Disclaimer: Mick Foley is one of my all-time favorites, so I'm a tad biased. I have all the books, a ton of rare videotapes and everything in between. I may even have his discarded ear somewhere deep within Bulldog Manor.

 

Whereas I would argue that "The Best of Cactus Jack in ECW" would be a great companion piece to the corresponding chapters in his autobiography "Have A Nice Day", this DVD is a great companion piece to his follow-up book "Foley Is Good" (minus, of course, his 200-page attack on the Parents Television Council and related groups).

 

In other words, don't expect an introduction to the world of Mick Foley here. By the time of this release, Foley had retired (for the first time) and was WWF Commissioner, looking back on the final couple of years of his active wrestling career.

 

Notable here is that Foley is clearly having fun with this DVD release, making fun of employers, opponents and, of course, Al Snow (more on that in a bit).

 

In terms of production values, this is very much typical WWF home video fare in terms of both video quality and content organization; nothing to complain about in the slightest.

 

In terms of action, we begin, strangely enough, with the history of his ribbing with Al Snow. There's even some home videos Al and Mick took in Las Vegas for a UPN special, which are pretty funny. 

 

Mick is candid here, as he explains he was ready to retire in 1999 before he began tagging with The Rock as the world-famous Rock and Sock Connection. Of course, Al Snow's jealousy was responsible for breaking up Rock and Sock, a rare case of a real-life story becoming a wrestling angle (okay, maybe not that rare these days, but at the time, for sure).

 

This segues into an OVERLY-LONG dissection of his feud with Triple H (which includes tons of "shoot" comments from The Game himself). Don't get me wrong; it was a memorable feud, I just didn't need to see 20 minutes of the DVD dedicated to it… Foley then "retires" after his HIAC match with HHH at No Way Out before reappearing weeks later for the main event of WrestleMania 2000.

 

About six months later, Foley returned as WWF Commissioner, and there are segments dedicated to his chemistry with Edge and Christian (including a sit-down interview with the three of them recalling their favorite segments), Kurt Angle, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, Triple H, The Stooges, Steve Austin and Vince McMahon.

 

The video ends with Foley being "fired" by Vince in December 2000, and it's actually amazing at how well-written his firing was in retrospect (one by one, all of his enemies came back to destroy him in one segment).

 

Finally, we have Foley commenting on his legacy, and his comments may surprise you. One final prank against Al Snow, and we're out.

 

In terms of extras.... in addition to entrance videos for Mankind, Cactus Jack, Dude Love and Commissioner Foley, there are actually five full-length matches:

 

A title match against Shawn Michaels which Foley lists as one of his best ever; a match on Raw against Steve Austin - when both guys were heels; the "Halftime Heat" match against The Rock (the less said about that one, the better); a classic Austin-Dude Love match from In Your House; and best of all, the infamous "Kennel In The Cell" match featuring Al Snow and Big Bossman.

 

Why is the last one there? Because Foley and Kevin Kelly are doing guest commentary, and are HILARIOUS at making this fiasco sound like Flair-Steamboat. Best. Extra. Ever.EVER!!!

 

Overall, this certainly isn't the most complete look at Mick Foley, but it's a good one. There are a few rarities here, and if nothing else, it makes for a good commentary of the last "great" era of the World Wrestling Federation.