Reviews

Review Of WWE Network “Table For 3” With Edge, Christian And Mick Foley

TJR Wrestling

The fifth episode of the second season of the hit WWE Network Original Program Table For 3 is aptly titled “Team Credgely” as it features Edge, Christian and Mick Foley. Three of the greatest products of the Attitude Era and beyond, this is sure to be one of the most enjoyable episodes of the season. Each of the three were excellent at their craft but also produced comedy genius when they were together. I’ve been anxiously awaiting what Team Credgely has in store for us this week.

Let’s begin with a recap of their 24 minute conversation:

-Edge starts right off by saying the usual awkward banter won’t be necessary on this episode because they regularly talk to each other. Christian decides the episode will lose something without it, so they agree to stage some awkwardness. They exaggeratedly say hello to each other before Mick says he loves their show. Edge and Christian joke that it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other, six long minutes. Edge even jokes by asking how Christians “kids” are, as he had “forgotten” Christian only has one kid. They comment that it was awkward and high five as they collectively pulled off the awkward banter.

-Edge says that when he saw Team Credgely was doing the show together he thought it was a no brainer. Christian adds how much thought they put into the name Credgely. Foley comments that he loved the title of his DVD “For All Mankind” as well as Edge’s “You Think You Know Him” before asking Christian if they ever came up with one for him. Christian says his goal is to have a career that never gets a DVD. Foley says that now it really is awkward.

-Foley says that he is asked more bout working with Edge and Christian than his title reigns. As much as he loves talking about the Cell, The Rock and the ear, he knows it’s a real fan when they ask about working with them. Mick adds that working with them was magical. Christian says that their whole goal working together was to make each other pop, which leads Foley into a perfectly timed segue.

-When Mick mentions pop, he follows with soda as Edge opens his jacket to show a yellow and red “SODAS STILL RULE” t-shirt in the style of an old Hogan shirt. Foley says some people will get it and some won’t. Edge breaks into a “Mickey’s got your sodas” song, calling back the backstage segment where Edge and Christian demanded their own locker room. They show a clip from the segment where Mick tells them he’s a three time WWF Champion and he never got his own locker room. Edge and Christian point out that he never changes his clothes. Foley says they soda song wasn’t written for him, he came up with it on his own and even Edge and Christian didn’t know he was going to do it. Edge talks about how it was always hard to not laugh and sometimes they were shown live. Mick says that they had a long leash and Edge adds that it felt almost as if no one was even watching what they were doing. Christian says they learned there was a time to be serious and a time to be entertaining. When it was time to be entertaining they wanted to be over the top entertaining.

-Foley discusses what they did during the Attitude Era. He says that Stone Cold was clearly the biggest attraction, but not everyone in the audience wanted Austin for three hours. He says the three of them tapped into the inner nerd. He continues that good things started to happen when he turned the nerd dial up. The first day as commissioner he knew immediately the three of them could work together. He even says they had so much success the rest of the locker room wanted to get in on it as well, especially Kurt Angle. Edge laughed that no one would have ever expected Angle to be so comedic and Christian added that if anyone could have come into WWF at the time and taken himself too serious it could have been Angle, but he got it right away. Edge gave Angle credit for taking what they did to a new level. He also brought up the time they got Angle to admit to training for the Olympics in a chicken suit, which Christian was using to help cut weight. Christian worked out in a chicken suit through the entire show solely to set up Angle saying,”Hey my chicken suit!” Foley says chicken suit will be his “rosebud” on his deathbed.

-As Mick begins to eat, his bottom false teeth come out. He says he had a wardrobe malfunction which cracked up Edge and Christian. They say only certain table mates would have that problem, to which Mick says it’s a Hell In A Cell thing.

-Edge says what he’s most proud of is that during the Attitude Era they were goofy and silly and it’s something they can actually show their kids. He also said that he and Christian have learned doing their show how hard comedy really is and how they never know for sure which guests they will have chemistry with. They talk about how when Foley did the show they picked up right where they left off. Mick says his son Mickey is on the Autism Spectrum and he communicates through music. He says Mickey asked him a million questions about his song with Edge and Christian and finished by asking if he really burned his scrotum a second time. Edge assures us that Mick is fine down there.

-Christian comments that the only song he can play on the keyboard is the Beverly Hills Cop theme. Edge says he calls Christian “The Dick” because he lives to annoy people. Christian says he goes into music stores and plays that song on every keyboard as loud as it goes to test how long it will take them to ask him to stop.

-They show a classic clip of Austin calling Christian “CLB” with Christian assuming it means Christian Likes Blondes. Austin corrects him that it means Creepy Little Bastard. Foley says CLB stuck for a while and people chanted it at him in a positive way. Edge says that Christian and Austin have a strange banter and they tell the story about how the “What?” chant started on Christian’s voicemail. I couldn’t be more thankful for that. As much as I hate the “What?” chant now, they give him credit for being the only person who could have gotten it over. They also credit him with being the most serious character on the show but managing to be so funny when the time called for it. Christian says for themselves they had to figure out how to get booed after making people laugh. Edge says they tried to have the mentality of a pack of wolves. Foley says, “After the wolves put down the kazoos.” I laughed more than all three of them combined at that. Foley puts his false teeth back in and thanks The Undertaker for it, which has all three of them laughing.

-Christian says their comedy always had a message, like the time Foley told them that genital warts do not rule, they are very serious. Thankfully they showed the clip because I didn’t remember that. They then discuss and show a clip of Christian pretending to “so totally barf” in the bathroom, trying to get out of a match against the APA. Mick segues into one of his many gifts to the business, when he first uttered the “Tables and Ladders and Chairs, oh my!” line to them. They discuss that first groundbreaking match with the Hardy Boyz and how Mick told them afterward they just became stars. He says that anyone that saw them work respect them and the risks they took and it was obvious they’d both have a great singles run. He said with tag teams, it’s always difficult to time the break up right. Edge says that going into WrestleMania 2000 they were supposed to be broken up. They weren’t ready for it, but they got put on commentary and did so well that it was decided they would win their first Tag Team Championship shortly after. Foley says one of the best lessons to learn in wrestling is to always be prepared.

-Christian tells a story about a promo he and Edge did on Raw where Mick was supposed to interrupt them. He said it was a time where he had to memorize something word for word and he forgot the line and stumbled his way through it. He saw Vince the next day and Vince told him he loved what he did. When Christian said he forgot his lines, Vince said, “You’re a heel aren’t you? You can get away with anything. Babyface is the kiss of death!” Something that is still true to this day, heels have more fun. This reminds Foley of a story where he panicked on Raw and forgot his line, only to find out that the line he was forgetting was his patented, “It’s great to be right her in Baltimore, MD!” He chalked it up to a lack of confidence after seeing how big his butt looked in a pair of tie-dye sweatpants earlier in the day. Edge says he learned that lesson with spandex. Foley says after seeing a match with himself and The Rock where he felt like he had joined the Big Show Cottage Cheese Club and saw a lot of dimpling in the Foley structure. Edge loved that last line, saying it’s a t-shirt.

-Mick says the three of them probably were never looked at early in their careers as World Championship material. Edge says Sexton Hardcastle didn’t have World Champion written on his chest. Christian believe people didn’t think he’d even be around in a year. Foley says the three of them managed to all find ways to stand out. Edge and Christian agree that getting to WWE and staying relevant in WWE are completely different things. Christian says being put with Gangrel was really helpful because they always had questions for him. Foley says he saw stardom in their early days, but he really loved when they came up with the Five Second Pose. He compared it to when Dean Ambrose made the hair on his arm stand up with the promo they did prior to WrestleMania. Edge says that he is very much like them, that he doesn’t fit the mold of a World Champion but now he is arguably the most popular guy in the company.

-Foley says the lesson in all this is that the three of them broke down the walls of comedy in wrestling. Also, without them, wrestling as we know it would not be alive today. Edge says that maybe it would be on life support. Somehow the fanny pack comes up and Mick still wears one. Edge asks what he even keeps in it and Mick pulls out a Dude Love duct tape wallet. Christian nails him with, “I’m sure it’s duct taped closed too if it’s yours.” Foley gave him credit for the joke as Edge laughed. I’ve heard Austin mention before how cheap Mick always was. Edge and Christian give Mick credit for his commitment to the fanny pack as they had both given up on them. Mick says they are giving him too much credit, as he had lost the faith in the pack for 10 years. He said the only two men who really kept it were Michael Hayes and Al Snow, rest his soul. Edge says Al Snow isn’t dead, but his career is which draws a big laugh and high fives as Mick says it’s a great way to end their episode, and it was. Mick hits the gavel and says that’s final, but Christian gets the last word, telling Mick to get them those sodas now.

MY THOUGHTS

First of all, I have to say that Mick Foley is on my pro wrestling Mount Rushmore. The guy gave more of his heart, body and soul to the business than anyone I had ever seen before or since. It’s always a joy to see him and this episode was no different. He really is a treasure in the wrestling community and he was a fun and charming as ever on Table For 3.

It is very clear that these three were very good friends and remain so to this day. They joked about pretending to have an award feeling out process but they were dialed in with each other from the jump. Edge is hilarious and quick to laugh at a joke. Christian has a really quick wit that makes him just as funny. This wasn’t so much the “inside wrestling” episode we get from time to time but it was fun spending almost a half hour with these guys.

The most interesting thing they touched on for me was the idea of how hard it is to perform a memorized promo, how successful you can be with the training wheels taken off and the idea that falling on your face isn’t always the worst thing in the world in pro wrestling. Watching a legend like Foley forget his own catchphrase and seeing the panic on his face shows you that it can happen to anyone. I wish WWE would unleash today’s talent a little more than they do.

I watched Judgement Day 2000 last week and Edge and Christian teamed with Kurt Angle. They were incredible together and it was the night when they did the Kentucky Jug Band Five Second Pose when Edge wore the fake teeth. It was incredible even 16 years later.

I’d give this episode four out of five stars, only because it wasn’t longer and I’m sure they had plenty more footage with these three. Even if you read this whole review without watching it, do yourself a favor and check it out. You won’t be disappointed. Seeing Team Credgely back together was a joy and I hope we see them together again sooner rather than later.