With all due respect to Dude Love, when it comes to the "Three Faces of Mick Foley," Cactus Jack and Mankind have him beat in the eyes of both fans, and Foley himself. But while Cactus Jack remains perhaps the most universally beloved of Foley's three personas, thanks to his successful runs under the gimmick both in and out of WWE, Mankind is perhaps the most well known, given Foley garnered the most popularity in his career while portraying the character, winning the WWE Championship and introducing fans to Mr. Socko along the way.
While Socko may have been little more than a sock puppet used for comedic effect, the sock was an important part of Foley's finishing move, the Mandible Claw, while in WWE. And during a recent appearance on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," Foley revealed that Mr. Socko could, in part, be credited to a controversial former WWE personality, who helped inspire Foley to use the Mandible Claw as his move.
"Jim Cornette gave me the idea," Foley said. "And it's based on Dr. Sam Shepard, who was the physician that both the TV show and later the movie 'The Fugitive' was based on. And I...I'm not a historian like Corny is, but I believe he was not guilty, but in that state, that wasn't the same as being exonerated. So whether he would not practice medicine or could not, I don't know. But he wrestled for a while in a couple of the southern territories.
"He was kind of slight of build, and they explained away his lack of physique by amplifying his knowledge of the human anatomy. So the idea is the Mandible Claw, two fingers under the tongue. They press down simultaneously on the nerve line underneath the tongue, while also simultaneously pressing up on the nerve underneath the chin. And if you do it, you cannot move. So...it does hurt."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
