Mick Foley Talks WWE Return, Appearing On RAW For Rock's B-Day, Helms, Hogan & More
Former four-time World Heavyweight Champion & New York Times best-selling author Mick Foley was one of the featured guests on this week's edition of Monday Night Mayhem. Here are some interview highlights courtesy of Kahlil Thomas, MNM's associate producer & official correspondent:
How close we were to seeing a match between himself & Hulk Hogan in TNA, whether or not he has any regrets on how his TNA career came to a close, & why he felt that an appearance on WWE television for The Rock's birthday would have been beneficial for everyone involved: "The match with Hulk Hogan could have happened if I hadn't tweeted about the Empty Arena Match. "I wouldn't have sent out that tweet. I put them through quite a bit actually. I didn't think anything of it when I called Terry Taylor, asking if I could show up on RAW for The Rock's birthday. Think about that question and what that does to the company. That's a tough thing to handle. My thing was if I was going to show up and be 'the network guy' in three days, why not do it with a higher profile than I've had since I've been here. Everyone benefits. I wish we could have done business on the way out, so that I could have helped out on the X-Division Pay-Per-View (Destination X). It was very anti-climatic television to just read a note that I was fired two weeks after I started the job."
Why he has decided to spearhead the effort for a Shane Helms Benefit Show this October in Charlotte & the message they are hoping fans take away from it: "Velvet Sky started raising some money for Shane, because essentially he's a guy who had his livelihood taken away from him for a year, maybe more. From what I hear, the crash was really horrific. So I asked The Hurricane how he felt about doing a benefit show, a comedy show in Charlotte (at The Comedy Zone), and he said he was for it. I was willing to do it. A few days ago I heard from Shane, and he had what I thought was a great idea that he wanted to take the money we raise that night and make a really good public service announcement that might help other people. I do not want to put words in his mouth, but I think he wants to do something above & beyond helping himself that can help out other people."
Why a potential return to the WWE is intriguing for him right now at this point in time in his personal & professional career: The charity stuff is emotionally rewarding. It's not financially rewarding. My wife has made it kind of clear that my days of donated 100% of book sales needs to come to an end. In this economic environment, you really have go out and make some money as long as there is some demand for what you do. I think being with the WWE would help me out in these endeavors I do. I think they did a great job of keeping me relevant for years through the miracle of DVD's, action figures, & appearances on their show, so I think they can help me in these pursuits. I also think there a lot of ways I can help out, whether it be with younger wrestlers, as an ambassador, or appearing on the TV show once in a while. Without knocking TNA or iMPACT Wrestling, because I did enjoy a lot of my time there, WWE has more ways guys can make a contribution that doesn't include being a major part of their TV show."
If the thought of a WWE Hall of Fame induction has gone through his mind since deciding to depart TNA & the perfect time/spot he envisions that moment to happen: "It actually started going through my mind. I wrote about this in the bonus chapter in 'Countdown to Lockdown.' I said the moment the WWE mentioned my book on the air, any misgivings or feelings I had just vanished. I started thinking about the (WWE) Hall of Fame and how it would be a big deal to my kids, and if they wanted me to do it, I'll do it. In a perfect world, I would get inducted in The Garden (MSG) in 2013. I'll be willing to stay of TV until 2013 just to get inducted there, but what I might do is John Laurinaitis and ask if I could do a house show, just so I could hear my music and get a pop."
Source: Monday Night Mayhem