More than anything else in that ECW dressing room, Tommy Dreamer, maybe more than anybody else in the wrestling industry, you are willing to pay the price: to sweat, to bleed, to suffer. You're willing to bare that cross and I said 'Tommy, don't do it.' Because, you see, in order to sacrifice and bare that cross for them, it means I've got to suffer too, and I'm telling you from the voice of experience that they're not worth it, Tommy. They're not worth it! You see, you've got the choice, not me. I've made my bed of nails, and I've got no other choice but to be powerbombed on it! But you see Tommy, the world is smiling at you, the wrestling business is smiling at you, and don't you frown back on it! I'm going to take you back to a very deciding point in my life--a time when I believed in something. A time when I thought that my face and my name made a difference. Do you remember the night, Tommy Dreamer, because it's embedded in my skull, it's embedded in my heart, and it's embedded in every nightmare that I will ever have. As Terry Funk took a broken bottle and began slicing and dicing Cactus Jack, the pain was so much that I'll be honest with you Tommy. The pain was so much that I wanted to say I quit, Terry Funk, I give, I wave the flag, and I'm a coward--just please don't hurt me anymore. Then I saw my saving grace. You see, Tommy, I looked out in that audience, my adoring crowd, and I saw two simple words that changed my life. 'Cane Dewey.' Somebody had taken the time and the effort and the thought to make a sign that said, 'Cane Dewey' and I saw other people around, as every moment in my life stopped and focused in on that sign and the pain that shot through my body became distant memory--replaced by the pain that will be embedded in my skull 'til my dying day! 'Cane Dewey.' 'Cane Dewey.' Dewey Foley is a three-year-old boy, you sick sons of bitches! You ripped out my heart, you ripped out my soul, you took everything I believed in and you flushed it down the damn toilet. You flushed my heart, you flushed my soul, and now it sickens me to sit back and see other people making the same mistake. You see, Tommy Dreamer I have to listen to my little boy say every day of my life 'Daddy, I miss Atlanta,' and I say, 'That's too bad son, because your dad traded in the Victorian house for a sweatbox on Long Island. Your Dad traded in a hundred-thousand dollar contract, guaranteed money, insurance, respect and the name on the dotted line of the greatest man in the world - to work for a scumbag who operates out of a little pissant pawn shop in Philadelphia.' You don't expect me to be bitter? Tommy, when you open your heart, when you open you soul, and it gets shit on, it tends to make Jack a very mean boy. and so, I say to you--before I take these aggressions out on you--to look at your future and realize that the hardcore life is a lie, that these letters behind me are a blatant lie, that those fans who sit there and say 'He's Hardcore He's Hardcore He's Hardcore', wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, you selfish son of a bitch! But, I want you to understand Tommy though he's hurt you time and time again, deep in his heart, Raven wants you to understand that the hatred I have in here is not for you. No, no--far removed. You see, Tommy, I'm not doing this because I hate you--I love you, man! I only want the best for you--but when I hear that WCW called up your number and you said, 'No thank you' -- well, it makes my blood run cold. As cold as that night in the ECW arena. And so I have got a moral obligation - you see Tommy, I'm on the path of the righteousness and righteous men wield a lot of power. So if I've got to drag you by your face to that telephone call and dial collect and say, 'Hello Eric, it's me, Cactus, and though I know I've burned my bridge, and I'll never be taken back with open arms--I've got a wrestler who would gladly trade in his ECW shirt for a pair of green suspenders.' And Tommy, just think of that sound in your ear when Eric says, 'Welcome home, Tommy Dreamer, welcome home.' I love being right.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Warning a younger wrestler about the cost of dedication and suggesting they enjoy their success.
- In plain terms
- The pain isn't worth it, you should smile instead.
- What can you take from it?
- Success is worth enjoying before the pain hits.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is pain necessary for success?
- How do you balance work and life?
Another view
It assumes suffering is the only path to meaning.
More from Mick Foley
That sounds good let me just put this pen behind my ea--whoops! It fell because I'm hardcore! I'm hardcore! I'm hardcore!
Permalink to quote #7 But what's it really done? Where have we really come to? Lying in a hospital bed in Munich, Germany, watching my ear being thrown out into a garbage can, not b…
Permalink to quote #9 Look! I can't even wear glasses because my ear is missing. I'm hardcore! I'm hardcore!
Permalink to quote #6
Related quotes
I had a year where I sat around on my butt and declined generous offers to do more teen movies and more of the same characters as the one from 10 Things. I was…
Heath LedgerHeath Ledger quote #2 I carry Keaton's photo around with me to remind me what happened to him. If the Hollywood system can destroy him it can destroy me.
Marty FeldmanMarty Feldman quote #5 People say, Well, he wore that body out. Well, maybe I did. But it was to a good purpose. They should be thankful that I wore it out to the purpose I wore it o…
Johnny CashJohnny Cash quote #6