WWE Rivals (TV Series)

Triple H vs. Mick Foley (2022)

Cody Rhodes: Cody Rhodes - WWE Superstar

Quotes 

• Self - WWE Hall of Famer : If you were looking for the polar opposite of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, look no further than Mankind. When I debuted in 1996 as Mankind, that character was kind of a tortured soul along the lines of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

  Undertaker - WWE Hall of Famer : Mankind was demented. There were no limits to what he would do to himself to inflict pain on his opponent. He was just maniacal. I remember having a match with him; he was legit pulling his own hair out. I remember him taking a stick and jabbing it in his leg over and over and over again. I mean, that's just another level of dedication to making a character viable. It was nuts. But you believed him.

  Self - WWE Analyst : Those of us familiar with who this guy was knew that he had lived in existence as Cactus Jack before he got to WWE. The scars on his body from his life as Cactus Jack was very real. Then he does this interview on TV.

  Cody Rhodes - WWE Superstar : The death match stuff, that got Cactus into the game, perhaps, but the sit-down interview with Jim Ross, th-that actually got him into the end zone.

  Kevin Nash - WWE Hall of Famer : The Jim Ross thing really touched base 'cause that was something that... you know, I remember watching it. And, to me, it was like, when they showed his senior-year picture, that... that looks like anybody.

  Self - Host : Yeah.

  Kevin Nash - WWE Hall of Famer : Yeah. And now we've got... we-we've got this... this heap of humanity that's pulling his hair out. I mean, like, what torturous life has this soul had?

  Self - WWE Hall of Famer : I'm not sure I've ever been that on as I was that night as I brought this character to life and created an enormous amount of empathy just by being 100% honest.

  Beth Phoenix - WWE Hall of Famer : We got to know Mrs. Foley's baby boy. We got to know... we got to see the home footage of Mick jumping off his garage onto a mattress. And all of us were doing the same thing off of our couches, you know?

  Paul Heyman - WWE Manager : It felt intimate, and it struck a chord, and it endeared Mick Foley to a worldwide audience.

  Self - WWE Hall of Famer : We can be a line of work that everyone knows is entertainment, but you can still connect and-and-and be a character that resonates with people where they go, "I understand that. I get that."

  Kevin Owens - WWE Superstar : Once he started breaking out of that shell of the original Mankind character, he was different than everybody else because he was a lot more like the people watching than everybody else in the ring with him.

  Self - WWE Hall of Famer : As soon as I did these interviews, without actually turning in a classic way, I didn't apologize for my misgivings, I was just the same guy, and every single week, more and more people were cheering me. I don't think a change has ever come about that organically.

  Cody Rhodes - WWE Superstar : He didn't fit, but he made himself fit. And it makes for a great rivalry when you have someone who doesn't fit against the most "I fit" guy there is in a Triple H.

• Beth Phoenix - WWE Hall of Famer : The best rivalries across history involve a protagonist and an antagonist. That-that's what we understand more than anything.

  John Bradshaw Layfield - WWE Hall of Famer : Foley was one of these guys that once you give your body for so long, fans start appreciating you.

  Triple H - WWE Hall of Famer : [a clip is shown of him winning the match]  I think it was important for him to go out in the biggest way possible. For me, the fact that he was willing to do that for me on the way out was incredible and something that I can never forget.

  Becky Lynch - WWE Superstar : I remembered just being in tears, in tears at the thought that that was the last Mick Foley match that we were gonna see in WWE.

  Self - WWE Hall of Famer : I turn around, and it's the classic blood, sweat, and tears. It's there on my face, plain as day. Blood mixed with sweat, tear in my eye. Triple H allowed me to ride off into the sunset with my head held high. He allowed me the type of exit that, uh, you know, most people can only dream about. I went to a much nicer hotel than I otherwise would have stayed in, had a nice room service meal. Sat on my bed and cried like a baby, because it was over.

  Self - Host : He felt like one of us by the time that story was done, and everybody loved him. And it was heartbreaking to see him go. And the respect that he earned comes out in that moment more than any because we know it's the last time. It's that final standing ovation. And so that's how I'm gonna remember this rivalry from now on.

  Cody Rhodes - WWE Superstar : There's a time, I feel like, for every fan of wrestling when they finally, "That's my guy. That's my girl. That's... I-I gotta watch this." And that was for me for when I really went all-in on Triple H. Hunter did look the part, did work the part. But if he didn't have someone to beat the piss out of, if he didn't have somebody to sell, sell Triple H, and it's not Triple H to do that. It's the opponent. If he didn't have that, it doesn't work. And Mick's humanization and all that doesn't come out unless he's got a bully.

• Self - Host : [discussing the evolution of Triple H's character]  What was that moment like watching the transformation to the promo of "I am the Game," which is what we all know him as today, the modern fan, anyway?

  Cody Rhodes - WWE Superstar : There is the difference between just a wrestling promo and, I guess, a piece of art. There's a lot of good wrestling promos, and then there's things that you don't ever forget.

  Triple H - WWE Hall of Famer : Especially as a bad guy, your "why" has to carry some believability and some reality to it, even if it's warped. There's gotta be truth in there. And to be able to sit down and have that kind of interview where you can emote that passion, you know, it's-it's a mission statement.

  Cody Rhodes - WWE Superstar : When it's real, it's hard to beat. It's hard to top. And-and veering that way always is... is the best, and it worked out incredibly for Triple H.

  Triple H - WWE Hall of Famer : Didn't plan it ahead of time, it just came out. But the next week when I walked out, I would start seeing signs everywhere. So you do something that clicks, you run with it.

  [clips of him beating Mankind for the title are shown] 

  Triple H - WWE Hall of Famer : The guys inside the business will joke about it, like there's a moment when you win that title for the first time where it's all real. And you sort of get that feeling, which was, you know, certainly a validation level of reaching the top. I was determined, 'cause I wanted to be the most hated guy there'd ever been.

  Self - WWE Hall of Famer : He's on the precipice of greatness, but he still hadn't had that one decisive moment. A signal to everyone watching, this is someone to be reckoned with.