FanPost

The Hardcore Legend Does Stand-up: But is it funny?

Before I get into the review of the show, I want to give you some more info so that you can see that the review may be a little biased. This was an amazing experience for me and I want to go a little more in depth to show you just how cool and honest Mic Foley is.

Growing up I was a hige fan of Mankind. I was one of the people that turned over from WCW when they annonced he was going to be the new champion. Up until that point I had only watched WCW. I was only 12 or so and my mom would only allow me to watch one of the wrestling shows. She felt that 5 hours a week of wrestling was to much. I wouldn't dare tell her how much I watch now.

I turned over because, while I loved watching guys like Chris Jerhico, Ray Mysterio, and Benoit, I found the main event (Hulk Hogan and company) mostly boring and I would often fall asleep watching them. That night I was feeling a little extra awake and when they annonced his upcoming victory I quickly switched over and never went back.

To me, Mankind was sort of a hero. Here was a man who was essentailly broken mentally with his body not far behind and he was going toe-to-toe with The Rock and winning titles. I followed his career, scowered my friends wrestling VHS tapes for past matches of his and discovered the other faces of Foley. He made me laugh, he could scare me, and he could wow me.

I tell you all that so you can see where I'm coming from as a fan and how much it meant to me to meet Mic Foley. With that said, in recent years I have stopped enjoying him on my t.v. I'm always afraid hes going to do try and wrestle and get himself hurt. Thanks to seeing him live I now know that it wont happen and I'll get into that and some of the other juicy stuff in a bit. After all there is a story to tell here and aim to do so.

Friday morning I recieved a message from a friend on facebook informing me that Mic Foley was going to be doing an apperence at the local watering hole Coaches Corner from 4-5. I also found out he was doing two shows in a nearby town and I immediatlty purchased tickets. The tickets were a bit high at $22.50 each but it's a small price to pay to meet one of your childhood heroes.

After work I booked it over to Coaches Corner and made there by 4:15. He was not there yet but the place was packed with what I thought were fans awaiting the arrival of the Hardcore legend. there was a local radio channell doing a live broadcast and they annonced that Mic was running late and he would not be there until around 5. A few beers later and I was able to secure the seat right in front of were Foely would be sitting to do the show. I would only be a few feet away. I could literally reach out and touch him if I wanted.

Mic finally arrived at about 5:15 and when he walked in a few people cheered, it was then that I realized that it was just me and and a few other guys with there kids who had actaully came to see him. Mic arrived wearing sweat pants, a Cactus Jack t-shirt and a terrible WWE wind breaker. he covered his hands and only fist bumped people as he quickly annonced that he had the flu and didnt want to get anyone sick.

While he spoke I sat there and stared at him with a grin that only a true fanboy could have. Every few minutes I would realize how intently I was staring and make my self look any. rinse repeat. towards the end he pointed at me and said "this youg man is having the time of his life." I yelled "Bang! Bang!" and he did it back. This was possibly the coolest moment of all time.

Unfortunatly he could not stick around to sign any autographs as he was running late to his show but he did take a piture with a few of the kids after he made sure to tell the parents he was sick. A couple of fans chased him out to his car abut I didnt want to be that fan. I've always told myself I would treat wrestlers with the same respect I would show anyone else.

The next night my girlfriend and I drove to Cedar Rapids to see him perform. The club was sold out and the buzz was electric. After the opening act he came on. He immediatly delt with the table that was being the loudest just by asking them to be quiet and they obliged, mostly. Mic foley is a very funny man, I wasnt sure how that would translate into stand up. I had seen some old videos of him doing it and I wasnt impressed. I can happily say that he has greatly improved although if your not a wrestling fan, about 40% of his act would be lost on you. My girlfriend watches some wrestling and knows a little about him so she was able to keep up and have a good time with the limited knowledge she had.

Mic doesnt really tell jokes as much as he is a funny story teller. there were plenty of laughs but if you are a smart fan like me you were able to get some very interesting information. As I said up above, I have a hard time watching him on t.v. becasue I dont want to see him wrestle. That is no longer a concern of mine. Mic told us that after the show he would do a meet and greet but that there were some rules to it. One is that due to all the damage to his brain he can no longer look at flashes of light so in all the pictures he looks off to the side. It makes him look like hes not paying attention but it's for his own safety. It was after that annoncement that he said he could never wrestle again, that all the potential damage to his body was to much of a risk for any amount of money.

The seconed rule was that he asked us to lean in for the photos. no big deal there.

The third was that for us not to lean into his right shoulder because there was nerve damage and it would make his hand make a gripping motion so that it looked like he was trying to groupe the fan. Those were his rules and while he told them in a humorous way, it was clear that all the years of abusing his body had taken it's toll.

He told great stories and did stuff that he actually asked us not to film becasue it would get him in trouble. I agree, WWE would not like it even though it was in a 21+ crowd and no one was offended. I wont get into it out of respect for him. He told stories of DDP, Undertaker, and his family life that had us all rolling. He new that one person in the crowd had seen the show the night before and did all new material so that the guy would get his money worth. Classy.

With just a few minutes left he asked the crowd if we had any questions and I raised my hand. He picked me and I asked him what he thought of the Dean Ambrose angle. First he asked me which one and I clarified the twitter angle. What he said I found a little interesting. he said when the tweets first started he had no idea what was going on. He was happy to help elevate him because Ambrose "is a hell of a wrestler," but he took a little offense to the jabs at his family so he tweeted not to do that. Ambrose apperently thought that was wrestling code for do it harder so he did. Soon ambrose was out of the country doing it were Mic couldnt tweet back and so Ambrose thought it was all good.

I told him about the Shield promo on Friday and he no idea they started it back up. I found this interesting becasue if Mic doesnt know about it, what the hell is WWE booking doing if they dont need to tell the guy they are involving?

Mic said he was all good with ambrose and for all his bad mouthing, when ambrose met Mic at the December 24th raw. When Ambrose met Foley, Mic was in his santa outfit and Ambrose stood there star struck and just said, "Your the hardcore legend." Just based on the way he spoke about Ambrose, Mic clearly has a lot of respect for him.

Well that was the show, it was great and funny. I got to meet him after the show and get my WWE encyclopedia signed. I got a phot with him and yes, he looked off to the side, as if uninterested. My respect has increased even more. He was really great and didnt chake anyones hand becasue he didnt want anyone to get the flu. I would highly recomend his show to anyone who loves wrestling. Its interactive, it's funny. Its well worth the price of admission.

I hope you enjoyed my write up. Based on what you have read here, would you go see him?

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.