Mick Foley Recalls Disobeying WWE Edict And Asking For 'Forgiveness' Later

The clash with Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Street Fight at Royal Rumble 2000 is one Mick Foley counts among his best matches and is often remembered as one of the most gruesome and violent title matches in company history. One of the highlights from the match was the use of thumbtacks, which was a method of pain to which Foley was no stranger, but he admitted in a recent edition of "WWE Retrospective" that he had been advised beforehand not to use the tacks. 

"If I did it without any crowd, TV camera, it would be one of the worst feelings in the world. But when you get that response, the exact response you're looking for, It can anesthetize the pain to a great degree ... we were under a strict edict, no thumbtacks. Triple H said, you have the tacks? I said, they're already under the ring. We went with the "it's better to do it and ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission" and the match was such a huge success that we didn't even get yelled at."

Despite his performance at Royal Rumble 2000 being one of his best, he recently revealed that his No Holds Barred Falls Count Anywhere bout with Randy Orton at Backlash 2004 is Foley's personal favorite match from his career. Foleys battle with "The Viper" is another contest with an intense use of thumbtacks while being one of the most iconic No Holds Barred matches in WWE history. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "WWE Vault" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.