Mick Foley Talks Jeff Hardy Incident, TNA's Name Change & Future
Mick Foley was on Busted Open with hosts Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca, which airs Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-4 PM ET on Sirius 92 and XM 207. Here are some highlights:
On the name change to Impact Wrestling: "I brought up the unfortunate incidents where you checked in to the hotel and they say 'Who do you work for? Total Nonstop Action? TNA Wrestling? 'I think we all (wanted to) erase that part because even though that is a fact of life that it is tough to explain what you do when you have initials that can be misleading... the truth is I probably wouldn't have worn a TNA shirt to New York. There's this sense of pride I have really in wearing this shirt that says 'Impact Wrestling'. You don't wear it, people don't think you're trying to be clever talking about women's boobs and butts. This is a wrestling shirt and we're proud of the fact it's a wrestling program."
What wrestling means to him: "It's tough to put in to words because I was a fan of both extremes. I love the real wild physical stuff and I love the funny stuff. I love the fact you can make people cringe, and make them laugh... that you can give somebody a real dramatic moment, a real humorous moment, and things in between.
"For me, wrestling... it is both things and all things in the middle. It's great promos, great matches, great moments of humor. If there is one fault I have with TNA, its that we try to give people so many moments, its hard to pick out those great moments. I'm in this office and we have these framed posters on the wall of the different runners (NFL running backs). If there was a dramatic 85 yard touchdown run seven times every game, none of them would stand out. So I think sometimes we try to give people the 87 yard dramatic touchdown run seven times a show and we kind of compete with ourselves."
On embracing wrestling in TNA after WWE takes wrestling out of their name: "The truth is this had been in the works for long before they took the wrestling out of their name. I do think that them, the WWE taking wrestling out of their name gives us the opportunity to... we were going to have the ball anyway, but now we get to run with it. Why not embrace it? It is entertainment, that's true, but it is also wrestling. It's a unique form of entertainment and were going to embrace it."
Thoughts on Vince Russo, and if there are 'too many hands in the cookie jar' where the story is altered too much: "In one sense, I think that's correct. There's a lot of people to please. His version may not be the version that winds up making the air. At the same time, I've always said that Vince tries to tell too many stories. He has great ideas, but again, maybe we don't need seven 87 yard touchdown runs in the same show. Maybe that one great run is something people will remember."
[Referring to the famous 'Rock, this is your life' segment] "Remember, Vince Russo is responsible for Yerple the Clown... The closest he came to getting fired was during that segment which Vince McMahon hated. If you look at that segment, you can see that the names coming up on that screen for the teacher is not the name that I'm giving them. The girlfriend had a different name. The old lady had a different name. Everybody had a different name. It was scheduled for twelve minutes, it went 26. Vince McMahon hated that segment, and then the next day The Rock tapped me on the shoulder. 'Did you hear about that segment?' 8.4 or whatever it was. We both searched out Vince, and we found him?.and when I say cowering, he was hiding from us because he knew we were coming looking for him.
"That's an example of something people thought was a terrible idea. A birthday party with a clown turned out to be one of the most beloved segments of all time. But if we had four segments, four birthday parties, with four clowns, it wouldn't have meant anything. I think Vince (Russo) has this great?..his mind is a great source of wrestling stories, but I think you need that wrestling-centric force to oppose him, so that it doesn't veer too much off the actual in ring product."
If Impact will go on the road more often: "I hope so. I think that made a world of difference when we were in Fayetteville. The success of those tapings was a big reason why Spike really embraced this 'Wrestling Matters' campaign. We're dependent on Spike. We provide a good rating for them and hopefully it will continue to escalate. We need Spike to really help us. They saw the difference the change of venue made. I don't want to offend the people who show up at the Impact Zone, we appreciate it, but I personally find it to be an atmosphere that's not conducive to great emotion and I think the more often we can take Impact on the road, the better."
Jeff Hardy's condition and if TNA has recovered from his incident at Victory Road: "Jeff has been... he's been struggling for a little while. And I think it's important, he's got a new son... I think the most important thing is not when he comes back to Impact Wrestling, but that he takes care of those issues he's got so he can be around as a husband and as a father, and then once he gets those issues addressed, we'd love to have him back as a wrestler."