Tag: Mick Foley

Mick Foley has the best, most wholesome Taylor Swift story ever

Former WWE star Mick Foley shared his heartwarming reason for why he’s “a Swiftie for life.”

Fans of pro wrestlers always want to believe that their favorites are good people as well as talented performers. That’s true of stars in other fields as well, and the more popular, the higher the hopes that celebrities aren’t jerks — and it’s hard to be any more popular right now than Taylor Swift.

The music superstar has somehow managed to be in the spotlight even more over the past few months thanks to her incredibly successful tour, record-setting Grammys night and relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce. It seems impossible she could keep her head screwed on straight through all of that, right?

Maybe she can. For anecdotal evidence, we turn in an unexpected direction: to the Facebook account of hardcore legend Mick Foley. While Foley says some of his children appreciate Swift’s music more than he does, he’s nevertheless “a Swiftie for life” for the kindness he saw from her in 2007, when Jeff Jarrett was dealing with his first wife’s ultimately unsuccessful battle against cancer.

Foley recalled that someone told him that “Taylor” helped out with Jarrett’s kids during a difficult time … then realized they were talking about Swift.

I’m not even sure who was involved in the conversation with Jeff that I overheard. I believe it was Jeremy Borash… I’m paraphrasing here, but the words were to the effect of “Taylor took the girls out for the day” and how important that time with her was to them. I was literally stunned to find out that the Taylor he had mentioned was Taylor Swift, who in 2007 was already well on her way to being a global superstar, with eponymous 2006 album, “Taylor Swift” several months into an astonishing 157 weeks on the #Billboard200 charts.

As touched as I was by this story, I thought it was a random act of kindness done on a one-time basis. But I came to understand that Taylor, who had become a neighbor of Jeff’s in Hendersonville, Tennessee and was a regular part of the girls lives as they grew up. She did not just take them out for that one day; she was there for them during the most difficult part of their lives. She baked cookies, she sang in their living room, she babysat while Jeff was at his wife’s bedside; she was a true friend and a shining example of kindness when kindness was needed most.

As Jeff himself put it in one of our texts, “Putting the girls in one of her videos (Jeff’s daughter, Jaclyn portrayed young Taylor in the 2010 video “Mine”) is the story most people know. Her spending quality time , baking cookies, talking, just being there, is what’s special. In the middle of her career exploding would have been “a reason” that she was too busy. That young lady is special.”

She truly is. I got tears in my eyes when I read that message from Jeff – and I’m grateful that he has allowed me to share it with all of you.

That’s exactly the kind of thing you want to hear about Swift or anyone on that level of fame. The fact that it has a pro wrestling connection is just the icing on the cake for us.

Mick Foley wants to lose 100 pounds, have a deathmatch for 60th birthday

Mick Foley is considering a deathmatch for his 60th birthday, though he doubts it would be in WWE.

A lot of us started 2024 thinking about the typical resolutions, like losing weight or getting in better shape. There probably aren’t many people, though, who want to drop a whole bunch of weight so they can be in a pro wrestling deathmatch.

Mick Foley isn’t most people. The pro wrestling icon and WWE Hall of Famer hasn’t appeared in a WWE ring since the 2021 Royal Rumble, and hasn’t taken part in a match of any kind since 2015, but he’s entertaining the idea of getting back in shape with a special target in mind: his 60th birthday.

Foley will hit the big 6-0 next summer, in June 2025, and as he explained on the final episode of his podcast, Foley is Pod, he’d like to lose 100 pounds so he can take part in a deathmatch to celebrate the occasion.

You know, like we all do.

“Sixty’s right around the corner, I’m gonna do one final match for my 60th birthday,” Foley said. “Deathmatch.”

“I’m not kidding,” he said when asked if he was joking by co-host Conrad Thompson. “It’d be a great incentive to drop those hundred big ones. And I think it might be fun.”

One thing he did say was not to expect his final match to take place in WWE, which might not have the stomach for what he has in mind.

“No, no, I don’t think so, because I think it would be a pretty gory spectacle.”

Foley said it’s just a thought for the moment, but one that he’s run by two of his children.

It didn’t take long for fans to show up in the podcast’s comments on social media to suggest potential opponents for Foley, including AEW star Jon Moxley. Matt Cardona, perhaps the top name on the indies and no stranger to deathmatches, also appeared to throw his hat in the ring.

There will undoubtedly be a segment of wrestling fandom hoping that Foley reconsiders, given his age and what he’s already given of his physical well-being to entertain people over the years. Still, as a one-off way to ride into the sunset of an incredible career, there’s no denying the thrill it might provide to see Foley get hardcore one last time.

Booker T talks ‘WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures’, plus his personal Holy Grail

Mick Foley and Lita are also vital parts of the “Most Wanted Treasures” team for season 2.

Six-time world champion and two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T is the company’s ultimate jack of all trades. Royal Rumble needs a surprise entrant? He’s down, as he showed earlier this year. NXT needs a commentator? Even though he’s running his own wrestling school and promotion, Reality of Wrestling, he answered the call.

So it should really come as no surprise that when Paul “Triple H” Levesque wanted to be less involved in season 2 of “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures” on A&E, he reached out to Booker T to take point on the new batch of episodes that kick off April 30.

“To ask me to step into his role has been really, really awesome,” Booker T told Wrestling Junkie via Zoom. “I didn’t see that coming or anything like that, but I’ve always been the utility guy in WWE, you know? No matter what role you give me, I’ll handle it.”

In this case, the role is leading a team that hunts down the actual physical objects used in some of the most memorable and iconic moments throughout WWE history. For season 2, he has a pair of legends to help him in Mick Foley and Lita.

“That’s my right hand and my left,” Booker T said of working with his fellow Hall of Famers. “We couldn’t have done it without doing it together, and we’ve been a great team. … We’ve always had a great camaraderie together.”

They’ll need to be to chase down some of the eyebrow-raising memorabilia on the docket for season 2. The items they’ll be hunting include DX’s Invasion Jeep, Macho Man’s Mega Powers robe, the jacket worn by Goldberg in his WWE debut, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s bagpipes.

All of those pieces instantly bring back memories for longtime WWE fans, and finding them is a way of “preserving history,” as Booker puts it. But they’re just as important, if not more so, to the performers involved in making those moments.

Booker T knows that firsthand. One of the season 1 episodes of “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures” was focused on finding some of his own memorabilia, with mixed results. Asked if there’s anything left from his wrestling career that he’d still like to locate, he’s quick to name one thing with special significance.

Image credit: A&E

“The one think I think I wish I had in my possession would be the world title, my first world title that I won in WCW,” he said. “The reason I really loved it is because Ric Flair wore that championship. It had a big bend in the top of it; I don’t know where that bend came from. But I felt so honored wearing that championship. I think DDP stole it.”

“I feel like that trophy is mine,” he added. “Because I was the last WCW World Champion, so that title really truly is mine. So whoever got that championship, they should be gracious enough to find it in their heart to donate that championship to the rightful owner.”

That search might have to wait, as season 2 has a stacked lineup of WWE icons for whom Booker T, Foley and Lita helped pursue their own Holy Grails. It starts with an episode devoted to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, conveniently timed to coincide with the debut of his own new A&E series, “Stone Cold Takes on America.”

Booker T says he doesn’t want to get into any spoilers for the upcoming season, but asked to do one more bit of promotion for it, he happily obliges — exactly as you’d expect from WWE’s most reliable and versatile performers.

“I just want everybody to know, they’re going to get a chance to see some of the most iconic treasures on Earth,” Booker T said. “We’ve got ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, we’ve got Kurt Angle, we’ve got Goldberg, Bret ‘The Hit Man’ Hart, ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage. We got ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, we got the Ultimate Warrior, we got Harlem Heat.

“We’ve got a plethora of treasures that will be found, so just get ready to go on a ride, the ride of a lifetime.”

Season 2 of “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures” debuts on Sunday, April 30 on A&E at 9 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the series premiere of “Stone Cold Takes on America” at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Mick Foley signs new WWE contract, files trademark for ‘Kindman’

Mick Foley revealed that he signed a new Legends contract with WWE, suggesting he’ll have new merchandise soon and potentially more.

WWE fans should expect to see Mick Foley back with the company in some capacity soon — or at least be able to buy more t-shirts for his numerous in-ring personas.

The wrestling icon explained in a video message on July 11 that people only had until July 31 to buy his current line of merchandise available via his personal shop on Pro Wrestling Tees. The reason? He’s signed a new Legends deal with WWE that gives the promotion exclusive rights to his t-shirts.

A Legends contract is essentially a royalties deal, and as Foley explained, has some exclusivity baked into it on WWE’s side. It’s probably a sign that the company has plans to crank up the merchandising machine around Foley’s ever marketable personalities.

Yet similar deals also have contained provisions to pay former wrestlers on a per appearance basis for events, so it’s possible that Foley could show up on WWE programming in some capacity in the not too distant future. It’s not hard to brainstorm ways to work him in; for example, the most recent mystery vignette on Raw featured a burning flannel shirt, so Foley could be brought in to address whoever that turns out to be (presumably Edge).

In the meantime, Fightful reports that Foley also recently applied for a name similar to one of his most famous WWE ring names, Mankind. While WWE owns that one, Foley has applied for its inverse, Kindman, with the trademark “intended to cover the categories of entertainment in the nature of wrestling contests; Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer.”

However all of this plays out, it suggests that wrestling fans will get to see more of Foley soon, and that’s always a surefire way to ensure they have a nice day.

Mick Foley talks MMA’s influence on the art of pro wrestling, and ‘Peanut Butter Falcon’

Don’t think MMA influences wrestling and vice versa? Consider how an armbar looked in wrestling back in the day and how it does now.

Back in [autotag]Mick Foley[/autotag]’s day, an armbar was primarily a move used to fill time during the beginning of a pro wrestling match. 

If someone placed Foley’s alter ego Cactus Jack in an armbar back in the 1980s, Foley would slap the mat with his free hand to register the pain, kick his legs repeatedly so the people in the cheap seats could see how the move affected him, and give the camera his best agonized grimace.

He wouldn’t do much to defend against the hold, and certainly wouldn’t submit to it. Eventually, Foley and his opponent would transition to something else, ideally before the crowd started chanting “boring.”

“People really didn’t know back then,” the WWE Hall of Famer and best-selling author told MMA Junkie. “Maybe some of the more hardcore fans did, but the people weren’t educated on something like what a real armbar looked like, so we took it and used it to fit the style of the time.”

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These days? Due to mixed martial arts’ influence, a generation has grown up knowing what an armbar can do in a real fight. Thus, they know that if it is properly applied, a fighter has a window of a few seconds to come up with a line of defense, otherwise their options are to tap or snap. 

In that way, MMA has spilled over into pro wrestling. If you watch WWE or AEW these days, an armbar is a finishing maneuver, perhaps played up a bit more for dramatic effect than what you’d see in the UFC, but it’s made an impact on the art of wrestling performance all the same.

As Foley himself notes, [autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag] made millions of dollars in MMA off the strength of her real-life submission skills during her pioneering UFC run, then transitioned to headlining WrestleMania in large part on the strength of her public persona as a real-life badass.

“Look at what Ronda accomplished,” Foley said. “The people these days know what’s real in a fight, and wrestling is constantly evolving and adapting, and so now you’re seeing more of that. Just look at the way wrestlers throw kicks and elbows now compared to how they used to. There are more similarities between wrestlers and fighters, and the wrestling business and MMA, than you’d think.”

That goes for the movie business, too. While Foley still has a hand in wrestling and continues to do a successful touring one-man stage show called “Have a Nice Day,” which chronicles his life’s exploits, he’s also dabbled in the film realm.

His most recent Hollywood exploit was a part in the surprise hit “Peanut Butter Falcon.” The critically acclaimed film starring Shia LeBeouf, which was recently released on Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital, resonated with audiences. It’s became 2019’s highest grossing indie film, topping the $20 million mark, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and has an approval rating of 95 percent on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

Foley plays the role of a wrestling referee in the climactic scene in which Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a 22-year old with Down syndrome, lives out his dream of doing a backyard pro wrestling match against Sam, played by another wrestling legend in Jake “The Snake” Roberts. And Foley believes the film’s success has come about due to it’s earnest and authentic tone. 

“Zack was just so genuine,” Foley said. “His character was so well thought-out and portrayed. That really shined through, and it spilled over onto everything else, and I think it resonated with people of all ages because you can tell when you’re seeing something authentic, and that’s why audiences responded as they have.”

While the Long Island native’s first love was wrestling, he’s grown to become an MMA fan over the years. Foley noted he’ll be in attendance at the PFL’s Dec. 31 championships at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, where friend and former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia will serve in a similar function.

Which leads to the question: Would Foley have given MMA a chance if it was a thing back in his day?

“Nah,” Foley said with a laugh. “Look, I can take punishment, and MMA fighters can take punishment, too, but they’re world-class athletes. What we do is athletic, too, but I was a performer, and that’s what I was drawn to.” 

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.