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TNA's Foley Still Does It All

Posted: Oct 6th 2010 By: CMBurnham

From promoting his well-received fourth memoir to preparing for his upcoming match with Ric Flair, it's safe to say Mick Foley is experiencing one of the highest points of his professional life.

This comes more than two years after he decided to sign with upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling rather than stay with World Wrestling Entertainment, his home for 12 years.

The career move is one of many topics touched in ``Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal'' as the acclaimed author chronicles the weeks leading to his main event with Sting at the TNA Lockdown pay-per-view in 2009.

When Foley went to publishers with a pitch, based on an outline and one chapter he wrote, which wasn't really about wrestling, there was some trepidation.

``I was faced with the challenge of what to write about,'' said Foley.

``I knew by going in-depth and behind the scenes on one match that the structure would be similar to the last book I did, `The Hardcore Diaries.' I also felt that this book would have a completely different tone and story to tell.''

He concluded his clash with Sting painted the right backdrop for the book.

``I think I had one match as a part of a six-man, but this was, for all intents and purposes, my big debut match in TNA,'' Foley said.

``It was the first time I really had a pay-per-view main event that I had to build up and carry with one other person in awhile. I did have a WWE main event a few years ago, but there were several people involved. I knew my confidence was a little shaky. So I thought trying to build not only my match, but my confidence would lend itself to compelling storytelling.''

With four memoirs, three children's books and two novels under his hardcore belt, Foley has grown as an author.

``I do think the writing has gotten pretty good,'' said Foley, whose first literary effort was the New York Times best selling ``Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks'' in 1999.

``I do think that I tackle some very difficult subjects in great depth, so I'm never afraid that everything has been said. I can't imagine how someone could have so many things to say for so long, but in some way these are less memoirs than they are photographs of the business itself at a certain time.''

Days leading to his book's release, the grappler found time to write a piece for Slate.com , which featured excerpts from his chapter on meeting singer-songwriter Tori Amos. The article, spotlighted on the reputable website, exposed Foley to a new crop of readers, many non-wrestling fans.

``I think the biggest surprise was the response. It has been so incredibly positive,'' said Foley.

``I'm not used to my books impacting people outside the wresting business. I feel like that even if the book doesn't do well, the positive attention the article afforded me would have made it all worthwhile.''

Amos' music is not the only thing that struck a nerve. The legendary performer has donated time and money to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, an organization she co-founded in 1994 as a sexual assault survivor. Foley even donated the advance for the book toward RAINN and another charity he works closely with, Child Fund International.

He is very proud of the Tori Amos chapter, spending hour after painstaking hour perfecting it.

``It was the handwritten first chapter. I then went back to it. It was the most work I have done in one piece of writing,'' Foley said.


``I just wanted to make it as good as I possibly could. I do feel the chapter and four or five others that I've written in the past couple of years are what I hope people remember me for.

``I was worried that she wouldn't want her very own chapter in a wrestling book. Going against all common logic, I was able to get a chapter to her, and it turned out she really liked it.

``I don't know how she feels about the talk about her wrestling book tour, but the last I knew she was pretty flattered by it. I got her nieces and nephews some good tickets to a show with the help of a good friend of mine who shall remain nameless.''

The book has also brought praise from an unlikely source in WWE. Despite writing about his turbulent final weeks with the company, they still reached out to him. In an unexpected moment on the Sept. 27 edition of Monday Night Raw, announcer Michael Cole promoted Foley's project. It was very rare WWE had outwardly publicized someone who wasn't under contract.

``I received a call a couple of days earlier from WWE. It wasn't Vince McMahon, but it was somebody prominent there asking me, telling me they were going to mention it,'' Foley recalls.

``They asked me if I was also interested in a WWE.com interview. I started laughing. I thought, `You know this is crazy,' and it was. It was an enjoyable week but really surreal. I don't know how successful this book will be, but if it is a success, I think it will be, in part, to the interest they helped create with those mentions.''

Foley was interviewed by WWE.com's Joey Styles on various topics. However, his time with TNA was not mentioned.

``I think it was a given that they were doing an awful lot by letting me talk about the book that it was just assumed that people either knew where I had gone or when I left or didn't need to know,'' he said.

``I'm very grateful for what they did print. I don't think they left anything out. I don't think it had anything to do with a publishing deal. If the intention was to make me more likely to want to go into the [WWE] Hall of Fame one day, it was successful because any ill will I had was erased by those gestures.''

The book features many TNA stars including a touching chapter on Kurt Angle. There is Jeremy Borash's ``Furley Eyes'' and Jay Lethal, who on occasion, plays the Al Snow role as the subject of a few light-hearted zingers. However, it's the Motor City Machine Guns Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin who are referenced frequently.

``I know a couple of guys who read it in TNA,'' Foley said.

``I hope Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin read it because they got the most mentions out of anybody with the exception of Sting, who was my opponent for Lockdown.

``I really saw and continue to see big things for these guys. I feel like the efforts and matches they had with Beer Money are proof of how good they are and how right I was to single them out.''

Foley not only Tweeted a countdown to the release of the book, but also for the night his verbal showdown with Ric Flair would air. The segment was on last week's TNA iMPACT! and set up their last man standing match on the live show 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7 on Spike TV.

``I was very happy with everything,'' said Foley.

``I should have maneuvered myself into a better camera shot once my eyebrow was split open. That was really my only fault with it. A few people mentioned we talked over each other as reason to think it wasn't as good as I thought it was.


``The truth is people talk over each other in real life, and that was a very real situation with real emotions and feeling in it. I think it was one of the best things I've done in a long time.''

He has high hopes for his fight with The Nature Boy.

``The best way to prepare for that is probably not to be on a book tour, driving around and doing these signings,'' said Foley.

``I am getting a little extra sleep. I changed my 7 a.m. flight to a 1 p.m. so I can get a little rest. I really hope I have a good effort in my tank because I would like for fans to talk about this match in a positive way when we're done.''

Another strong focus of the show and TNA's Bound For Glory PPV on Sunday, Oct. 10 is where the Abyss character will go next. The longtime TNA wrestler's hardcore style is very reminiscent of Foley.

``I'm a big fan of Abyss,'' Foley said.

``He has always said great things about me and how can someone read those and hear those and not feel like it's a compliment. As a character I think he has grown tremendously in the past year. He went from being kind of pigeonholed, as someone less than a complete package, to someone I think is a great bad guy and a valuable guy on our roster.''

Injuries and all, Foley 45, continues competing in the ring. Some might think he's middle-aged and crazy after all the abuse he has endured. Then you look at the veteran originally given that moniker, the 66-year-old Terry Funk, who remains active in the business.

``As long as Terry's safe and enthusiastic, I don't see why he can't entertain people,'' said Foley.

``He has still got that emotion on a nightly basis that I can only capture in a great while. I even said when I wrote Terry's forward in his book that Terry and Ric Flair were the only two guys that I thought when I saw them I could really feel `it', that emotion every time in the ring.''

No matter the outcome with Flair, the veteran is looking to evolve with TNA following iMPACT! and Bound For Glory.

``I do have some good ideas coming up. I like the direction the company has gone the last several months. I'm as guilty as anybody for some of the comedy aspects of the show the past couple of years. I like the fact it has been toned down, and it's a more serious show. I would like to see continued emphasis on guys who can wrestle getting the chance to do so.

``There are so many guys back there who have so much talent, and there are only so many minutes in a show. I think when you see a guy like the Pope really get a chance to shine, it's very encouraging. I like the fact that as soon as Hulk Hogan came in, he saw something in Abyss and decided to put a spotlight on him.

``With the Guns, there is no question there has been more focus on them and tag team wrestling since Hogan and Eric Bischoff came in. I know you can't push too many guys simultaneously, or none of it means anything. With that said, I think they are doing the right thing with the young guys, and hopefully we will all benefit long term.''

Aside from his book and work with TNA, it was announced the grappler's life will be the subject of a feature film. Union Square's Media Division will produce the film with American Original founder Jeff Katz, whose movie credits include ``Snakes on a Plane.'' Christopher J. Scott will be directing, as well as co-writing with Foley.

``We do have some good ideas,'' Foley said.

``We realize we can't do the A to Z, Kevin Costner does `Wyatt Earp' biography, because it's kind of boring. No matter how well it's done, you're not going to be able to keep people's attention. We do have a really good narrative that we are going to work from. I think it would be more meaningful, if I didn't tell people what it was.

``Producer Jeff Katz threw out Joaquin Phoenix's name [to play me], which may come as a surprise, but it was a surprise to me when I found out he was playing Johnny Cash. He did pretty well with that one. So I don't know.

``That was just one name I heard. There are not a lot of actors playing the big guys because that is not a look valued in Hollywood. Maybe we will cast a relative unknown. Maybe it will be a great role for some up-and-coming independent guy.''

Something else Foley can look forward to is accepting the 2011 Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award in April at the Cauliflower Alley Club's annual reunion and banquet in Las Vegas. He will be recognized based on his success in more than one area of professional wrestling. It's another chapter in his storied career to be written.

``My first reaction when I heard I was nominated was to question if I was a good enough recipient for something like this,'' said Foley.

``When they got back to me and said that most of the people felt I was, that was a really big deal and a huge honor. It's not for me to say, if I'm worthy of it. It's for the people casting the votes. So I'm glad they felt I was.''

? ``Countdown to Lockdown: A Hardcore Journal'' is available now.

? Mick Foley battles Ric Flair on a live TNA iMPACT! 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7 on Spike TV.

? Bound For Glory, TNA's biggest pay-per-view of the year, occurs 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 10 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla

Tags: Ric Flair, Mick Foley, TNA, WWE, Sting, Al Snow, Terry Funk