Fans fawn over Mick Foley

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By Dan King

While his act in the ring may have been barbaric, the mood of Mick Foley’s meet-and-greet in Whitehall was much lighter.

The WWE Hall of Famer welcomed fans at the Whitehall Athletic Club Friday prior to a World of Hurt wrestling event.

Fans decked out in wrestling shirts and shirts of circa 1990 grunge bands began pouring into the AthleticDSC_1042 Club at 4:30 p.m. for the 5:30 p.m. visit with Foley. The lobby quickly began to overflow and excitement filled the air, as fans, both young and old, began lining up to meet a legend.

While waiting in line, some began to make their way over to the Athletic Club’s bar, where they began reminiscing about the career of Foley. Some said they were fans of his “Mankind” character, others were fans of his “Dudelove” character and a few said their favorite Foley was his “Cactus Jack” character.

When the meet-and-greet began, the VIP room was opened and the crowd of about 150 people was broken into small groups to make the moment more intimate.

Groups that were waiting had food supplied, as well as Foley memorabilia to look at. Meanwhile, behind the dividing partition, Foley sat on a couch and waited for each group to come in. The groups sat around Foley on the couch and talked, and Foley took the time to take a picture with and sign an autograph for each individual fan.

Fans brought in photos, books, action figures, Wrestlemania programs, tickets, championship belts and in one instance a hand-drawn cartoon, to be autographed by Foley.

A few kids asked Foley for advice on how to get a career started in wrestling.

“You’ve got to talk to promoters and get your name out there,” Foley told a fan. “You have to do really well in school and watch what you eat. Mr. McMahon likes guys with six packs, I must have been the exception to the rule.”

That humor was the theme of the night. Foley holds the Times

One fan brought in a copy of last week’s Whitehall Times, showing Foley that he was on the cover. He grabbed the paper and read the headline “‘Elementary principal abruptly resigns’, is that me? Oh no, I’m the WWE legend.”

Another fan came in during the meet and greet, wearing a flannel shirt and donning a beard, to which Foley pondered, “is this guy trying to out-Lumberjack me?”

The humor continued as one fan asked Foley where his championship ring was.

Foley responded, “I don’t wear it, because I would have lost it by now. I haven’t seen it in over a year, hopefully my wife hasn’t put it up on Ebay.”

After two hours, Foley finally had a second to sit back and relax, saying, “this is really cool, I’ve never wrestled or anything inside of a castle before.”

Fans’ descriptions of the experience of meeting Foley ranged from “I’m star-struck right now,” to “You were probably the only wrestler that didn’t offend my mother.” Some even went as far as giving Foley gifts, such as paintings and photographs.