Mick Foley Explains What WWE Can Do To Fix Their “Problem”

On the latest episode of Pro Wrestling 4 Life, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Sean "X-Pac" Waltman chatted with fellow WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley. Foley discussed his "WWE: We Have A Problem" video that he put out, and Pro Wrestling 4 Life co-host and Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Foley what he would do to solve WWE's problems.

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"Well, [Chris] Jericho in that talk with Busted Open said, 'We don't put a line through our show an hour before it airs,' and if people don't know, Vince [McMahon] will do that," Foley noted. "My son is a part of the writing team. I would never be able to handle being on a writing team. I take a lot of pride in things I write, and to see somebody rip it up in front of you, it would kind of send me heading for the exits. But you lose your continuity.

"When you promise people two or three different matches the next week, and then they don't take place and you don't explain why, and then you have another show that does a really good job of telling you what's going to take place next week, and they also do a very good job of telling you what's taking place on that show, even with graphics. You're watching the show, you're watching a match and then they tell you what you're going to see in the upcoming two hours, and I think that's really smart. I know Vince thinks he works his best under pressure, but you can't have continuity that way.

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"I think you need to gather around who your big stars are, how you're going to push them. And in some ways, they do an amazing job with a handful of people. This Roman Reigns thing, 'The Tribal Chief' and Paul Heyman's complete and utter subservience to him and the Brock Lesnar storyline. I look at Roman and I was saying what he needed to lose was the quirky facial expressions that turn people off. And I didn't know if they could actually go full heel with him, but he has turned in some amazing work. They do a lot of things well."

"The Damian Priest stuff has been really good," Waltman added.

"Yeah, the Damian Priest stuff, as well, has been really good," Foley agreed.

The video made Foley a trending topic on social media with many fans discussing Foley's point in his video. Foley spoke more on what WWE should focus on.

"I just think they need to pay attention to continuity," Foley said. "They need to go back to big picture, thinking outside of just the WrestleMania main event, and they need to let the talent be as good as it can be."

Hausman pointed out that Vince McMahon was more willing to listen to others like Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara when under pressure against a rising WCW. Waltman corrected Hausman on that point, and Foley spoke more in detail about what the creative process was like during the Attitude Era.

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"A lot of that came from us," Waltman pointed out.

"We had a lot of say, and this isn't downplaying what Vince and Ed did," Foley prefaced. "They did a great job, but they would bring us ideas, or we'd bring them ideas. We worked together on them. I remember Russo being so down at the WrestleMania party because I think Shawn [Michaels] had browbeat him about looking weak, and then within one night, 24 hours, DX was stronger than ever. I don't think Russo should have received that browbeaten, especially at a post-WrestleMania party, but it just shows we were really hands on with our angles. We would talk with each other. We did promos that felt real because they were real to a large extent."

"Did Vince use to call you on Wednesday and run everything by you?" Waltman asked Foley. "Russo would call me every week."

"I remember him telling me about Yurple The Clown," Foley revealed. "He's like, 'Bro, she's a party clown.' I said, 'So you're gonna have the shoes?' He's like, 'Bro, she's got the shoes. She's got everything.' The interaction with me and Yurple was 100%. We didn't go with a script. Nobody gave us a script. All I knew going in was, I've got a birthday party clown. The goal is I have to come in happy. Vince [McMahon] has to be relieved.

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"It's me and not Austin, and then my actions have to cause him to throw me out of the room along with Yurple, the birthday party clown, leaving the opening for Steve Austin to hit him with a bedpan under the guise of being a doctor. I never said, 'can I bring a sock puppet?' because he surely would have said no. It was just a given that you could try things in that day and age."

A new episode of Sean Waltman's Pro Wrestling 4 Life drops every Wednesday morning on all major podcast platforms. It is also released in video form on FITE and YouTube.com/XPac Thursdays at 3 pm EST!

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