WWE: For All Mankind- The Life and Career of Mick Foley [Blu-ray]

I have seen some reviews of this blu ray as well as some of the other more recent WWE blu ray releases where the reviewers are very critical of the content. Most of these reviews focus on the match selection on disc two or disc three of a three disc set. And there are reviews out there that will tell you specifically which matches are included and so if you are making your decision based on what matches are included that information is available. One of the reviews that I read complained about the fact that there aren't any Mick Foley/Sabu matches and that there aren't any Mick Foley/Terry Funk matches. I think that the reason for that is that there have been other WWE DVD and blu ray releases that cover that and so they tried to put together a set with matches that haven't been included in the other sets some fans are likely to own. To that end there are some gems here that haven't been put in other sets. But for me, really, the bottom line is that you get a full length video about Mick Foley that spans the first disc thats about 90 minutes plus. I don't remember how long it was. It may have been longer. And you get a lot of bonus interviews and promos and so that makes the documentary/biography portion about 2 hours. And the price of this two disc blu ray set is 19.99. So if that was all that I got for my 19.99 I would feel satisfied with that. Most of the movies that I buy on blu ray cost between 19.99 and 27.99 and most of those movies don't come with a bunch of matches with it. I know thats what you've come to expect with wrestling blu rays and so I'm not trying to be down on people for that. I'm just saying that I think that picking apart which matches they put on the set in addition to the bio and the promos and the behind the scenes stuff seems a little bit picky to me. You get something like 17 matches with the set and you get a Mr. Socko sock. That is a lot of value for 19.99 for me. I really liked it and I'm giving it five stars. But if you don't have other WWE or WCW DVDs or blu rays and you are making the decision on whether or not to buy this set on whether or not it has some of the classic Mick Foley/Raven matches or the classic Mick Foley/Terry Funk matches or Mick Foley/Sabu matches then you may want to pass.But the biography is really good and really well done and it does have some really nice matches on it. A few hidden gems that aren't on other releases.That's my opinion anyway. Have a nice day!

So went a haunting early 90's WCW promo that would, for me, set Mick Foley, as Cactus Jack, apart from anyone else in wrestling. Sadly for me, that particular promo isn't on this set, but I'll have to give the producers a pass because the bio is arguably the best one that the company has ever done. Even casual fans know Foley's legendary willingness to push the limits of physical pain for the sake of entertaining the public. But it was the depth and believability of Foley's characters that gave that violence a context and a meaning. Despite the Japanese death matches there was always a profound humanity that transcended the stage.The documentary on Foley's life and wrestling career is exceptionally well done and provides a wealth of rare footage that makes a nice companion to `Have a Nice Day' (the bestselling book that alerted the publishing community that wrestling fans could read, well, some of them anyway). The documentary and blu-ray extras provide footage of many of the stories documented in the biography. The production gives you the feel of sitting in a coffee house and listening to stories of a unique, bizarre, and well rounded life, well lived. His humanitarian work for the RAINN network, Make a Wish Foundation and other non-profits makes a nice juxtaposition to the barbed wire baseball bats and C4 Japanese Death Match explosions.The bonus features are excellent, especially that most of the selected interviews and segments are introduced by the author with a little bit of back story, which provides some really welcome, behind the curtain insight. There is a great selection of matches spanning the late 80's through any number of Foley's post millennium `retirements'. The matches are not a rehash of those previously released in the various `best of' collections. No "cheap pops" here, everything was earned the hard way.I have read that the real trick in wrestling, the thing that puts butts in seats, is making the fans care about the characters. I can think of few wrestlers who made the fans care more than Mick Foley, and this DVD is a great testament to that.

I grew up a wrestling fan in the 1980's - Hogan, Savage, Flair, Steamboat etc. I used to read Pro Wrestling Illustrated religiously over WWF magazine because it gave a more complete picture of the territorial promotions. I remember crazy photos of a madman named Cactus Jack, often with his smiling face covered in blood, and was very intrigued. When he finally arrived in WWF almost a decade later as Mankind, he instantly won me over with his unique character, creepy promos and extreme bump-taking, brawling style.This documentary is one of the better retrospectives that WWE has produced over the years and there have been many good ones. If you've read Mick's first book, a lot of the ground covered here might be familiar to you, but framed in such a way that it is still very enjoyable. Mick himself comes off as very likeable and is a natural storyteller. If you aren't a fan going in you certainly will be by the time the credits roll. The matches, on the other hand, leave a bit to be desired. I would definitely recommend getting the Greatest Hits and Misses dvd set as a companion piece - it has the better selection of matches. While I appreciate WWE trying not to duplicate, I would have loved to have some of those matches on blu-ray. Not to be too nit-picky though, this has some great matches as well. The audio/video presentation is what has come to be expected from WWE released. The new, HD material is excellent while the older clips and matches from the 80's/90's/early 2000's definitely look dated and reveal the limitations of video. Still nice to have.I would recommend this to any fan of professional wrestling, or even someone with a remote interest in it. Mick is up there with the all-time greats and has a unique, underdog type story that is very easy to relate to.

This three disc DVD showcases the career of Mick Foley. The first disc is made up of a documentary and the other two are full of matches.The main feature is a documentary about Mick Foley and it's a pretty great one. As is often the case with WWE's documentaries it's very well made. It runs for over two hours and it just flies by. Foley takes us through his story and is joined by plenty of others who add insight into his career. I felt like all the relevant people were interviewed, including people who rarely make appearances with WWE, such as Shane Douglas and Vader.The feature moves along at a good pace. It manages to cover Foley's full career without staying on one subject for too long. While there are always going to be people who wanted more information or more time spent on certain topics I felt like they did a really good job of covering everything that needed to be covered in enough detail to do Foley's career justice. Foley's story has already been covered in extreme detail in his series of autobiographies which I'm sure a lot of fans have read. While this documentary doesn't tell us much that wasn't already covered in those books, I still think people who have read them will enjoy this feature as Foley is a very good story teller and there's plenty of other people included who get to give their own perspective on things.Overall I found it to be a really interesting, entertaining and informative main feature. Foley is a fantastic story teller and I could listen to him talking about his career for hours so he really makes this biography something special. He also has a really interesting career that's well worth listening to. It was one of my favourite biographies that WWE have ever produced.The rest of the DVD is made up of matches:Jack Foley and Les Thornton vs. The British Bulldogs - This was the second ever match in Foley's career as the first wasn't available. It was more or less just a squash match that involved Foley having his jaw broken. Nothing special but it's important enough that it makes a decent inclusion. The bulldogs are interesting enough with their offence to make a squash match entertaining. As it's included on Foley's first DVD this time we get bonus alternative commentary by Mick Foley and Joey Styles. that's worth a listen.Cactus Jack and Gary Young vs. Scott Steiner and Billy Travis - This tag team contest was from AWA All Star Wrestling. This was a more competitive tag match. It's pretty decent, it's a fairly short match but I was never bored. We don't really get to see a great deal of Foley in this one which is unfortunate. It's not really a stand-out match for Mick but I still enjoyed watching it.Cactus Jack Manson vs. Brickhouse Brown - This one was from Wild West Wrestling. It's alright. For the most part there's technically nothing wrong with it. It's just a bit slow and a bit dull. None of the action was really that exciting and even though it was a fairly short match, at around ten minutes, it still dragged on a bit. I really wanted to like this as a big Foley fan but I just couldn't. It also had a bad finish.Cactus Jack vs. Keith Hart - This isn't the Keith Hart that's related to Bret and Owen. Foley introduces this match by saying it's included as one of the rare matches where Foley dominates the action, as he's often the one taking the punishment. It's a complete squash match with Cactus controlling all the action. It's entertaining enough with Foley's unique offence making it different from the average squash. It was nothing special but I can see why it was included. I enjoyed watching it.Cactus Jack vs. Sting - This was from WCW and was a Submit or Surrender Match which was kind of a combination of an 'I Quit' Match and a Last Man Standing Match. It was the first properly good match of the DVD. It was an enjoyable back and forth match. Cactus' unique style was very different from anyone Sting had faced before. The action was good, there was some weapon use but for the most part it was just an out of control brawl. Foley took a lot of punishment including one of his horrible looking landings on the back of his head onto concrete. I thought the finish was good and the match lasted a decent amount of time. A very good brawl.Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer - From Clash of the Champions this was a Falls Count Anywhere Match. It was a decent match. Van Hammer wasn't that good but Jack's willingness to take punishment and his wrestling style really helped a match like this. They made full use of the stipulation, eventually, after an advert break, they ended up outside and that's where the finish happened. I wasn't a big fan of the finish but overall it was an enjoyable enough fight.Cactus Jack vs. Sandman - This was a Barbed Wire Match where the ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire. It was during Foley's time in ECW. It was nowhere near as violent as the infamous Barbed Wire Match between Terry Funk and Sabu. It was still violent though with some painful looking spots involving the wire. It was a bit slow in places which was understandable as they were being quite cautious around the wire. Both men ended up bleeding and taking a lot of punishment. It's a weird kind of violence for a wrestling match as it's visually unspectacular while causing the men in the match a great deal of pain. It's not a great match but better than their match on Foley's first DVD and it's worth a watch for the violence.Shane Douglas vs. Cactus Jack - This match was the climax of Jack's Anti-Hardcore angle. It was still a violent match though. It was a brawl in and around the ring with repeated use of a steel chair. It features some pretty brutal looking chair shots as Jack's hands are handcuffed behind him so he couldn't protect himself, a spot made more famous in a match between Cactus and The Rock. It was a hard hitting, ECW style brawl that was pretty enjoyable and had a good, brutal finish. This one also has bonus commentary by Foley and Styles, it's worth a listen but in some places I felt they took away from the action by not taking things too seriously.Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia - This was from an In Your House event, A Cold Day in Hell. It was a good back and forth match. The action was entertaining and it was an interesting miss of styles. It wasn't at the level of the Rock vs. Mankind feud of late 1998/early 1999 but it was still an enjoyable match that hadn't been released before. It had a decent amount of time and built to a good, strong and decisive finish.Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley - From Canadian Stampede. It was another good back and forth match. It started off as a brawl with them spending a lot of time on the outside. Mankind dominated in this setting but Hunter managed to hurt his leg so was able to come back and make it competitive. Hunter spent the rest of the match focusing on Mankind's leg with some good psychology now that they'd moved away from the 'Mankind can't feel pain' idea. There were some good near-falls as the match went on but the finish was disappointing as we didn't get a winner. I didn't mind that too much though as they both kept fighting all the way out of the arena so it didn't just end on the disappointment. It set up a rematch between the two inside a steel cage.Dude Love vs. Rocky Maivia - This match was from RAW and Rocky had the Nation of Domination in his corner. He was also the Intercontinental Champion although this wasn't for that title. The match itself was decent. I enjoyed the action while it lasted but it didn't last too long. It was entertaining for the most part but it had a poor finish and the match was thrown out. I didn't get the point of including this match really. It was rare but we already have two Rock matches and this one didn't really add anything. I enjoyed watching it but it felt pointless.The Undertaker vs. Mankind - This was a Hell in a Cell match and is one of the most infamous matches in wrestling history. It's been released on so many DVDs but that's understandable considering what it did for both men and for Hell in a Cell as a concept. The match is famous for it's two huge bumps, the first where Mankind is thrown off the roof of the cell and then, even worse, he's slammed through the roof which knocks him unconscious and leaves a large hole in his lip and a tooth in his nose. They're two amazing moments that every fan should see. The rest of the match is pretty good too. It's a hard one to rate really, Mankind is barely conscious and they just do what they can to get through the rest of the match. Mankind still takes a load more punishment as the match goes for quite a bit longer. It's an absolutely insane match that, from a technical standpoint, isn't especially strong but it's so entertaining and unbelievable to watch. I'd definitely say that it's a great match overall. Another match that had alternative commentary and it's much better for this match, although if you've somehow never seen it before I'd watch it with the original commentary first as the commentary adds a lot to the action.Mankind and Kane vs. New Age Outlaws - This was from an episode of RAW and was for the WWE Tag Team Championships. This was an entertaining match. It was nothing special from an in ring point of view but it was enjoyable to watch anyway. It had a load of outside involvement going on and it was the kind of chaotic, all over the place action that the attitude era was known for. It might not have been much in the ring but it's still fun to watch.Mankind vs. The Rock - From the Rock Bottom pay-per view this was for the WWE Championship. It follows on from Survivor Series where the McMahons turned out to be working with The Rock in order to make him their champion. I felt like it was on the same level, if not a bit better than, their Survivor Series match. The action was really enjoyable as they brawled around the arena. The official was giving them a lot of leeway when it came to the rules early on, until McMahon told him to disqualify Mankind if he did anything at all. The Rock took advantage of that to dish out a load of punishment to Mankind. There were some good near-falls as the match went on. The finish was ok, it was kind of screwy but that at least worked with the story they were telling. It's made up for in a match that's available on Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses DVD. They would go on to have better matches together but this one was still very good.Mankind and The Rock vs. Triple H and Shane McMahon - This was for the WWE Tag Team Championships from an episode of Smackdown. It was another match that probably wasn't much from an in-ring perspective but it was still fun to watch. Triple H and Shane worked over Mankind for most of the match as he tried to tag out to Rock. It was a fairly short match but it was entertaining throughout and had a good, decisive finish. There was a brief bit of interference but it didn't hurt the match. It was a simple but enjoyable little match.Mankind vs. Al Snow - This was a Falls Count Anywhere match from an episode of Smackdown. It was another really fun match. They immediately started using weapons and fighting around the ring. They eventually end up going up the ramp and into the backstage area. Al Snow got in a lot more offence than I expected when I first saw this match. They got pretty creative when it came to weapons, even bringing in a bowling ball and a set of tongs. The finish was decent even if we don't see exactly what happened. A really fun match.Cactus Jack vs. Triple H - The last match was set to be Foley's retirement match. It was No Way Out, it was a Hell in a Cell match and it was absolutely fantastic. If you've seen their amazing Street Fight from the Royal Rumble you know the kind of brutality to expect here. They both took a load of punishment. It probably didn't surprise anyone that Cactus found his way to the top of the cell at one point. He also took a fall reminiscent of King of the Ring 1998. That's the moment this match is remembered for but all the action leading up to it is so good. It's a brutal, violent and destructive fight where both men end up bleeding a lot. It all leads to a great finish and if Foley's career really did end here it was an amazing match to go out on. The best match of this DVD and a career highlight for both men.Overall this was a very enjoyable DVD. The main feature was great and while Foley's story had been well told already through his books it's still an entertaining and informative watch. The matches are good for the most part. Some of them aren't that memorable or exciting but I think that's because Foley's previous DVD contains most of his biggest matches. This one works well as an accompaniment to that original DVD. I'd still recommend this set either way though as it has a strong main feature and a good number of quality matches.

It has the Hell In The Cell match which is probably what most people will buy this for but Mick Foley got to choose his matches for the DVD, that being said, some of the matches I do question why them? His match with sting is dull. I saw him do much better matching in that time.

As a huge Mick Foley fan I was very excited that WWE were releasing this set; particularly as it was released so soon after his Hall of Fame induction. WWE's DVD collections for the likes of the Rock, CM Punk and Edge include fantastic documentaries that are both detailed and fascinating. Add that to the plethora of matches on the following discs and WWE are really using their video library to their advantage and spoiling us fans.For All Mankind follows this same formula and rather than treading old ground that Mick covers in his own best selling books, this DVD manages to enhance Mick's stories by allowing us to put faces to names such as childhood friends or people throughout his career. There's even plenty of footage of Mick's now infamous home made movie where Dude Love made his pre- WWE debut. Not only that but there is footage from Dominic DeNucci's gym and even fan footage of Mick's ear literally dropping off in the ring during a match in Germany!Mick and the various people interviewed are candid, informative and honest as is always the case in these WWE made features. My only criticism (and this is a minuscule point) would be a lack of word from the Undertaker; particularly during the segment that talks about their now legendary Hell In A Cell match. However we all know how carefully Taker and WWE protect his character so while it would have been something special to hear from Undertaker as one of Mick's greatest opponents, it is entirely forgivable.While this DVD is a must have for any WWE fan, I personally recommend you also purchase WWE's earlier Foley related compilation 'Mick Foley: Greatest Hits and Misses' simply to give you a full compliment of Foley's in ring career. While the documentary on this DVD discusses matches including Mankind's first WWE Title victory and the brutal street fight against Triple H at Royal Rumble 2000, these matches aren't included on the DVD. You can find them on Greatest Hits and Misses however so they compliment each other really nicely. The Hell In A Cell match with Taker is included on both and perhaps rightly so.In terms of matches selected there would always be debate about what to include and leave out. Some are conspicuous by their absence on both releases: the Boiler room brawl with Undertaker, the dumpster match at Wrestlemania XIV or even one of Mick's other championship victories. This however is coming from someone who is a huge fan and it certainly doesn't spoil the enjoyment of these DVDs that they are not included. The Hell In A Cell with Triple H at No Way Out 2000 and Mankind vs. Rock at Rock Bottom are both often overlooked matches that have found their way here and are both great.Any negative points about this DVD are merely a huge fan nitpicking and all things considered it is an excellent compilation with an awesome documentary. I'm now lucky enough to have a signed copy from the man himself and it now sits proudly next to my other DVDs and Mick's literary work. You won't be disappointed. Bang Bang!

Excellent dvd set! I'm a massive fan off mick foley and his career and have seen all of his past dvds etc, this one has a fantastic 3 hours documentary with mick and other associates of his including believe it or not Shane Douglas! And also has a great set of legendary matches including the epic royal rumble 2000 Street fight!

This is a complete story of Mankind and his persona's and his wrestling career. from his beginnings. Very interesting dvd.