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Mick Foley: "I Know My Role"

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 By: CMBurnham

When you look at the grapplers who revolutionised the wrestling business in the mid to late 1990s, they have taken very different paths since the end of the Attitude Era.

The Undertaker and Triple H are still at the very top and prepared to headline WrestleMania, Stone Cold Steve Austin still comes back around once a year for a monster ovation and the Rock left the WWE behind totally to become an A-list Hollywood star.

Of them all, only Mick Foley is happy to continue wrestling in a much more lowly role than he once enjoyed.

The three-time World champion is now happy to form a comedy tag team with Hornswoggle and get tossed out of the Royal Rumble by Triple H, the man he tore the house down with at the 2000 version of the event.

And in an exclusive Sun interview, Mick explained why he is happy with his current role.

He told us, "Honestly the days when I really meant ratings or buy rates are over, so I am realistic in thinking that I can be an enjoyable asset to the show, but probably not a main event guy anymore.

"Realistically, Vengeance 2006 was my last time in the WWE main event.

"It was almost my last match ever, which would have been great. Although I wasn't great in it, it was a really good match.

"Then I got my deal with Coach and Hornswoggle and I got to thinking, "Oh no. My last match was against Coach with a leprechaun as a referee.

"But the more I thought about it the more I realised how great it was to have all my four kids in the audience for the first time and especially to have my seven-year old booing me, which brings him a lot of happiness.

"There's nothing quite like going out there and seeing my son giving me a big, hearty thumbs-down.

"So I've kind of changed my mind of what makes for a great moment. It doesn't necessarily have to involve a life or death situation."

Mick added, "I'm convinced that I have one more great moment left in me. necessarily a great match, but at least a great moment.

"One thing that I have realised is that by coming back a couple of times a year I have remained relevant to kids who otherwise would have no idea who I was.

"I was really surprised when I did my last book tour that many of my fans were 10 11, 12 years old.

"And I was especially touched by meeting a five-year old boy in a hospital who specifically wanted a red flannel shirt.

"He's a little boy who's deaf and in isolation for reasons I'm not privy to, and apparently when I gave this little mini red and black chequered flannel shirt it became his most prized possession.

"He knew me from the video game so if I had retired when intended in 2000 and never set foot in the ring again a little guy like that would have no idea who I was."

Mick was full of praise for the WWE's new generation of stars -- from John Cena to Hornswoggle-- and even joked about the new way to make himself stand out in high definition.

He said, "I think characters like John Cena, especially, have done a lot to bring new fans in and Hornswoggle, to me, is a great character and a great silent actor.

During the 15th anniversary RAW, I just studied him during that 20-minute segment. I think he brings a lot to what seems to be a limited character.

"RAW going HD doesn't bother me. When I showed up to team with Hornswoggle as my partner I was actually dressed from head to toe.

"That relieved any type of pressure to get any kind of tan. If everybody is tanned, then nobody looks tanned, there's got to be one pale guy out there to make the tans stand out and I see that as my role -- the pale white guy.

Mick's realistic look at his current role in the WWE means he also knows his chances of a big WrestleMania pay-day are slim.

Ideas from him fighting Vince McMahon to retiring Ric Flair have been batted around, but none have come to fruition.

"I know everyone wants a shot at Mania, that's why I always thought Backlash was a better moment, kind of sweet being in a little more of the spotlight.

"Although, doing radio interviews, one guy in Orlando proposed a pretty good scenario for me and Umaga, maybe I'll throw that out there, but I'm looking more to summer 2008 to do something major.

"I heard that my name was thrown around for Flair's final match, but I didn't hear until after the fact. I guess it was vote down.

"I look at Flair's career and I don't see my name as being one of his major opponents. We had a nice little issue at Summerslam a couple of years ago, but in Flair's storied career, I don't think my name was thrown around."

But who should the man Mick once blasted but then became friends with face at the Granddaddy of Them All?

"Man, that's a good question", Mick replies. "Ric's had so many opponents, but so many guys aren't around anymore. Maybe revisit the Triple H thing?

"It's been said they had a chance to really make history in Greensboro, but didn't really do it. So maybe they'll have a chance to do it at Mania and do it the right way.

"Then I found out the conclusion, I actually thought it made sense at the time because Regal had come out and redeemed himself in Vince's eyes, but maybe I wasn't looking at the big picture.

"But hindsight is always 20/20

"It didn't seem like a bad move at the time, but I think historically people would have loved to see a clean Flair victory in Greensboro

Mick -- who is currently pitching the idea of a Christmas book to Vince -- also admits that making friends in the wrestling business is hard, due to the highly competitive nature of getting to the top.

"Although I've got my fair share of guys I keep in touch with. I'm actuallly good friends with a lot of the Divas, maybe because I didn't actually wrestle with them.

"The competitive spirit does make close friendships a rarity which is maybe why I was really good friends with Al Snow since there was no chance in the world he was going to take my spot.

Foley was chatting with The Sun to promote WWE's latest CD WWE RAW Greatest Hits The Music CD and reminisced about his own tune, which features prominently.

He recalls, "I didn't even know I was having one until the day after I won the title from the Rock, I had this great new music.

"Until then it was kind of a downer because the Mankind character had been turned into this fun guy and he had this morbid funeral dirge.

"The actually tried to brighten the funeral dirge at one point, so for a couple of months it was a little more up-tempo funeral dirge, but I was thrilled when I came out and had that "Wreck" music.

"I guess it's on the Greatest Hits CD for a reason, because people really respond to it. Great music is invaluable, because I'll be the first to admit that no matter how little I like few of the DX segments, the moment the music hits, you know you are seeing something big.

"Randy Orton has ben saddled with music that I don't think is very good.

"But, at the same time, my four-year old runs around singing, "Hey, nothing you can say", so it is catchy in a weird way.

"That's a big thing. If you have music that people can remember, it can really add a couple of years to your career."

With refreshing honesty like that, we'd love to see a couple more years, and a couple more books, out of Mick.

Tags: Mick Foley, Ric Flair, WWE