Dude Love's Cageside Evaluation

First, a great take on Dude Love by Cagesider, LeoMonsoon:

"Mick Foley’s 'Mankind' character was in the process of a slow character development process that ultimately led to his WWF title win… Dude Love was an important step along the way. Mankind had been a deranged, scary, monster heel. Then the Jim Ross expose/interview segments broke the 4th wall, offering insight into Mankind’s madness. He was bullied as a kid, ridiculed. All he wanted was approval from people. Through those segments, they revealed 'Dude Love' as Mick Foley’s lifelong dream character. This kind of insight into why a heel was evil was very rare… and it garnered sympathy for Mankind. The crowd reaction began to change, and Mankind began a face turn. The face turn was complete when he appeared as Dude Love, who came across more like the deranged Mankind in a costume, trying to live out his dream as a heart throb, trying to be the smiling babyface. The fact that he was a hippie with Austin Powers-type lingo played into the charm of it all… it was the deranged Mankind’s image of 'cool'… and that image was a bit out of touch with reality (as you might expect).

Dude Love was character development. He wasn’t meant to have a long shelf life. As the story developed, Mick moved from Dude to Cactus. When Cactus felt unappreciated, we got the Mankind that attached himself to Mr. McMahon (Dad)… and when Mankind got screwed by McMahon, the long character development was complete – we got the Mankind that we know today – face, underdog, crazy, world champion."

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What you loved:

1. Sweet Shin Music - A devastating kick to his opponent's shin. Awesome.
2. Dancing - Mick Foley dancing? Mick Foley dancing.
3. Original Gimmick - Before Mankind and Cactus Jack, there was the Dude, jumping off roofs.
4. 1998 Over the Edge - A classic match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at the height of his powers.
5. 1998 Royal Rumble - Not sure how this qualifies for Dude Love as opposed to Mick Foley the man, but you said it, so here we have it.

Best comment comes via GrecoRomanGuy:

"How Mick Foley could go from a bloodthirsty psychopath (Cactus Jack) to a mentally scarred pseudo-PTSD suffering head case (Mankind) to…this fucking guy…and you totally bought it. That’s a great performer."

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What you loathed:

1. Worst Foley - Out of his three gimmicks, this was your least favorite, for various reasons. He was a face, his dancing, the music, or he was just generally...
2. Annoying - He had a ceiling with this gimmick, and too much TV time grated on your nerves. Also the music could go after about 30 seconds.
3. Hippies - Take it away, Cartman.

Best comment comes via MrErikJ:

"Dude Love doesn’t have a long shelf life because he becomes grating after a bit. Mick Foley is a great guy, and one of his positive traits is his blissful ignorance of all things pop culture. The guy dresses so bad, frat bros say "Dude, class it up." He’s missing teeth and constantly has an awful haircut. He admits that he never used the internet (or possibly a computer) until a few years ago. All of these things are reflected in Dude Love who is styled like a late 60s hippie, speaks like a beatnik from the late 50s, and has a disco soundtrack and entourage of women from the late 70s. It’s a Hodge-podge of things he thinks are related, but aren’t. Because Mick Foley has no idea what’s happening in the world right now or ever. He’s like your Dad, but if he had brain damage."

On to the poll! With 154 votes, Dude Love's average score is 3.8.

Thanks, Cagesiders! Tomorrow's pick does not need an elbow pad.

Until then!