Mick Foley Promo Inspired Bray Wyatt’s WWE Presentation

The wrestling world is still waiting to find out the future of Bray Wyatt, but the character's past is equally fascinating. It turns out that a feud between a hardcore legend and a "legend killer" got a young Wyatt's brain rocking with inspiration.

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley is no stranger to the art of a promo, and on the most recent episode of "Foley Is Pod," he and Conrad Thompson turned the spotlight on Foley's 2004 feud with Randy Orton.

It was a backstage promo on the April 5, 2004 edition of "WWE Raw," in which Foley was sitting in a rocking chair and explaining how he initially participated in brutal hardcore matches in Japan due to the love of his family. However, he disliked likes Randy Orton so much, he didn't know what he'd be capable of doing during their match at Backlash.

"In the long haul, the biggest part of this promo is that it inspires a young Bray Wyatt," Foley said.

"I remember him telling me, 'Hey if you have a chance ... I'm doing this thing, got a rocking chair.' He alluded to the promo I did with Randy Orton."

The rocking chair became one of Wyatt's signature props during his run as the leader of the Wyatt Family in "WWE NXT" and eventually on the main roster and the vitriol that Foley had in his promo against Orton struck a chord with the Eater of Worlds.

"I thought it was one of the best things I'd ever done," Foley said, "And this is where Vince talked to me about the wisdom of doing it backstage instead of in the ring, because I could focus 100%. You didn't have to wait for beats or pops, you didn't have to get a cadence down, you didn't have to worry about somebody yelling 'what' ... By being able to do that backstage with the barbed wire bat in the rocking chair, alluding to the things I had done in Japan and the lengths I was willing to go, the things I was willing to do to human beings who were respectful and kind, that I was wondering what lengths I might be willing to go [with] Randy Orton."

Orton was the Intercontinental Champion at the time, and Foley pulled out the face of Cactus Jack for the fight. Evolution, Orton's stable, was banned from ringside, but Orton nonetheless managed retained his gold against Foley in a hardcore match.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Foley Is Pod" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription