Mick Foley Explains His Hair Pulling Routine As Mankind
Mick Foley is known for putting his body on the line during his career, but it is the sight of Foley pulling out his own hair that has caused a stir at Comic-Con.
In 1996, Foley signed for the WWE and started working under the name Mankind.
Mankind was a very disturbed character and stood out at a time when WWE were looking to move away from job-related Superstars. Foley’s Mankind wore a leather mask, and delivered a devasting finisher called the “Mandible Claw” that paralyzed his opponents.
In addition to that, Mankind would call out for his “mommy”, and rock back and forth. But arguably the most intimidating sight was when he would pull out his own hair during a match.
The hair-pulling has been a big discussion at last week’s Comic-Con as it has been captured by Mattel ahead of a new WWE release. The Three Faces of Foley pack includes Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love action figures, but uniquely the Mankind figure will be holding a tuft of his own hair.
The hardcore legend has been speaking with Ringside Collectibles during San Diego Comic-Con. During the event, Mattel announced that the new Mick Foley figure line would be released.
Mick Foley shared insight into how he was able to perform the hair pulling on a regular basis in 1996 and the visual impact it made.
“The thing is, I didn’t pull from the roots. I wasn’t a barbarian. I just never conditioned my hair, and I would pull from the ends, giving the illusion I was pulling from the roots. I tried fake hair to begin with and it didn’t work.”
“It didn’t look good, so I just started pulling, and I didn’t have to accumulate a lot for it to look dramatic.”
“And because it was light, I was able to blow it up in the air, and that made for like — I didn’t have a lot of great moves for a comeback, but that kind of made my comeback unique in that I would do a couple of moves, sit down, rock, pull my hair out, blow the tuft of hair in the air. Hasn’t been done since.”
The WWE Hall of Famer would go on to perform as Cactus Jack and Dude Love during his iconic career, with the company releasing a documentary titled The Three Faces of Foley in 1998 which detailed Mick Foley’s desire to become a WWE Superstar and the transition between his characters.
Mick Foley has spoken about the request he made when signing his WWE legends contract last month. He also joined The Undertaker to reflect back on their infamous Hell in a Cell match on its 25th anniversary.
H/t to Wrestlezone