Mankind (V2)

Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including 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 the 16th 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 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 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), 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 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 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 over 200 miles 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 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 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 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; 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 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 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 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 June 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 was quieter, he was now outwardly maniacal; laughing hysterically, shrieking into the air while choking his opponents and yelling his signature catchphrase "Bang-Bang!".

After spending a year and a half with WCW as a heel, Cactus Jack transitioned into 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.

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 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.

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 the wheel stopping at this match choice. After 15 minutes of brawling and brutal spots which left both Cactus and Vader covered in blood, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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" with Foley's permission - 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). Foley then witnessed 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 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 a hardcore wrestling icon, instead using 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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 was at a much higher level than in Western promotions (except for ECW), something Western wrestlers were not accustomed to. On January 6, 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 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 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, 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 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 deathmatch 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 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 $619 in 2024) 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 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, 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; 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". Ross insisted to hire Foley since WWF needed a new opponent for The Undertaker and Ross wanted to change the culture in the locker room. McMahon was not a fan of Cactus Jack and wanted to cover up Foley's face, so he 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 the boiler rooms of buildings, constantly squealed (even throughout his matches), randomly shrieked "Mommy!", spoke to a rat named George, and regularly took to acts of masochism (such as by pulling out his hair). He donned 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 the "Mandibular Nerve Pinch", a finishing move developed and utilized by former osteopathic physician and neurosurgeon-turned-wrestler, Sam Sheppard. The maneuver is a nerve hold 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 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 potentially breaking the hold by biting the aggressing wrestler's fingers. Its proper application is said to cause a significant amount of legitimate pain intense enough to inhibit the opponent's vision, and if cinched 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. Some time after that, he could get into character almost instantly.

His catchphrase, ever perplexing, was "Have a nice day!". 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 exposed metal piping with large bolts, concrete flooring, and solid electrical equipment - all allowed by 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 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 the arena's boiler room, the winner would also have to reach the ring and take the urn from Paul Bearer. In more than 20 minutes of brawling in the boiler room, the backstage corridors, and the entrance ramp, both men taking some damage 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 the urn, allowing Mankind to win, thus (for the time being) ending the relationship between Bearer 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 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 the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Undertaker had won at WrestleMania 13. Undertaker was victorious in the match while Bearer would take a leave of absence.

In April to May 1997, Jim Ross conducted a series of sit-down 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 the fans, who began cheering Mankind even though he was still a heel at this point.

On May 26, 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels won the WWF Tag Team Championship from Owen Hart and the British Bulldog, but the following month 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 the Bulldog alone on July 14. 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 a neck injury in a match at SummerSlam in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

In August 1997, Dude Love began feuding with Hunter Hearst Helmsley. That month, at SummerSlam, Mankind defeated Helmsley in a steel cage match. The feud led to a falls count anywhere match on the September 22, 1997 episode of Raw is War. 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 a face. Cactus Jack won the match with a piledriver through a table. At WWF One Night Only later that month, Helmsley defeated Dude Love.

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.

At Survivor Series in November 1997, Mankind lost to Kane in Kane's debut match.

In December 1997, Funk 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 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 place at the event). The next night, however, Vince McMahon stripped them of the belts, citing that Charlie and Cactus had put the Outlaws in a random backstage dumpster and not the original dumpster brought ringside. He scheduled a rematch in a steel cage, which the Outlaws won with help from their new allies D-Generation X (DX).

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. In the midst a hard-fought match with Terry Funk in Albany, fans started to leave the arena a minute or so before it finished. Ring announcer Howard Finkel announced that Austin, who was the hottest wrestler in the WWE at the time, would be making an appearance. The crowd exploded at the news, and many rushed back to their seats. Foley later admitted that this crowd reaction emotionally hurt him, feeling that his hard work could not compete with Austin's popularity and that he would be just another wrestler to face 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 contender's match against his former partner, Terry Funk. The match was both the WWF's first-ever "hardcore match" and the first time that Foley wrestled under his real 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 respectively and made himself 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. Foley, wearing street clothing as himself, was ultimately "fired" by McMahon on the June 1 episode of Raw.

Subsequent episodes of Raw saw a change in Foley, who had now reverted to a version of his Mankind persona (albeit, less deranged). This saw him adopt new ring attire – pairing untucked, collared shirts with his original Mankind tights. On June 15, 1998, teaming with Kane in a Tag Team Royal Rumble match, Mankind debuted his now-familiar white dress shirt with a loose necktie look. The character would subsequently reignite his feud with The Undertaker. At King of 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 the arena's concrete floor. Barely five minutes after the first fall, 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 mishap, 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 the Cell and landed on the ring mat, losing a tooth. Mankind lost the match to conclude their storyline.

In the following months he teamed with Kane - collectively securing the WWF Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions - and engaged in 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 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 character. On the October 5 episode of Raw is War, while McMahon 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 the sock on his hand before applying his finisher, the Mandible Claw, stuffing a smelly sock in the mouths of opposing wrestlers. Mankind also acted as a 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 dirty, sweaty, repulsive, and vile. McMahon manipulated Mankind, who saw 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 influencing the tournament so that Mankind would win. He and The Rock both reached the finals, where McMahon showed his true colors. As The Rock placed Mankind in the Sharpshooter, McMahon ordered the timekeeper to ring the bell even though Mankind did not submit, a reference to the infamous Montreal Screwjob occurring just the year prior. 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 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 was broadcast on January 4, 1999; thus 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 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 took personal pride in observing that ratings indicate large numbers of viewers switched from Nitro to Raw to see him win the title. It was a significant turn of direction between the warring companies as WCW would never beat the WWF in the television ratings again going forward.

Mankind lost the WWF Championship to The Rock in an "I Quit" match (a type of submission match) 20 days later at the Royal Rumble at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, near Los Angeles, in what is regarded as one of the company's most brutal matches. During the match, Foley took several violent and dangerous attacks 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 chair shots to the head were commonplace in the Attitude Era, the most a wrestler would take in 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 the entrance ramp. 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. He bludgeoned 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 the Mat, which shows the impact the match had on Foley, his family, and even the rest of the audience at ringside. 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 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 a week later on Halftime Heat, which aired during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII, in 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 sock off his foot and stuffed it into The Rock's mouth. He eventually 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 either being able to respond to a ten count, 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 the 1996 match to only having to escape the boiler room. 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, entering wielding two basketballs as weapons. In that same month, Big Show would align with fellow former Corporation members Mankind, Test, and Shamrock in a collective known as "The Union". They took on part of the newly fused Corporate Ministry at Over the Edge. Foley took some time away to undergo knee surgery and was written off television with a kayfabe blow dealt by Triple H.

In August 1999, Foley returned after 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 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 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 meant to be a tag team bout with Al Snow in November 1999. With the WWF having to go on devoid 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 top talents disappeared from the roster, although The Rock was surging in popularity. Foley, even in the poor condition he was in, decided to endure for a few more months until Austin returned.

Around the latter part of the year, Foley and The Rock patched up their friendship and teamed up to form a comedy duo titled the Rock 'n' Sock Connection, becoming one of the most popular acts during that time. The pair won the tag team titles on three occasions. One notable match was a Buried Alive encounter in September 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. The Big Show tossed Mankind off the stage, landing him hard on the dirt and falling into the grave with Mankind travelling nearly 25 feet (7.6 m) in total. Foley then helped Raw is War achieve its highest ratings ever with 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.

Mankind received a title shot against Triple H on an episode of Raw is War on October 25, 1999. Mankind appeared to have the title won after he forced Triple H to pass out by ramming a sock down his gullet, but Val Venis interfered and cost Mankind the match. Mankind continued his feud with Triple H when he was slated to have the last Boiler Room Brawl match with "Santa Claus". He ended up being attacked by the Mean Street Posse, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg, all of whom dressed up as Santa Claus. Mankind defeated all five of the Santa Clauses until Triple H appeared as a 6th Santa Claus and brought down Mankind, escaping the Boiler Room and winning as the eponymous character. On the December 27, 1999, episode of Raw is War, Mick Foley and the Rock had a "Pink Slip on a Pole match", where whoever was first to grab the pink slip first stayed in WWF and the loser having to leave. Foley would lose before then showing up as Mankind on the January 13, 2000, edition of SmackDown!. He then fell back into his Cactus Jack persona in front of the crowd to promote Cactus Jack facing Triple H for the WWF Championship at Royal Rumble, in a Street Fight. Cactus used a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire and thumbtacks - trademark weapons from his pre-WWF days - but Triple H won the match after delivering two Pedigrees, the second slamming Cactus face-first onto a pile of tacks. The feud culminated with a rematch at No Way Out in a Hell in a Cell match, where stipulations held that Cactus could not use foreign metallic objects he utilized at the Royal Rumble. It was also stated that if he did not win the title, Foley had to retire from wrestling. During the match, they had made their way onto the top of the cell and Cactus was preparing to piledrive Triple H onto a barbed wire 2x4 on fire, but Triple H reversed it into a backdrop. It caused the cage to break, and Cactus fell through the canvas. Triple H then pinned an exhausted Cactus, winning the match and ending Foley's career. Foley left for a few weeks, but returned at the request of Linda McMahon to wrestle for the title by replacing Chris Jericho's spot at the main event of WrestleMania 2000 against Triple H, The Rock and Big Show. Triple H won, and Foley did not wrestle again for four years.

After retiring from active competition, Foley served as storyline WWF Commissioner under his real name rather than one of his personas. Foley has said that he intended for his Commissioner Foley character to be a "role model for nerds," cracking lame jokes and making no attempt to appear tough or scary. He also had a knack during this time to have no one spot for his office; rather, Foley would have an office in all sorts of odd places (for example, closets). Foley turned getting cheap pops into something of a catchphrase, as he shamelessly declared at each WWF show that he was thrilled to be "right here in (whatever city in which he was performing (e.g., New York))!" punctuated with an intentionally cheesy thumbs-up gesture. During this time, Commissioner Foley engaged in rivalries with Kurt Angle, Edge and Christian, and Vince McMahon without actually wrestling them. He left the position in December 2000 after being "fired" onscreen by McMahon during which he received a brutal beat down at the hands of Angle, Edge and Christian.

Foley made a surprise return on the Raw just before WrestleMania X-Seven and announced that he would be the special guest referee in the match between Mr. McMahon and his son Shane at WrestleMania. After WrestleMania, Foley made sporadic appearances on WWF programming throughout the middle of the year, at one point introducing Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura during a taping of Raw in the state as a foil to Mr. McMahon, as well as serving as the guest referee for the Earl Hebner versus Nick Patrick referee match and a tag-team bra and panties match between WWF wrestlers Lita and Trish Stratus vs. WCW wrestlers Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson at the Invasion pay-per-view. Foley returned as commissioner in October 2001, near the end of The Invasion angle. During this brief tenure, Foley had the opportunity to shoot on the WWF's direction and how dissatisfied he was with it. Saying that there were far too many championships in the company, he booked unification matches before the final pay-per-view of the storyline, Survivor Series. After Survivor Series, he ended his commissionership at Vince McMahon's request and left the company.

On September 11, 2004, Foley made his debut for Ring of Honor (ROH). He spoke highly of his time there, but didn't actually wrestle & was more of a personality for the company.

Foley returned to WWE to referee the Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and Kevin Nash at Bad Blood on June 15, 2003.

Foley returned briefly to wrestling, competing in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2004, and eliminating both Orton and himself with his trademark Cactus Jack clothesline. He and The Rock reunited as the Rock 'n' Sock Connection and lost a handicap match to Evolution at WrestleMania XX on March 14. Foley and Orton continued to feud, culminating in a hardcore match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Backlash on April 18, where a thumbtack-covered Orton defeated Foley, as his Cactus Jack persona, to retain the title after hitting Foley with his signature move, the RKO onto a barbed-wire covered baseball bat. Foley regards this match as possibly the best of his career.

Foley returned in a match where fans were able to vote on which persona he would appear as—Mankind, Dude Love, or Cactus Jack—against Carlito at Taboo Tuesday on November 1. The fans voted for Mankind, who went on to defeat Carlito- this was the last time Foley ever wrestled as Mankind.

On the February 16, 2006 episode of Raw, Foley returned to referee the WWE Championship match between Edge and John Cena. After Cena won, Edge attacked Foley, and the following week, Foley (who from now on would resemble Cactus Jack in his wrestling show appearances and matches, but would still wrestle under his own name) challenged Edge to a hardcore match at WrestleMania 22 on April 2. In the intensely brutal match, the heavily bloodied and thumbtack-covered Edge defeated Foley after spearing him through a flaming table, where both performers suffered second-degree burns after anti-flame material was sweated off of both performers and was not applied to the flaming table, at their own request. In the weeks after the match, an "impressed" Foley aligned himself with Edge against the newly rejuvenated ECW on the May 8 episode of Raw, turning heel in WWE for the first time since 1998. At ECW One Night Stand on June 11, Foley, Edge and Lita defeated Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty in a violent and brutal tag-team hardcore match, which included a spot where Funk hit Foley with a barbed wire 2x4 plank lit on fire, and the flame latched onto Foley, and he then fell onto a plywood board covered in more barbed wire.

Foley then engaged in a storyline rivalry with Ric Flair, inspired by real-life animosity between them. In Have a Nice Day!, Foley wrote that Flair was "every bit as bad on the booking side of things as he was great on the wrestling side of it." In response, Flair wrote in his autobiography that Foley was "a glorified stuntman" and that he was able to climb the ladder in the WWF only because he was friends with the bookers. The two had a backstage confrontation at a Raw event in December 2004 in Huntsville, Alabama, but Foley has said that they have largely reconciled. To spark the feud, Flair again called Foley a "glorified stuntman" and Foley called Flair a "washed-up piece of crap" and challenged him to a match. The result was a Two-out-of-Three Falls match at Vengeance on June 25, where Flair beat Foley in two straight falls. The two then wrestled in an intensely brutal and bloody "I Quit" match at SummerSlam on August 20. In the beginning of the match, Foley stuffed his smelly gym sock, Mr. Socko, down Flair's gullet to apply the Mandible claw. Flair nearly passed out from the sock's foul smell, but since the match was an "I Quit" match, Foley was unable to capitalize. Flair, who was covered in blood, thumbtacks and cuts from barbed wire, won the match when he forced Foley to quit by threatening Melina with a barbed-wire bat. On the August 21 episode of Raw, Foley kissed Vince McMahon's buttocks as part of McMahon's "Kiss My Ass Club" gimmick after he threatened to fire Melina. Shortly thereafter, Melina betrayed Foley and announced that he was fired.

Seven months later, Foley returned on the March 5, 2007 episode of Raw with the storyline being that he tricked McMahon into giving him his job back, turning face once again. At Vengeance on June 24, Foley wrestled in a WWE Championship Challenge match involving WWE Champion John Cena, Randy Orton, King Booker, and Bobby Lashley. Cena retained by pinning Foley. On the October 29 episode of Raw, Foley made an appearance on as the special guest referee for a match between Jonathan Coachman and Mr. McMahon's storyline illegitimate son Hornswoggle. Foley then made an appearance on SmackDown! the same week, where he defeated Coachman with Hornswoggle as the special guest referee. On the January 7, 2008, episode of Raw, Foley and his tag team partner Hornswoggle qualified for the Royal Rumble on January 27 by defeating The Highlanders, but Foley was eliminated by Triple H during the Royal Rumble match.

Foley allowed his contract with WWE to expire on September 1, 2008, and quietly left the company.

On September 3, 2008, Foley's agency, Gillespie Talent, issued a press release that stated Foley had signed a short-term deal with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

The Main Event Mafia's Kevin Nash, Booker T, and Scott Steiner were going to take on Brother Devon, A.J. Styles, and Mick Foley in his debut matchup at Genesis on January 11, 2009. Nash, however, suffered a legitimate staph infection and missed Genesis. He was replaced by Cute Kip. Foley got the pin when he hit Scott Steiner with a double arm DDT onto a chair.

At Lockdown on April 19, he defeated Sting to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for his first-ever championship in TNA, and his fourth World title overall. At Sacrifice on May 24, Foley put his title on the line against Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett and Sting. During the match, Foley stuffed a dirty old sock into the mouths of Jarrett and Sting, but Sting pinned Angle to become the new leader of the Main Event Mafia. Due to the rules of the match, Foley retained the title.

Foley had also stated on Impact! tapings that if he retained the TNA World Heavyweight Title at the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary on June 21, he would only put the title up in a match once a year. However, he lost the title to Kurt Angle in the King of The Mountain match at Slammiversary. He received a rematch at Victory Road on July 19, commenting he had only submitted once in his career (to Terry Funk, in a spinning toe hold) and swore he'd never do it again. He lost the match when Angle forced him to submit again with the ankle lock.

On July 30, on the 200th episode of Impact!, Foley won the TNA Legends Championship by pinning champion Kevin Nash in a tag team match where Nash teamed with Angle and Foley with Bobby Lashley. At Hard Justice on August 16, Nash defeated Foley to regain the title, following interference from Traci Brooks.

On the October 7, 2010, live edition of Impact!, Foley defeated Ric Flair in a Last Man Standing match. the Last Man Standing match with Flair turned out to be Foley's last match in TNA.

On May 23, Foley, who had expressed frustration with TNA and said that he did not plan to renew his contract with TNA once it would expire in the fall of 2011, made a joke on Twitter, comparing his Empty Arena match with The Rock to a TNA house show. On the following edition of Impact Wrestling on June 2, Hulk Hogan announced that Foley had been fired as the Network Executive. This was done to write Foley, who had asked for his release from TNA, off television. His departure from TNA was confirmed on June 5, 2011.

Foley appeared on the January 16, 2012 episode of Raw SuperShow to announce his intentions to participate in the Royal Rumble match at the 2012 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, later in the night during a six-man tag team match CM Punk needing a tag Foley came down to the ring and got tagged in the match; he defeated David Otunga but John Laurinaitis reversed the decision because Foley was not an official participant of the match.

Foley participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2012 Royal Rumble pay-per-view where he entered at number 7 and eliminated Justin Gabriel (with the help of Ricardo Rodriguez), Epico, and Primo, eventually being eliminated by Cody Rhodes after 6 minutes and 34 seconds. The match was ultimately won by Sheamus. This was Foley's last night as an active wrestler.

In August 2012, Foley was originally scheduled to have a match with the debuting Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam. However, doctors could not medically clear Foley, so Foley announced his final retirement from in-ring competition.

On January 11, 2013, WWE.com announced that Foley would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2013 by his longtime friend Terry Funk.

On April 3, 2016, at WrestleMania 32, Foley returned in-ring alongside Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin in a post-match interruption where the trio of Hall of Famers took on The League of Nations after they had defeated The New Day and proclaimed "No three people can ever defeat us." Foley brought out Mr. Socko and executed the Mandible Claw two times during the fight, once on Sheamus and once on King Barrett. The latter was part of a three-way finishing move sequence where Barrett was first hit with Sweet Chin Music by Shawn Michaels, staggered and fell into Mr. Socko, and finally hit with a Stone Cold Stunner.

Foley married his wife, Colette (née Christie), in 1992. They have four children: Dewey, Noelle, Michael Jr. (Mickey), and Hughie.