Mick Foley Recalls WWE Moment As 'One Of The Saddest Nights Of His Life'
One of the most infamous storylines in professional wrestling is undoubtedly WWE's Brawl for All tournament in 1998. The misguided idea was to put professional wrestlers into real fights right on the card alongside typical wrestling matches. As one might expect, the tournament did not go very well. Touching on the Brawl for All on the latest episode of "Foley is Pod," WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley discussed the massive effect the tournament had on the career of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.
"The upside was supposed to be the making of a new star in 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams, but then he got knocked out by Bart Gunn," Foley said. "I was there with Doc in the dressing room. ... He had hurt his knee [from] the violent, backwards knockout, [and] you're dealing with guys [who have] a lot of wear and tear on their knees anyway. The physical rebuilding of 'Dr. Death' would be a lot easier than the emotional rebuilding. It was like he was shattered, and I was there trying to pick up the pieces for him. It was one of the saddest nights of my life, seeing somebody who I knew would never be the same."
After the tournament, Williams spent the rest of the year off television while wrestling several independent matches. He eventually returned to WWE programming, but made only a few brief appearances before being released.
Foley on the Brawl for All
Even taking the effect on Williams' career out of the equation, Foley would still view the Brawl for All as a failure. In his eyes, there were several major oversights in the planning of the tournament.
"They forgot that Marc Mero was a heck of a boxer," Foley stated. "It was just a mess. You had guys suffering serious knock-outs and then driving home."
More than 25 years later, the Brawl for All is now agreed upon almost unanimously as a disaster, including by many of those involved and who worked backstage at the time. The Brawl for All tournament was the focus of an episode of "The Dark Side of the Ring" in 2020, showcasing the various ways in which the tournament derailed careers and lives.
"Bart Gunn got more over than he was supposed to," Foley continued. "He did come back, and got knocked out by Butterbean, which just called into question how good Bart could've been if he got knocked out that quickly, even though [Butterbean] hit him with a punch that would've knocked a mule out. So no — no, there were no real winners, except for Bob Holly. Bob mixed it up with Bart Gunn, came back, and said, 'That was fun.' And it kind of became the dawn of the 'Hardcore' Holly era."