During this time, Vader reached up and grabbed Cactus's right ear, and ripped it off. The two men continued wrestling as the referee picked up the ear and gave it to the ring announcer. Vader claimed for years after that the ear had come off during the botched Hangman maneuver, however in

11520-461: The same month he began wrestling for Herb Abrams ' Reseda, California -based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), appearing on its UWF Fury Hour program. Foley wrestled for both the TWA and the UWF until March 1991. In March 1991, Foley (as Cactus Jack) made his first excursion to Japan, wrestling for Giant Baba 's All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotion as part of its Champion Carnival round-robin tournament . He scored zero points in

11648-493: The same time he was training the young Whipwreck. After a stint in Smoky Mountain Wrestling , Foley returned to ECW to feud with The Sandman . Funk returned to team up with Sandman, and during a particularly violent spot, the pair hit Cactus Jack with a kendo stick forty-six times in a barbed wire rope match. Cactus then defeated Funk at Hostile City Showdown 1995 . Later, he repeatedly fought Sandman for

11776-509: The seating area amongst the crowd, with folding chairs flying everywhere. After several brutal spots involving flaming chairs, flaming iron rods, Funk Hip-tossing Cactus into a flaming chair and Funk slamming Cactus's head into a wooden table, Funk reversed a Spinebuster by Cactus into a DDT and pinned him to win the match. In 2010 Foley wrote that, "looking back that match in Honjo is probably the performance I'm proudest of." Cactus Jack later began

11904-498: The show in Williams's honor defeating Keizo Matsuda. Kawada also defeated Matsuda in the main event of the prior IWA 10th Anniversary Show on August 31, 2004. Despite Kawada's prominent appearances, a full-time contract was never signed due to struggling financials and major loss of talent. Williams showed his electrolarynx for the first time publicly on the March 27, 2005 edition of IWA TV when his first bout of throat cancer recovery

12032-527: The sock on his hand before applying his finisher, the Mandible Claw , stuffing a smelly sock in the mouths of opposing wrestlers. Mankind also became a smelly sock puppeteer, having the sock “speak” in a high-pitched voice. The sweatsock became massively popular with the fans, mainly because it was marketed (mostly by Jerry "The King" Lawler during the events) as being a dirty, smelly, sweaty, repulsive, and vile sock. McMahon manipulated Mankind, who saw

12160-471: The special referee. However, the Undertaker came to ringside to ensure McMahon called the match fairly, and with his presence, Dude Love lost the match and was "fired" by McMahon on the June 1 episode of Raw . On that same episode of Raw , Foley reverted to his Mankind character, who had become a more human and less creature-like character and began wearing an untucked dress shirt with a loose necktie, and also resumed his feud with The Undertaker. At King of

12288-435: The spot, and the audience's response to Smith's botch was "you fucked up". These incidents angered the normally jovial Foley so much that he furiously cut several memorable and scathing promos during this period to channel his intense frustration and anger toward ECW fans, who he felt asked too much from him and the ECW roster. Foley then began a gimmick where he criticized hardcore wrestling and sought to renounce his status as

12416-465: The spotlight from the native IWA guys. Mike Rotunda would take Williams side, Rotunda also teaming with Miyake. Rotunda would also find himself in an angle with Keizo Matsuda, who behaved as a young and cocky heel to the veteran babyface Rotunda. Both angles were cut short, the first one due to Williams being diagnosed with throat cancer in March 2004 and the latter due to Rotunda's nagging injures, who ultimately decided to retire on May 5, 2004. Rotunda

12544-438: The thumb or palm of the same hand; clamping pressure is then applied between the fingers inside the mouth, and the thumb or palm under the jaw. If applied genuinely and correctly, it purportedly compresses the two nerves within the tissues of the mandible which render the opponent's jaw paralyzed, thus preventing the opponent from breaking the hold by biting the aggressing wrestler's fingers. Its proper application purportedly causes

12672-599: The time. Ted DiBiase as "The Million Dollar Man" was the on-screen general manager on the show, acting as a heel. Steve Williams and up and comer Ryo Miyake formed a babyface tag-team in late 2003, Williams becoming his mentor. They would defeat Leatherface and Keizo Matsuda for the vacant IWA World Tag Team Championship . An angle between Big Bossman and Steve Williams commenced in January 2004, where DiBiase hired Bossman to force fan favorite Williams into retirement for being "an AJPW invader", kayfabe being accused of taking

12800-664: The title. Quiñones left IWA at the end of 1995, along with the NWA affiliation. Goto, Gannosuke, and Flying Kid Ichihara followed suit in late-1996 to join Tokyo Pro. Subsequently, IWA started to go downhill after losing much of the talent that Quiñones booked. IWA experienced a resurgence in the mid 2000s when "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Mike Rotunda , as well as other All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) gaijins such as Johnny Smith , George Hines and Giant Kimala found work in IWA after AJPW

12928-404: The title. On the November 6 episode of ChocoPro , a four-way match was held to crown an interim champion while Fujita was recovering from COVID-19 complications. The match saw Choun Shiryu win against Baliyan Akki, Yuna Mizumori and Masahiro Takanashi . Choun successfully defended the title three times before losing it to Akki on the January 29, 2022 episode of ChocoPro . Akki then unified

13056-417: The titles when he faced and defeated Fujita on Day 2 of the 200th ChocoPro episode on February 13. As of November 28, 2024, there have been four reigns between four champions, one vacancy and two interim champions . Riho was the inaugural champion. Riho's reign is the longest at 620 days, while Minoru Fujita 's reign is the shortest at 322 days. Fujita is the oldest champion at 43 years old, while Riho

13184-459: The tortured soul characteristics and became more of a goofy, broken down oaf. He began the transition into this character following SummerSlam in 1998 after Kane turned on him and the two lost the tag team championships. The following month, Foley began an angle with Vince McMahon, with Mankind trying to be a friend to the hated Mr. McMahon. On the October 5 episode of Raw is War , while McMahon

13312-422: The tournament final to become the inaugural champion. On June 4, 2019, Riho relinquished the title after her eighth defense against Mei Suruga . On the March 22, 2021 episode of ChocoPro , Emi Sakura announced a singles match between Minoru Fujita and Baliyan Akki for the vacant Super Asia Championship which would take place on Day 2 of the 100th episode of ChocoPro on March 28. Fujita defeated Akki to win

13440-771: The tournament, losing to Jumbo Tsuruta , Danny Spivey , Johnny Smith , Toshiaki Kawada , Akira Taue , and Danny Kroffat . In addition to competing in the tournament, Foley and Texas Terminator Hoss wrestled several tag team matches, facing opponents including André the Giant , Dory Funk Jr. , Terry Funk , and Johnny Ace . During one bout, Foley accidentally broke the elbow of Ace – the favorite wrestler of Giant Baba's wife – which Foley attributes to his not being invited back to AJPW, coupled with Baba's reservations about Foley's dress sense and wrestling style (which had drawn unwelcome comparisons to Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling , regarded by Baba as garbage wrestling ). Returning to

13568-455: The urn, allowing Mankind to win, thus (for the time being) ending the relationship between Paul and The Undertaker. While Paul Bearer was Mankind's manager, Mankind referred to him as "Uncle Paul". Mankind then became the number one contender to face the then WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at In Your House: Mind Games . Michaels won by disqualification via interference by Vader and The Undertaker. The Mankind and Undertaker rivalry continued with

13696-454: The wheel stopping at this match choice. Race won the match for Vader by using a stun gun on Cactus, knocking him out. The level of violence and brutality involved in this match left the crowd and commentators Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura in stunned disbelief; both did not commentate much throughout the second half of the match. It also caused WCW, a promotion marketing itself as family friendly to refuse to book Cactus Jack against Vader on

13824-450: Was "Have a nice day!" and his association with boiler rooms led to his specialty match, dubbed the boiler room brawl . This specialty match is chaotic and dangerous with significant violent use of weaponry all taking place inside an arena's mechanical/boiler room. Combatants involved made use of everything from foreign objects to all sorts of exposed metal piping with large bolts, concrete flooring to solid electrical equipment, all allowed by

13952-432: Was a Buried Alive match that pitted the Rock 'n' Sock Connection against The Undertaker and The Big Show, who were out for revenge after losing the tag titles one week earlier. This match included a spot where The Big Show tossed Mankind off the stage, landing hard on the dirt and falling into the grave- Mankind traveled nearly 25 feet (7.6 m) in total. Foley then helped Raw is War achieve its highest ratings ever with

14080-550: Was a classmate and wrestling teammate of actor Kevin James . In October 1983, while a student at the State University of New York at Cortland , Foley hitchhiked to Madison Square Garden to see his favorite wrestler, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka , in a steel cage match against Don Muraco . He has said that Snuka's flying body splash from the top of the cage inspired him to pursue a career in professional wrestling. He had

14208-605: Was against Whipwreck on March 9, 1996, at Big Ass Extreme Bash , and he recounts that he was not looking forward to it due to the increasingly hostile reactions he got even when he wasn't in character. The ECW fans, who knew that this was Foley's last match, finally returned his affection. They cheered him throughout the match and chanted, "Please don't go!". After the match, Foley told the audience that their reaction made everything worthwhile and made his exit by dancing with Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie to Frank Sinatra 's song " New York, New York ". Foley has said that this exit

14336-634: Was at a much higher level than in Western promotions (except for ECW), something Western wrestlers were not accustomed to. Cactus faced Funk in a No Ropes Barbed Wire Scramble Bunkhouse Deathmatch at the Honjo Gymnasium in Saitama , just north of Tokyo in front of 150 people in a match that involved barbed wire as the ring ropes and objects set on fire. This turned out to be a particularly chaotic and brutal match where Foley and Funk mostly brawled in

14464-558: Was both the WWF's first-ever " hardcore match " and the first time that Foley wrestled under his name. Foley won, and after the match, a proud McMahon came out to Dude Love's music and presented Foley with the Dude Love costume. At Over the Edge: In Your House , Dude Love took on Austin for the title. McMahon designated his subordinates Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson as the timekeeper and ring announcer and made himself

14592-515: Was broadcast on January 4, 1999, so that is the date WWE recognizes as beginning the title run. Having title changes on broadcast television rather than pay-per-view was uncommon in professional wrestling, but because of the Monday Night War , television ratings became more important. The head of rival promotion WCW Eric Bischoff , attempting to take advantage of the fact that their show Monday Nitro aired live while Mankind's title victory

14720-559: Was disgruntled by the commentary of Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan , which failed to reference the events of the prior year. Frustrated by WCW and the company's new head Eric Bischoff 's reluctance to work a storyline with Vader around losing his ear. This frustration turned into a realization for Foley- after being unable to see a positive or lucrative future for himself with Bischoff in charge, Foley decided not to renew his contract with WCW. At Spring Stampede in April 1994, Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne faced WCW World Tag Team Champions

14848-457: Was explained with a farcical comedy storyline in which he went crazy, was institutionalized, then escaped, and then developed amnesia. Foley had wanted the injury storyline to be serious and generate genuine sympathy for him before his return. The comedy vignettes that WCW produced instead were so bad that Foley jokes in Have a Nice Day that they were the brainchild of WCW executives who regarded

14976-774: Was formed by Víctor Quiñones as a successor to the W*ING promotion, which was folding as a rival to Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), the pioneer of deathmatch wrestling in Japan and the only deathmatch promotion in Japan at the time. Most of the wrestlers jumped ship to Quiñones' new IWA Japan group. He found a sponsor in Tatsukuni "Kinroku" Asano, a businessman who owned several restaurants in Tokyo and had bought and run several wrestling shows prior to IWA Japan. They had their first show in Yokosuka, Kanagawa on May 21, 1994, which

15104-520: Was his favorite moment in wrestling. In 1995, during his time in ECW and other promotions in the United States, Foley also went to Japan and wrestled in International Wrestling Association of Japan (IWA Japan), where he engaged in feuds with Terry Funk and Shoji Nakamaki. During his brief stint in Japan, Foley had the nickname "Tsunami Stopper." The level of violence and brutality in hardcore wrestling matches in Japan

15232-446: Was in a hospital nursing wounds suffered at the hands of The Undertaker and Kane, Mankind arrived with a female clown called Yurple in an attempt to cheer him up. Having succeeded only in irritating McMahon, Mankind then took a disgusting sock off his foot and placed it on his hand to create a sock puppet named "Mr. Socko". Intended to be a one-time joke and suggested by Al Snow , Socko became an overnight sensation. Mankind began putting

15360-428: Was leaving to join the WWF (In Have a Nice Day , Foley recounted an incident where he asked an ECW roadie to sell T-shirts for him at an event held in a Queens, New York venue where he had been popular even as a heel; the man came back after being spat upon numerous times by angry fans, who made him fear for his life ). Even when he tried to give sincere good-byes to the fans, Foley was met with chants of "You sold out" by

15488-554: Was quieter, he was now outwardly maniacal; laughing hysterically, shrieking into the air while choking his opponents and yelling his signature catchphrase "Bang-Bang!". At Clash of the Champions XX in September 1992, Cactus Jack unsuccessfully challenged Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After spending a year and a half with WCW as a heel, Cactus Jack transitioned into

15616-544: Was seen live by tens of thousands of people, and each level of the tournament featured a new and deadly gimmick : Cactus Jack's first-round during the day was a barbed-wire baseball bat, thumbtack deathmatch, in which he defeated Terry Gordy; the second round was a barbed-wire board, bed of nails match where Cactus Jack defeated Shoji Nakamaki. At night against Terry Funk, the final was a barbed-wire rope, exploding barbed wire boards and exploding ring time bomb deathmatch, which Cactus Jack won with help from Tiger Jeet Singh . After

15744-528: Was showing improvement. This would be Williams's last mainstream wrestling TV appearance as he chose to pursue a lighter schedule on the independent circuit given his age and electrolarynx. After this appearance there were no AJPW or WWE wrestling veterans left on the roster to pave way for younger talents. This ultimately hurt the casual fan interest and arena attendance it quickly garnered in 2004 with AJPW's 2003 gaijin exodus, ex-WWE talent hires and Kawada's main event matches and promo appearances. After nearly

15872-493: Was shown several designs for a new heel character–a man with a leather mask and chains, called "Mason the Mutilator". However, WWF decided that character as a whole was too dark and only kept the mask. Although interested in the concept of the character, Foley did not like the name, so he came up with the new name "Mankind", which McMahon liked and approved of. Mankind was an eerie and mentally deranged miscreant who dwelled in

16000-413: Was sold. By late 2003 IWA also had a television deal with Fighting Samurai TV, notable for previously airing its own version of AJPW TV before AJPW was sold. Various WWE Hall of Famers also worked regularly for IWA during this IWA TV period, including Big Bossman , "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan , and Barry Windham . The veterans would work in the main event along with the younger stars, becoming similar to TNA at

16128-452: Was taped for television. The early shows often featured many ex- W*ING wrestlers like Yukihiro Kanemura , Shoji Nakamaki, Nobutaka Araya and The Headhunters . They also had fans to fill out questionnaires about the shows and sometimes gave away freebies. Quiñones booked talent from all over the world to compete in IWA, including Cactus Jack and Terry Funk who engaged in some of their most famous bouts. With IWA getting more popular due to

16256-653: Was taped the week before, had announcer Tony Schiavone reveal the ending of the Mankind-Rock match before it aired. He then added sarcastically, "That's gonna put some butts in the seats." The move backfired for WCW, as Nielsen ratings showed that Raw won the ratings battle that night, despite the Hulk Hogan vs. Kevin Nash main event which led to the reformation of the New World Order (nWo). Foley said that

16384-590: Was then brought to Gatoh Move to serve as its main singles title. In 2017, IWA Japan finally folded after ceasing their professional wrestling activities three years earlier. The IWA belts were then returned and Sakura announced the creation of the Super Asia Championship, a new title with a new lineage, as well as an eight-women single-elimination tournament that would crown the first champion. On September 22, at Gatoh Move's 5th Anniversary Show, Riho defeated "Kotori"  [ ja ] in

#105894