The madness started in May of 1994,ECW was still Eastern Championship Wrestling.Cactus Jack was one half of the WCW world tag team champions with former ECW alumi,Kevin Sullivan.WCW and ECW had some sort of working relationship where they would from time to time send stars to ECW in return for using there wrestlers such as Terry Funk.At the time SABU was the hottest attraction on the independent circuit and the top star in ECW.ECW fans then as now considerd SABU a god among men.Only one man was considered superior to SABU in Philidelphia when it came to non stop violence and EXTREME WRESTLING.That was CACTUS JACK,so WCW aggreed to let Cactus come to ECW to face SABU.The match was one of the most EXTREME affairs in the history of ECW they went through tables.They bloddied each other they took risks that had never been seen before in wrestling.Sabu defeated Cactus Jack with the help of his manager,Paul E Dangerously and his cell phone,afterwards 911 tried to help Paul E finish the job on Cactus but in vintage Cactus Jack he clobbered Paul, eliminated 911 and brawled with SABU all over the ECW arena.Cactus later cut a promo about the match where he applauded SABU for his efforts and then spat on the WCW tag belt saying it ment nothing to him because he valued his pride more than the WCW belt.Upon his return to Atlanta Cactus Jack was in big trouble with WCW officals,2 months later Cactus and Kevin Sullivan lost the WCW tag belts to Paul Orndorf and Paul Roma.Within the period of a month Cactus Jack was jobbed out on TV because of his act, Cactus became weary of the treatment he recieved by WCW and asked to be relased in September of 1994. So WCW came up with an angle turning him against Sullivan and staging a Loser leaves WCW match. The plan was to turn Jack heel but it didnt work basically because everybody hated Kevin Sullivan. this made Cactus an even bigger baby face than he already was.The match was set for Fall Brawl of 1994, Cactus Jack lost to Kevin Sullivan that night in what was probably the last good match in for WCW in recent memory.What was about to begin was one of the wilded periods in ECW history.

The independent circuts now became the home of Cactus Jack,Smokey Mountain Wrestling,ECW,NWA NWC among other wrestling organzations started booking Cactus all over the country.But it was ECW that got the most attention. After a few brief apprances,Cactus Jack debuted full time in ECW to one of the biggest reactions in the history of the sport.But his first opponent would end up being his IDOL and mentor the LEGEND Terry Funk. They tore each other apart that night in the ECW arena using every weapon imaginable, the match never got settled as then ECW world tag team champions Flyboy Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge,The Public Enemy,attacked both men.Cactus and The Funker fought off the PE but that night when Funk asked for a chair from the ECW arena crowd *a audeince that was known for handing the wrestlers weapons* he got a BIG surprise when the fans literally threw there chairs in the ring burieing Public Enemy in a sea of steel this incident became one of the most infamous in ECW history.The match was signed for the next ECW arena event,Cactus Jack and Terry Funk vs The Public Enemy for the ECW World Tag Team Titles.This night would be historic in not because of the match but because of what happend, before the match took place Shane Douglas had just won the NWA world title in the Tournament Finals over 2 Cold Scorpio.He then threw down the belt and proclamed the ECW title the new World Championship and ECW was Renamed EXTREME CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING.That night Terry Funk did not show up at the ECW arena due to a prior engagement with IWA japan,Cactus was left without a partner.Specuatiation started about who the replacement would be.Joey Styles himself wondered what toughman,what former world champion that Cactus Jack would bring with him to face The PE,everyone in ECW and the WORLD for that matter sat in amaziment as Cactus Jack literally drug a kicking and screaming Mikey Whipwreck to the ring to be his partner.As a traumatized Mikey stood on the apron,Cactus tore into Public Enemy he fought off both members with every weapon he could find and a array of wild moves.But when he went to tag Mikey he wasnt there, the PE went on a double team attack and was on there way to victory when to everyones surprise out came Mikey Whipwreck with a peice of Aluminum Sideing and layed out both members of Public Enemy or at least tried too.They imeadiatly spike pile drove Mikey and started on jack again.They had Cactus Jack ready to deliver the Drive By through the table when just as Rocco Rock was about to come off the top rope Cactus Jack stood up and low blowed Johnny Grunge sending Rocco Rock through the table from the top rope.Mikey somehow got enough of his barings back to lay a arm over him to make the cover.It was one of the biggest upsets in ECW history,Cactus Jack had just taken the biggest loser in ECW and made him one half of the world tag team champions.Cactus jack Made Mikey Whipwreck into a man in a series of brawls with PE.But in match that was dubbed THE BRAWL GAME The Public Enemy found a way to beat Cactus and Mikey.ALthough SABU interfeered when he saw that Rocco Rock was getting ready to steal his gimmick in going through tables, PE somehow managed to beat Mikey up so bad that he couldnt continue and made the Pin.Cactus was left with no partner so he had to do something that he never thought that he would do,CALL ON KEVIN SULLIVAN FOR HELP.Sullivan came to Cactus Jacks aid , or did he???

Cactus announced on ECW tv that he didnt trust sullivan and begged Mikey to watch his back,The timid mikey then told Cactus that if sullivan turned he would KICK HIS ASS.And mikey got the chance to live up to that claim as true to nature after beating the hell out of PE Kevin Sullivan turned on Cactus and Mikey Flew into action and... got the hell beaten out of him.Feeling bad after the incident Mikey told cactus he would to to ECW Comminsoner Tod Gordon and get a rematch with the PE.Cactus then explained to the viewing audinece that it didnt matter to him cause he knew it would happen and started to badmouth Sullivan,then out of the blue came his then wife and manager of The Sandman,WOMAN,who stated that most people didnt know who was more devious her or her husband.Cactus didnt even have time to react as the Sandman Flew into the room and viciously caned Cactus Jack.The 2 met in a series of brutal matches,all types of weapons were used in all of them,Cactus Jack even put the Sandman out of commisoin for over a month after using a cast iron skillet given to him by a fan in March of 95.This caused a interesting situation,The Sandman couldnt wrestle because he had a severe concussion but the rematch from the match was scheduled for the next ECW arena show.The Sandman promised a mystery assasin that would come in and finsh the job he started with Cactus.That night a box was rolled out into the ECW arena in that box was....D.C. Drake.Drake was a local legend in Philidelphia and was known at that time as being the only man to legitimently hospitalize Abdullah The Butcher,the 2 had what was called a lackluster affair at best until after the match when The Sandman made his return from the injury and brutally caned cactus,but Jack fought back and layed both Drake and Sandman out in the middle of the ring but to his and all of the ECW arenas surprise another gift box was rolled out into the arena Cactus imeadatly threw sandman into the box then attacked it and pulled out non other than.....TERRY FUNK who he looked at with a look of amazement on his face.Funk who had just returned to ECW from a tour of Japan waffled Cactus Jack with his branding iron then rolled Cactus in the ring where he was handed a singapore cane by woman.Funk and The Sandman caned Cactus Jack over 45 cane shot to the body, face and head .Tommy Dreamer came to his aid but when he tried faced with his mentor he was caned,Then out of nowhere came then ECW World Champion,Shane Douglas,who told both men to hold Cactus up and he would lay him out with the championship belt.They did as told and Douglas went left instead of right and hit The Funker and then layed out The Sandman.Douglas siad he came to Cactus s aid because of 2 things.1 he hated The Sandman and WOMAN,2 That Cactus Jack was his freind who he had trained with when both men started in the business in 1980.The last one was a shoot because Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas were both trained at the same time by the same man,Dominic Denucci, Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas met Terry Funk and The Sandman at the ECW arena later on that month in what was described as a orgy of violence, seeing Jack and Douglas winning the match.It was during this period where Cactus Jack started taking bookings from the IWA promotion in Japan i will go into that in another section.

Shane Douglas would later go on to lose the world title to The Sandman at Return of The Funker.That night also seen Cactus and Terry engage in one hell of a brutal match that topped even there barbed wire outings in japan.Shane Douglas went on to see Cactus Jack as a threat to regaining his title.ANd was even more infuriated when Cactus got the first shot at the belt before him and promptly cost him the chance but of course cactus returned the favor later that night.This pissed The Franchise off so bad that he decided to defect to the WWF but not before he made his final mark on ECW.In a Fist of Barbed Wire vs SIngapore Cane deathmatch for the world title ,Cactus Jack clearly was on his way to holding his first world title,after both men were knocked down and the ref out of the picture.Shane Douglas came stalking down and told The Sandman he was gonna give him the wrestling lesson of his life.This was it."Keep Your Freinds Close and Your Enemies right by your side" He then took a piece of the broken singapore cane and stabbed his supposed best frined Mick Foley in the eye and told ECW To Kiss His Ass Goodbye.Douglas was of course carried on the rail or in ECW terms he was chokeslammed by 911.The Cactus Jack/Sandman fued came to a bitter end when Jack met the Sandman in a there final Barbed Wire match up at the ECW arena.Before going to Japan for the IWA Deathmatch Tournament,Cactus would become involved in the fued between Tommy Dreamer and RAVEN.Raven,Stevie Richards and The Dudley Boyz were laying a pounding on Dreamer out came the Pitbulls to defend Dreamer only to be attacked by the rest of the dudley crew out came Cactus Jack with his trusty Barbed wire baseball bat to the aid of Dreamer.The match was set for the ECW Arena,Tommy Dreamer,Cactus Jack and The Pitbulls vs Raven,Stevie Richards and The Dudleys (Dudley Dudley and Big Dick).The match was your typical ECW Brawl.But Tommy Dreamer was about to do something that he hadnt done at that time, Gain a clean cut victory against Raven.After DDting Raven into a stopsign then using his nuts to practice his golf swing on, Dreamer made the cover.Then for no reason,Cactus Jack booted Tommy Dreamer in the side of the head breaking up the pin.The ECW arena crowd was in shock.He lifted Dreamer up and Double Arm DDTed him onto the same Stop sign he just used and allowed Raven to get the pin,Cactus Jack was now a heel again but his reasons were unclear at best.

This began probably the most interesting time in ECW.The next week Cactus Jack cut a promo on ECW television on why he turned on Tommy Dreamer.That promo was heralded as one of the best promos in wrestling history.In Micks Autobiography,"Have A Nice Day a Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks", he published a transcript of that intreview from ECW Tv from AUgust of 1995 .Here now is that Transcript this should be required viewing for every wrestling fan everywhere.

"Im Going to take you back to a very deciding point in my life-A time where i belevied in someting.A Time when my face i thought my face and name made a differnece.Do you remember the night Tommy Dreamer,because its embedded into my skull,its embedded in my heart,and its embedded into 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 Tommy,that i wanted to say'I quit Terry Funk,I give,I wave the flag and i am a Coward-just please dont hurt me anymore."Then I saw my saving grace.You see Tommy,I looked out in that audience and ,my adoring crowd and i say two simple words that changed my life."Cane Dewey" Somebody had taken 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 a distant memory-replaced by a thought which will be embedded intoskull to my dying day!Cane Dewey Cane Dewey.Dewey Foley is a three-year old little boy-you sick sons of bitches.You ripped out my heart, you ripped out my soul you took everything I beleved in,and you flushed it down the damn toilet.You flushed my heart-you flushed my soul-and now it sickens me to see other people making the same mistake.You see,Tommy Dreamer,I have to listen to my little boy say every day,'Daddy,I miss Georgia',and id say,'Thats too bad son',because your dad traded a 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 shopin Philidelphia'.You dont expect me to be bitter?Tommy,when you open up your heart,when you open up your 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, take a look at your future and realize that the hardccore life is a lie,that these letter behind mea re a blatant lie ,that those fans who sit there and say,"Hes Hardcore,hes hardcore,hes hardcore',wouldnt 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 your time and time again ,Raven wants you to understand that the hatred i have in here is not for you.No no-far from it.You see,Tommy,im 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 you number and you siad ,'No Thank you'-well,it makes my blood run cold.As cold as that night in the ECW arena. And so i have a moral obligation-you see,Tommy,Im on the path of righteousness,and righteous men weild a lot of power.So if i have got to drag you by your face to that telephone and dial collect and say,'Hello Eric,it's me, Cactus,and though i know ive burned my bridge,and ill 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 Uncle Eric says,'Welcome home, Tommy Dreamer,Welcome home."

That interview started what would be the greatest series of interviews in ECW history.After this Cactus Jack would not only change his wrestling style but his whole demeaner.Gone was the in crowd fighting,elbow drop onto the concrete floor, and hardcore wrestling.In came headlocks.Whole matches filled with nothing but long boring headlocks that endend up with a double arm ddt.During these months the only time we seen the Cactus Jack of old come out is when he would attack Tommy Dreamer.The match was set in October of 1995,Tommy Dreamer would finally get his hands on Cactus Jack.The match well was less than stellar.Tommy Dreamer hit Jack with everything he had and Cactus would not mount any offense other than a headlock.Finally Dreamer unloaded with a berage of right hands and threw jack to the floor jack finally came back and body slammed Dreamer on the floor,The ECW arena crowd was abuzz in the thought that the old Cactus Jack was Back.Then he mounted the ring apron took his usual 2 step approach ready for his patented Elbow drop to the floor,but stopped midway and spelled out WCW with his arms .Dreamer grabed jack by his nuts and threw him back in the ring, Jack came back with a forearm and then screamed in pain grabbed the mic and announced to the ECW arena crowd that he couldnt continue the match due to a broken arm.Reffere Jim Moleneux refused to stop the match citing that this was ECW and a match didnt stop because of that,then Cactus asked to be counted out,again he refused.Out comes renegade reffere,Bill Alfonso,who cited it was Cactus Jacks consitutioal right to be counted out if he wanted to.Alfonso started counting,and out came Terry Funk,who quickly told Fonsie that if he didnt quit counting he would and i quote"knock his dick in the dirt" fonsie wouldnt stop so Funk clocked him.Funk started into Cactus, calling his wife a whore,his kids a whore,his mother a whore then finally the straw that broke the camels back was when he called Eric Bichoff a Homo.Cactus came running back down to the ring and was met with a right hand to the jaw by Tommy Dreamer.Out comes raven with a chair and attacks both men.Then came the most infamous incident in ECW history, a incident that after it happend all the known tape of it was destroyed.Cactus Jack and Raven ganged up on Dreamer and Funk.They Bloddied dreamer but then Fonsie came from the back with Cactus Jacks japanese invention...THE FIRE CHAIR.Raven lit the chair and Cactus took a swing at Funker,Dreamer sheilded Funk and took the chair to the back then he finally got Funk,when he tried to get funk again something went terribly wrong.The lighter fluid soaked towel came off when he tired to hit funk again and landed on the funkers back.Funk went into a dead sprint to the back with cactus jack running after him breaking character trying to put the fire out.Parts of the towel went into the crowd and actually burned the audience.The stage was set for a showdown and at the 1995 November To Remember Cactus Jack teamed with Raven to face Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk in a Extreme Death Match,Anything goes,falls count anywhere in the ECW arena.This match proved to be the most brutal outing between the 4,they used every thing they could find to decimate each other.The match seen Dreamer and Funk score the win over Cactus and Raven, but it also seen Tommy Dreamer score a moral victory for ECW fans.At one point in the match to rub in the beating Cactus took off his infamous "Wanted Dead or Alive Shirt" and revealed he had a airbrushed shirt with the images of WCW Stable, The Faces of Fear.This pissed off every single hardcore wrestling fan in the ECW arena.Tommy Dreamer got up and beat the hell out of Cactus Jack,he tore the shirt off of him only to reveal a even worse insult.A airbrushed shirt with a picture of WCW president Eric Bichoff with a heart on the back that said "Forgive me Uncle Eric"This made Dreamer even madder he took the shirt and pulled it over the head of Cactus Jack and hitting him so hard with a chair it spilt not only the shirt open but the head of Cactus Jack open. Funk and Cactus would battle both sides of the atlantic for a while,plus Cactus Jacks excellent series of matches with SABU.But he was still under Ravens spell, in this time we seen Cactus Jacks true demenor come out. But at this time Cactus was negotaiting with the WWF in march of 1996 he signed a 3 year deal with them to become Mankind, abandoning the persona that made him a legend in Cactus Jack.The word got out of the switch when vigettes started aring on WWF television that clearly showed Foley as Mankind talking about his troubled past.Being the genius that Cactus was(and still is) he used this as leverage to finaly make him a heel in the eyes of ECW fans.When he would be berated by ECW fans with the YOU SOLD OUT chant he would take the mic and say,'Yeah your right i did sell out,in about a year im gonna sell out the garden and the spectrum',this would send the audience into a frenzy.One of theses wild night occured when Mikey Whipwreck won a stipulation match where if he beat 2 Cold Scorpio he not only one his ECW world television title but both ECW world tag team titles. Mikey beat 2 cold to get both belts,but he had no partner, imeadatly Cactus Jack entered the ring wearing his take off on the imensly popular ECfnW shirt wearing a WWfnF shirt and assumed the other end of the belts against Mikeys will.Then he tried to deliver him to RAVEN, Raven rejected Mikey and wouldnt let him into his flock saying he was worthless.Mikey hated this so much he intentinally threw there title defense against The Eliminators losing the belts to them.This engraged Cactus Jack but he forgave Mikey,Mikey slapped Cactus and then Cactus hugged him and then Raven hit the ring and was getting ready to jump mikey ,Cactus pulled Raven off of him and then.. Attacked mikey himself.Shane Douglas a former freined had just returned to ECW from a Stint in the WWF.Angered by Cactus's decision to leave ECW a match took place at the ECW arena where Douglas handcuffed a drunken Cactus Jack *who refused to wrestle douglas because he supposedly got drunk at a friends wedding* and wailed on him with a chair and demanded that he renounce the WWF.Everytime he would put the mic in his face Cactus would scream for Mikey Whipwreck.Finally Mikey came down to the ring and acted like he was gonn hit douglas with the same chair he was using but veered right and hit Douglas.It was offical,Cactus Jacks final match in Extreme Championship Wrestling or for that matter as Cactus Jack would be against the man he helped make a star,Mikey Whipwreck.

April 15th*i think* 1996,The ECW Arena,The second and final night of the Big Ass Extreme Bash tour.After the night before in Queens Ny at the Lost Battalion Hall ,being absolutey chastised,Cactus Jack enterd the ECW arena just wanting to get out of ECW and start working for the WWF.But the reaction he got from the ECW Arena crowd was unlike anything any one recieved.When his theme music,Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf,started the crowd stood to there feet and gave Cactus Jack a standing ovation and actually sang his entrance music to him.They chanted,'Please dont go,please dont go',to him all night.In the tape of the match you could visably see Tears in Micks eyes.WHen his name was annouced it got the biggest cheer ever in the ECW arena.The match was a pure classic.Mikey and Cactus tore each other apart,a match that seen Mikey actually jump off the upper stage onto jack and Cactus use every weapon imaginable on mikey even his cherished Leonard Cohen Album.The match ended with Cactus Jack Piledrive Mikey onto a chair, and then for the last time use the double arm DDT for the win.Afterwards he hugged Mikey and took the mic.Saying that the ECW arena was a weird place to work but he wouldnt trade that night for anything and he would like to thank the 2 people that made it all possible.Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie!!!!!! The Meanie and Richards came out to hugg Cactus Jack,Cactus then slapped hands with every fan in the arena and done his best imitation of the Ric Flair Strut strait out of the ECW arena, as Joey Styles siad,"This is the Cactus Jack that i and every ECW fans wanted to see,good bye Cactus and good luck".The next month he debuted full time in the World Wrestling Federation and the rest as they say is HISTORY.Thank you Mick for everything you have done.