Foley Is God!!!

I know I had an awesome Saturdate with Pomelo, and I even watched a way cool movie with her (Little Manhattan.), but I have to get some few things out of the way first. But rest assured I'll post about Saturdate soon.

.:Blame It On The Weatherman:.

I can't believe Ernie Baron just passed away. It definitely came as a shock to me, more so when I discovered that he was already 65.

Rest in peace, Ernie Baron. The knowledge you have imparted upon us will forever give us great power.

.:Saturdate Aftermath:.

Gyn and I agreed to end our date early so I can mark out and hang around Megamall to see Mick Foley make an appearance at the ground floor. We said our goodbyes, and Gyn just chuckled at how huge a mark I was, just standing around there, waiting for the man to show up. I was outside the enclosed area, so I wasn't expecting to be able to get an autograph or anything, but I brought my WWF Hardcore Title Belt card, just in case.

So after some contests, the announcer mentions that Mick Foley was on his way, and that the media partners of the WWE Tour were: Magic, RT, K-Lite, JAM, and WAVE. I stopped right there. WAVE? Don't I work for that station? So aside from Tita Harvey, ::wink, wink, nudge, nudge::, I could try my luck at finagling tickets from WAVE... heh. And GMA wanted me to quit this job? Hades, no!

But I digress. A few more minutes, and Mick Foley arrives, to a hail of "Foley, Foley" chants. It was surreal, I swear to Gawd. If swooned at the Backstreet Boys, I just completely marked out for the Hardcore Legend. Mick Foley was one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, owing to his amazing feuds with my absolute favorite wrestler, the Undertaker. Plus, there was just this amazing appeal to Foley's personality that made him seem like someone anyone can connect with. Having been able to read his biography didn't hurt, either.

The place was packed, and they were chanting like mad. Mick then just addressed the people briefly, and went for the cheap pop by saying how glad he was to be "Right here, in Manila!"

He then promoted the WWE RAW Tour for next month, and then gave a quick rundown of the card, including a rare actual match for him, as he tags up with The Big Show to take on Carlito and HHH, which should prove to be interesting. He joked that the people were happy to see Mr. Socko, but even happier that he didn't take Al Snow with him.

Afterwards, it was time for autographs. Sadly, they were prioritizing the ones with Pizza Hut cards for buying 700 pesos or more from Pizza Hut, and the people with RAW posters. I had neither, but stayed outside the area just in case, behind a few guys holding Foley's biography.

Lo and behold, Mick then signaled to have the people carrying his biography to go in, and then later, the announcer mentioned that anyone with WWE merchandise can go in. Initially, the guards didn't want to let me in, but some pushing at the back of the line inadvertently pushed me in, and with nobody to stop me, I walked up to Mick Foley's table and handed him the Hardcore Belt card, which he signed. He probably didn't even see me, but it didn't matter. He made my day, and not even the lady who initially didn't want to let me through because the card didn't look like WWE merchandise at all couldn't do jack about it.

But little did I know that Sunday held an even bigger surprise for me...

.:Sunday Surprise:.

The night before, I texted my boss, sir Gary, if I could ask for tickets to the WWE RAW Tour. Instead of a yes or no, he instead asked me to help Gia conduct an interview on Sunday morning.

It amazes me how many of the guys who have hosted/interviewed Mick Foley don't even give a flying damn who the man is. I'd like to think I was the one guy who treated him differently, because I was one huge wrestling mark who really knew what he was talking about.

So I sat there with Gia around 8:50 or so in the morning, expecting Mick at around 10:00 or so. He showed up pretty late, around 11:30, but I personally didn't care. I was too happy to actually just sit there, face to face with him, and even shake his hand. Anthony Suntay, who has a show in our station, was also waiting to interview him.

The interview wasn't particularly earth-shattering. I was starstruck, so I didn't ask anything that was never asked of him before, and neither did I dare try and see if he had anything to say about Ric Flair. I don't think he'd want to break kayfabe in an interview. Gia talked about the official stuff, and it was a bit surprising to know that he's been doing charity work, and has even helped fund the schooling of a few kids here in the Philippines.

When asked about his favorite gimmick among the infamous "Three Faces Of Foley", he said that Mankind was his favorite.

When asked about which wrestler he'd want to wrestle against for the first time, he mentioned both Edge and Kurt Angle, and suggested it'd be a triple threat at Wrestlemania to unify the titles. Pretty clever answer.

After the interview, I asked to pose for pictures with him, and one of the pics had him holding the Undisputed Title, which I brought along with me. He held one half of that belt... heh. And he signed my WWF Heavyweight Title card, as well as my Al Snow, Guest Ring Announcer Card. That last one made him chuckle.

He told me he'd remember me and my big grin if he saw me in Araneta, though, and I decided to call his bluff on it by going to his Glorietta appearance.

His Glorietta appearance seemed to be even more jampacked, and it appears to have been the 5th or 6th giant pizza that was brought in to mark the occasion. Wow. Pizza Hut was really working double time for those pizzas.

Anyways, the interesting note is that for his cheap pop, he decided to ask about the boxing match that happened during the day, and of course, "Manny, Manny" chants started. They were practically as loud as the "Foley, Foley" chants.

I was with Peppy there, and we were amused at how many people were going "Woo!" at his every statement. Doesn't Ric Flair have a patent on that or something? :P

The late Eddie Guererro also got a nice "Eddie" chant, but most notorious of all the very audible chants was the "Cena Sucks" chant that erupted when someone answered that Cena was his favorite wrestler. Looks like there were a lot of smarks in the area.

This time, though, when the autograph session happened, a lot of people missed out on getting an autograph. A friend of mine even had Mankind cards, and I was meaning to have him sign the Three Faces Of Foley card. Oh, well. Peppy didn't get there, either. Monix did, though, and it was amusing to see her reaction when she found out that I actually interviewed Mr. Foley earlier that day.

I got quite a reaction from the people as well when I raised up the Undisputed Belt in Glorietta... heck, Mick Foley himself acknowledged me, as did his entourage. Looks like they remembered me... Aww, shucks.

Whooooooo!!!