Eric Bischoff Talks Mick Foley Loving Brutal Matches, One Of The Reasons Foley Left WCW
Mick Foley's rivalry with Vader is known as one of the most brutal feuds of all time Former WCW president Eric Bischoff discussed the rivalry and one of the matches between Foley and Vader on a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast.
As Cactus Jack, Foley was known to push the limits of hardcore wrestling. He wrestled Vader in a crazy match on WCW Saturday night in 1993 and Bischoff admits it wasn't his cup of tea. Bischoff said there was legitimate concern that Foley had injured himself in the match.
"Obviously I remember it because of its intensity, and you are right, there were people that were justifiably concerned that Cactus Jack was hurt badly. We knew that he was hurt, but there is a difference between being hurt and being hurt badly. There was a few moments of concern about that, and look, it wasn't my kind of match," Bischoff said. "I recognized it for its brutality, but even back then–this was long before I ever really thought about creative, I really didn't think of creative, I was only focused more on what I was hired to be focused on and I didn't know anything about laying matches or storylines, it was just never in my wheelhouse, so I knew what I liked and what I didn't like, and to me that went too far."
Foley later lost an ear in a match with Vader in 1994. Bischoff said the Vader feud was really the start of Foley's desire to push the limits in his matches, particularly because Vader was also willing to push the limits. Bischoff would sometimes think he would go to far, and this resulted in Foley leaving WCW.
"Part of that was Mick Foley loved that type of actions, which was one of the reasons why he left WCW because it was one of the areas Mick and I disagreed on and he ended up leaving. Mick Foley liked those kinds of matches. He loved the brutal, dangerous, almost death-defying matches," Bischoff said. "He would hurt himself regularly. He got to the point where he would put himself in situations where he was putting himself in great risk and putting the company in great risk in the long run. This match was the beginning of that evolution of Mick Foley. He loved those kind of matches and Vader was an opponent that could certainly facilitate it."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.