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Foley Isn't Good...Foley Is Great!

Posted: Jun 7th 2011 By: CMBurnham

I planned on writing this blog about Mick Foley as soon as I posted the first one here on RealXPac.com. This was before the recent headlines concerning Mick?s frustration & apparent desire to end his business relationship with Impact (TNA) Wrestling, a subject I will discuss in greater detail later on in this blog. I?ve always really liked, admired, respected, and been a fan of Mick?s. Mick and I have always gotten a long well whenever we were around each other, but due to differences in our lifestyle during those years (Mick not being caught up in the whole party scene, while I was) we never really had the opportunity to become close, but I did think of him as a friend. When I recently learned Mick had joined forces with RAINN (Rape,Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation?s largest anti-sexual violence organization, I reached out to him to express my sincere gratitude for his work in fighting & helping bring awareness to this epidemic. Recently Mick joined me on Cowheadtv.com for an in depth discussion about the state of wrestling & more importantly, his work with RAINN. Many of you may be asking yourselves, ?Why is X Pac so concerned with Mick Foley?s cause?? Good question; here?s the answer: I am a survivor of repeated sexual abuse/molestation, from about age 5 to around the age of 12, at the hands of both female & male perpetrators. The most psychologically damaging incidents came at the hands of an adult male who actually brought me to my first pro wrestling match.

It took me until I was in my late 20's to finally come out and tell my family and the authorities what happened. I had pretty much blocked the experiences from my memory until I moved my family to Florida, where I grew up & this all happened, and this guy tried coming around. I freaked out as I remembered everything that happened & that this guy would be around my own children. By this time, who knows how many other children were exposed to him? That thought alone filled me with guilt. It?s so difficult for victims of sexual abuse to come forward. The shame & fear involved in coming forward is overwhelming. Feeling like it?s our fault or fearing what people will think of you prevent many from ever coming forward. Some people take it to the grave with them. The harm done by these perpetrators is in a lot of ways permanent. I choose to talk openly about it, hoping it may inspire others to come forward and expose these people. This is a huge step in dealing with the psychological damage done to the victim & can also save others from having to suffer the same fate. So I can?t thank Mick enough for his work with RAINN.

Mick & I both worked for Joe Pedecino?s GWF taped at the Sportatorium in Dallas. We were never there at the same set of tapings, which disappointed me because I was a Cactus Jack fan from watching him in Crockett Promotions NWA (later WCW). My first memory of meeting Mick was in Pittsburgh after a WWF TV or PPV. He was working a lot in Japan and one of his arms was covered in 3rd degree burns, which horrified Scott Hall. It didn?t seem to bother Mick that much though. I remember being surprised at what a kind & gentle person he was & the fact that he wouldn?t take a pain pill (there were plenty to go around at the time). I remember feeling like quite the pussy, as I had taken several by that time & this guy wouldn?t even take an aspirin.

I could tell a lot of stories about Mick that stand out in my mind. This blog would turn into a book if I told them all. The time Mick won the WWF Title & we (DX) celebrated in the ring with him was one of the all time great feel good moments in wrestling. One time while I was out for several months with a neck injury, I was watching RAW & Mick was doing an in ring promo & for no apparent reason said something to the effect that basically no one cared about me. It really hurt my feelings coming from Mick & I remember thinking to myself ?Gee, thanks Mick. What did that do to further business?? I can?t remember the exact words & they?re not important. What is important is that RAW had barely gone off the air before I got a call from Mick. He was so apologetic & I could tell he felt terrible about it. The thing is that by that time I had figured out what Mick confirmed. The line was fed to him, along with a bunch of other lines, by my good buddy (sarcasm) & head writer Brian Gewertz. I told him I had already figured that out & I really appreciated how classy he was in calling me like that. He still felt really guilty, telling me it felt wrong before he said it, but I knew he had a lot to say during the segment & I didn?t blame him at all. I never forgot how much class he showed me that night.

Mick has been in the headlines a lot in the last few days regarding Impact(TNA)Wrestling. I hear that some of the higher ups in that company describe Mick as hard to work with. That sounds like code for ?Mick is too smart for us to bamboozle & is a threat to all of us who are failing miserably at producing a quality product that people want to watch? if you ask me. Mick has been misused & treated like shit by that company, considering his accomplishments inside & outside of our industry. For instance, when Scott Hall & I came back last January to reunite the Wolfpac in the lamest attempt at picking a fight with WWE I?ve ever seen, they had us get to Mick in a pre taped backstage segment. I thought ?Sweet, obviously we?re going to work with Mick in some way, or this makes no sense at all? Well, sure as the sun sets in the west, Mick got absolutely no payback on us & the integrity of his character on tv would have really been damaged if anyone had actually been watching the product. That company has shown Mick Foley no respect in my opinion & are totally unworthy of even having him associated with them. I promise 100 times more people know who Mick Foley is than have ever heard of TNA. Oh, I mean ?Impact Wrestling?. So they finally decided to change the name. Another example of how pathetic they are. People with a brain have been telling them since the time they signed with Spike that if they are ever going to change the name, it should happen with the move to Spike network. Now it?s just confusing. But back to Mick. Mick has also been a proponent of actually giving the people watching the show (who have to be die hard ?wrestling? fans to even tolerate watching that shiz) some ?wrestling?. After all, the one thing TNA (I?m not even bothering to call them Impact for the rest of this blog, if ever) is rich in, is talent that can put on great matches in the ring. Keep shitting on your fan base and your talent TNA. You don?t deserve Mick Foley, or a lot of the other great guys you have there & one day you will simply exist in WWE?s vast tape library. Mick, you are too good for them & although WWE is far from perfect & it sucked doing commentary with Vince yelling in your ear, you are a future Hall of Fame?r & I would personally love to see you back there. Thanks for reading my blog everyone. Bare with me on typos & the like. Remember, I never got past the 8th grade.

Sincerely,

Sean Waltman