I don't know how much Mick Foley has left as a wrestler, but there's no doubt that he is at the top of his game as a performer.
Foley, who struggled to remain relevant during the latter part of his last WWE stint, just may be the most compelling character in the business right now. His split personality promo Thursday night on TNA Impact was nothing short of brilliant, and I'm willing to bet that it convinced some people who were on the fence to buy Sunday's Lockdown pay-per-view, which features Foley and TNA world champion Sting in the main event.
In the segment, Foley interviewed his alter ego, Cactus Jack. When I first heard this was going to happen, I figured it was going to be done backstage using camera tricks to have both Foley and Cactus Jack in the shot. I recall Foley doing something similar with his Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love personas in WWE about a decade ago.
Instead, Foley did a one-man show in a front of a live crowd, which was incredibly ambitious and potentially corny, but he pulled it off. I don't think there are many other wrestlers who could have. The Foley character and the Cactus Jack character have entirely different mannerisms and speech patterns, but Foley seamlessly moved from one persona to the other during a heated exchange with himself .
It's obvious that Foley is determined to prove that WWE underestimated how much value he still has. It also was apparent that the concept and dialogue for this angle came from Foley.
The theme of the promo was one that Foley has used before — that he has gotten soft and become something of a sell-out. In other words, the kind of guy that Cactus Jack would hate.
Drawing blood from above his eye after repeatedly punching himself made the scene all the more dramatic. Sting, who came out to confront Foley, also played his part well, as he kept asking him if this was all an act or if Foley had really lost his mind.
Great stuff.
Other thoughts on Thursday night's show:
As far as go-home shows, this was definitely one of TNA's better ones. The returning Christopher Daniels (well, actually, he never left) was revealed as the fourth member of Team Jarrett. He got a nice pop and then had a fantastic match with Kurt Angle. The finish was well-booked (Daniels got the three-count, but the decision was reversed by Jeff Jarrett when the replay showed that Angle's shoulder was up and Daniels' shoulders were down), as it made Daniels look strong while also furthering the story line of where Jarrett's loyalties lie. ...
The Beer Money-Team 3-D angle, which saw Robert Roode and James Storm brutalize and bloody former ECW stars Balls Mahoney and Brother Runt (where was my man Axl Rotten?), was well done. The one drawback was that it took way too long for Team 3-D to make the save. Also, it was announced that the Beer Money-Team 3-D match at Lockdown is going to be a Philadelphia Street Fight, which means they can fight all over the building. Doesn't that kind of defeat the whole point of a cage match? ...
The three-way between Homicide, Chris Sabin and Naito was entertaining. ...
Not-so entertaining was Cody Deaner's wrestling debut. Somebody please make this guy go away. He's the most annoying character since Eugene.