Mick Foley Says He Channels Mankind When He Has A Tough Crowd For Comedy Shows

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley recently spoke with Wrestling Inc.'s own Nick Hausman about the event that followed his initial 20 Years of Hell tour – An Evening With Mick Foley. Mick noted how his first tour was a much more organized project than this current one.

"Well, the '20 Years [Of Hell Tour]' had one main subject. It was really an in-depth look at one historic night, and it was also a show that I worked on diligently. This is calling it in the ring tonight, as opposed to working on stuff," Foley said through a smile.

Sometimes, when live audiences aren't responding the way he wants, Foley has tapped into his legendary "Mankind" character to get a better response. He mentioned one instance in Canada as a perfect example.

"I started [channeling my past 'Mankind' character] when I had a tough crowd," Mick said. "The tour we did all across Canada went really well; the one exception was a show in Timmins [Ontario, Canada] that was very under-attended, and I need something to jolt me into the moment. And when I do that voice [of Mankind] and I get into that character, I can look out at the crowd and I can read their faces, and their faces are – and I'll verify it later – they can't believe I'm bringing my A-game for the small crowd."

Mick also remembered a show he did with another versatile WWE star, Kane, also known in the political world by his real name, Glenn Jacobs. Mick remembers this booking coming together quickly, and in the end, there weren't many fans that attended.

"I had a show done in conjunction with a comic convention where Kane and I had only been booked the day before," Foley explained. "So there's no one that knows that we're at the convention, let alone that we're doing a show. So Mayor Jacobs [Kane] agreed to be my special guest for the Q&A. And he was like, 'How many people you think are gonna be there?' I was like, 'Glenn, there might be 500, there might be 10. We're going to try to give them the best show we could.' We open up the door – a lot closer to 10 than there was 500."

Foley nevertheless appreciates that "bad" experience because it gives him more fuel to tell his stories.

"All of the shows had gone so well that I didn't have any bad experiences to talk about, and the bad experiences make for good stories. Once in a while you actually hope for a bad night just so you have something to talk about," Mick said.

Mick then delivered an exclusive tidbit of information to our Wrestling Inc. viewers – he's planning on bringing his best promo work to perform at this month's Starrcast event. He went into detail about what inspired this desire to access his best promo skills.

"Starting with the show I do at Starrcast 3, I believe Bill wanted me – he asked me about a favorite opponent and then I said Terry Funk, and then he was like, 'Okay, give me a promo against Terry Funk!' And I said, 'Bill, I can't do it anymore. I can't switch in and out of characters like I used to with the exception of the 'Mankind' thing.' But I am going to, in the vain of fantasy football and fantasy wrestling, I'm going to do a fantasy promo," Foley explained. "I'm going to think of fantasy promos to go with what would I say against current wrestlers of today. What kind of promo would I go with? And that's not just something I won't just pull out. Maybe when I get into the groove, I'll be able to just pull it out of my hat."

Mick's full interview with Wrestling Inc. aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post, or in the video above.

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