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An Apology To Amanda

Posted: Feb 25th 2016 By: Mick Foley

Several months ago, I was pretty tough on Amanda, based on a comment she made during the finale of WWE's Tough Enough. I was tough on her in a tweet I sent out that night, and even tougher in a Facebook post I sent out the next day.A few months later, I met Chelsea Green, another Tough Enough contestant, at the Minneapolis airport, en-route to Saskatchewan, Canada, where we would both be appearing in the motion picture #Chokeslam. I was surprised when Chelsea received a text message from Amanda - since they hadn't exactly come off as buddies on the show - and even more surprised when Chelsea told me that Amanda was actually a nice young lady who she considered a friend.

But what about all the terrible things she said on the show? That, Chelsea told me, was done to create drama on the show.Essentially, she was portraying a heel character on the show...something I did quite a bit of in my own life. Now, I could argue that Amanda shouldn't have made any comment about another contestant's sexual past - even if the comment was suggested to her to create "heat" and interest on the show. Couldn't she have shot the suggestion down?. Maybe so. Then again, just off the top of my head, here are three things in my professional career that I knew I shouldn't have done - but did anyway:

1) I shouldn't have allowed my last name to be "Manson" in World Class and during my first run in WCW. Sure, the name was a surprise when I walked down the aisle of the Sportatorium in Dallas for the first time, and heard my name announced as "Cactus Jack Manson". It bothered me, but not enough to risk my job over it - and I eventually played into it...even though I knew in my heart that playing into the image of a notorious murderer like Charles Manson was dubious, at best.
2) I ABSOLUTELY knew that there was NO WAY, in my first appearance on WWE TV in three years, that I should have agreed to be part of "This is Your Life, John Cena" that was INTENTIONALLY bad. Every bone in my body told me that being part of it was a bad idea - but, after three years away, I didn't want to rock the boat, so by golly, I went out there and intentionally stunk up the place to the best of my abilities!
3) This one may seem random, especially because it was edited out of Smackdown, and has never been seen, but I deeply regret calling Stephanie McMahon an inappropriate name in the buildup to my matches with Triple H in 2000. Some of you have seen that buildup - it was great, and in no way needed the name-calling thing. But I did it, because I knew it would get a reaction - essentially doing the same slut-shaming I accused Amanda of - just for the sake of a cheap pop. To this day, I'll find myself thinking back to that promo - saying to myself over and over "what were you thinking?"

I did apologize publicly to Amanda on Twitter, and in several subsequent direct messages to her. The apology was accepted immediately, and unconditionally,,,but I don't think it's enough. Like a retraction of an error in a newspaper, far more people heard about the criticism than actually saw the apology.

Remember what Uncle Ben told Peter Parker about power? With great power comes great responsibility. The trust and faith people around the world have placed in me is a tremendous from of power. It's a power that allows me to draw attention to issues that are important to me - whether it be women's wrestling, Autism Awareness or the #WrestleManiaDreamVacation sweepstakes for RAINN. But it's also a responsibility.I had a responsibility to know my facts before I took to a keyboard to attack Amanda. I did not live up to that responsibility. And I'm truly sorry for that.

I'm wishing Amanda the very best - and am looking forward to watching her tonight on #TotalDivas tonight, and to meeting her in the future...at which point I will apologize again.