There are so many things that can inspire us to do something we love and is special with our lives, and on this day in wrestling history, Mick Foley found his inspiration when Jimmy Snuka hit Don Muraco with a Superfly Splash off the top of a steel Cage.
It’s one of those moments that got everyone talking as such high risks were rare in the professional wrestling world.
Snuka’s second attempt (the first was against Bob Backlund) happened with Foley in attendance and the young man was blown away.
Beginning of a legendary career
At the time, it may not have seemed like it much to some, but to Mick Foley this was what he needed or wanted to see and it spurred him into the world of professional wrestling.
Foley has often talked about this moment and what it meant to him, and we want to thank wrestlingrumors.com for the transcript.
“Without Jimmy, there’s no me. There’s a me, there’s a Mick Foley, doing something somewhere, but that feeling being brought out of me, being in the Garden and feeling the emotion. And then, having this moment in time captured that I remember as clearly today as when it took place over 30 years ago. And know that I wanted to make people feel that same way, I don’t know if, as much as I loved the [professional] wrestling business or just the wrestling show, I didn’t know it was a business at the time, I don’t know if there’s anything else that would have made me feel that way.”
Foley took this moment in wrestling history and carved himself a career that’s second to none in the brutality and memories he created for himself and all of us.
Lasting legacy
While Snuka’s legacy may be tarnished in the eyes of many, Foley’s is locked in as he’s proven to be as kind and gentle outside the ring as he was tough and brutal in it, and it’s always a pleasure listening to him.
There may be Kings of Death Matches and Kings of Hardcore, but there will only be one Hardcore Legend for many of us, and that’s Mick Foley.
Had he not been in Madison Square Garden to witness Snuka’s acrobatics, we may never have been graced with being able to see him at work and that would be a loss for wrestling fans everywhere.
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