Mark O’Connell: First off, what can fans expect in your Hardcore Match against Edge at Wrestlemania 22?

Mick Foley: Well, you know… they can expect me to attempt to live up to my reputation. It remains to be seen whether I can do that or not, but they can rest assured if I come up short it will not be due to lack of effort. I intend for this to hang with stuff I have done in the past.

Mark O’Connell: Could this be the definitive hardcore match?

Mick Foley: I hope so. You know, it’s going to be tough to top 2004’s Backlash. But people can’t stand Edge, and Edge is highly motivated. He’s attempting to show people, including me, that he really does belong in main event status. I think he’s going to try and use this match to prove it.

 Mark O’Connell: Are you planning to compete as yourself, or as Cactus Jack?

Mick Foley: You know, that remains to be seen. I reserve the right to work as whatever character I want. So, I think at this point if I just go as Mick Foley, but dressed as Cactus Jack…

Mark O’Connell: That could work….

Mick Foley: That could work, because honestly, there are some people out there who have never heard of Cactus Jack. So give the Cactus stuff to the fans that really like it, and I’ll be billed probably as Mick Foley in the same sense for marketing.

Mark O’Connell: The first time I ever saw Cactus Jack was in WCW, and I think you had lost your memory.

Mick Foley: Oh, hey - that’s not a real good memory! That’s not a… (laughs)… if somebody wants a career retrospective there is a reason why those film clips aren’t on it.

Mark O’Connell: I never saw the end of that story.

Mick Foley: You know what, they pulled the plug on it. It was so bad they decided to just stop airing it.

Mark O’Connell: Wow - It’s a shame.

Mick Foley: I was good in it though. As a guy who lost his memory I was pretty good. You know the whole scenario was a little bit dumb.

Mark O’Connell: You stuck out to me. I wasn’t too into WCW but I was following your memory loss…

Mick Foley: Thank you!

Mark O’Connell: So, you have been out of the ring for a while - what have you been doing to prepare for this match?

Mick Foley: Well, I’m working as hard as my 80-year-old-man-knees will allow me to. I’ve been working hard cardiovascularly. The problem is there is no real exercise that can mirror being in the ring. So I’m sure my cardiovascular system will be in for one hell of a shock on Sunday.

Mark O’Connell: What other matches are you looking forwards to?

Mick Foley: You know what - I’m not even concentrating on any of them. You know, I’m actually looking forwards to the post-Wrestlemania party where I can make up for all the good eating I’ve been doing. So that’s what I have my sights set on. Talking with the WWE Divas, who for some reason think I’m the man – in a big brotherly type of way, and eating lots of bad food. Yeah!

Mark O’Connell: And patching up all your cuts?

Mick Foley: Yeah… I’ll feel that stuff the next day. After Wrestlemania I’ll be fine for about 10 hours and when I wake up I’ll think, “What have I done to myself”? And if I’m not sore in the morning I haven’t done my job.

Mark O’Connell: Most people consider your main highlight as when you fell off the Hell in a Cell, but what are your personal careers highlights?

Mick Foley: You know what, I really liked the Backlash match I had with Randy Orton, 2 years ago. Because I felt like it proved something, not only to the people but to myself. After coming up short at Wrestlemania a month earlier, so I feel like I need to go out there and prove it again. And every couple of years I need that big match, so that was one of them. And of course, writing ‘Have a nice Day’, my towering New York Times number 1 best seller. It was number 1 in the UK also...

Mark O’Connell: It was.

Mick Foley: And in several parts of the World. That was… it proved a lot to people as well, because a lot of people out there are under the assumption that wrestlers can’t read let alone write. And I jotted down 200,000 words by hand in 50 days and it turned into a New York Times number 1 best seller.

Mark O’Connell: Unlike The Rock, you actually wrote it yourself.

Mick Foley: Yeah! Yeah, but in fairness to The Rock, if I had had a writer, you know that was doing a good job I never would have dreamed of writing it myself. It turned out, I thought I had a boring story on my hands, so I took over the reigns, and I never knew that people would enjoy my style.

Mark O’Connell: You have had numerous injuries obviously throughout your career. Which was the most painful?

Mick Foley: You know what, I’ll have to go with the broken heart I suffered in high school. But as far as wrestling injuries, I did loose one ear.

Mark O’Connell: In Germany.

Mick Foley: Yeah. Yeah, in Germany. Good homework! And I’d say that when I tore my abdominal muscle wrestling Ron Simmons in 1993. That was the most sickeningly painful feeling I’ve ever had. Aside from watching a series of Al Snow matches!

Mark O’Connell: A scene that stuck out in the documentary ‘Beyond the Mat’ was the Royal Rumble match…

Mick Foley: Right.

Mark O’Connell: …where the Rock got carried away with a steel chair. Has he ever apologised for what happened?

Mick Foley: Not only has he apologised; he also cuts me in on 10% of his Hollywood profits.

Mark O’Connell: That’s not bad going.

Mick Foley: So nice guy. So, I don’t really have to be here signing autographs. I’m just doing it because I like it.

Mark O’Connell: He’s out working for you…

Mick Foley: He’s out working for me yeah. So if he pulls in 10 million, I’m pulling in one of those millions. He’s doing well. The better he does, the better I do.

Mark O’Connell: Exactly. What’s your most embarrassing moment? Have there been times where you’ve had to stop yourself from laughing?

Mick Foley: Yeah, actually there was one time with The Rock, and it’s kind of a graphic story for mature audiences. It has a sexual overtone to it, so if you want to hear about that, you probably have to read about that in Foley Is Good.

Mark O’Connell: It wasn’t the penis suplex was it?

Mick Foley: No… (laughs) no, but that was a tremendous story! And when I go to colleges I always end with that story, because it leaves people, you know, on a high note. If a somewhat sickening high note.

Mark O’Connell: Yes! So, sales of ECW DVD’s are going through the roof at the moment.

Mick Foley: Yeah.

Mark O’Connell: Would you like to see the brand return fulltime?

Mick Foley: No, I don’t think it can return fulltime. But I think they can find a balance between doing it once a year and doing it fulltime. But maybe if this one is successful it will kinda keep the ball rolling.

Mark O’Connell: Has your relationship with Ric Flair improved?

Mick Foley: Good, yeah. I think if you ask Ric, he’d say that. Yeah, he thinks that I’m alright. We’ll never be best of friends but we did sit next to each other from Manila to Los Angeles, which is a fourteen-hour trip, and then from Los Angeles to Washington. So that was my twenty hours with Flair. You know, I should probably build it up like we hate each other but that would not be true.

Mark O’Connell: Your last novel; ‘Scooter’, was a fictional story set in 1960’s New York.

Mick Foley: Right.

Mark O’Connell: What have you got planned next? Will it be another fictional tale?

Mick Foley: Well you know what? What I’ve done in fiction is I wrote one story, which took place in the 80’s in upstate New York. Then we went back 20 years to the 60’s in the Bronx. And what I’m going to do next time is, I’m going to go back even further down into the New Jersey area, and I’m going to set it in a time when Al Snow won his last match (laughs). Sorry, no. I’m actually going to do some non-fiction, another wrestling book. My first one since 2001.

Mark O’Connell: Do you have a modern day Al Snow in mind? Someone new that you’d like to feature heavily, or is it still Al Snow?

Mick Foley: You know what, I’m not going to milk the Al Snow thing when I come back. You know what, I had some fun, you know, making fun of Chris Norwinski on our last trip to Washington. He and I had a little healthy competition seeing who Miss America liked better.

Mark O’Connell: Alright.

Mick Foley: And I’m not saying she was digging me in a romantic way, but she… we came out of the experience as good friends. And how many people can say they are friends with Miss America?

Mark O’Connell: Not many. If the chance arose, would you like to pursue a career in movies?

Mick Foley: Nah, not really. I had a talk with a couple of the actresses who are here today, and I said, you know, at one time I was thinking about it, and I realised deep down I didn’t have the drive to be a good actor. But if I’m given the chance, like I was about two months ago to show up for a day, and do a scene with a guy like Willem Dafoe, I’ll take it. But my idea of acting is show up for one day, do twenty takes with a really good actor, have fun off the set, and go home.

Mark O’Connell: Right. If you could face any wrestler, alive or dead, past or present, in any kind of match, what would it be?

Mick Foley: You know what, the three guys I always wanted to wrestle, and hadn’t when I retired in 2000 was Bruiser Brody, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. And I’ve wrestled Flair at Wrestlemania, albeit in a five-man match. Bruiser Brody is deceased, so that’s probably not going to happen. So I’ll go with the Hulkster, just because it would be nice to have that on my resume. Yeah, when it’s all said and done.

Mark O’Connell: Good choice.
 
Mick Foley: Plus, I think I can make a fortune doing it!

Mark O’Connell: Well, yeah. Whether the match is good or bad, you know people are going to watch it!

Mick Foley: Yeah, that’s right.

Mark O’Connell: Who do you think of the newest Superstars in WWE, will become the future franchise players?

Mick Foley: You know what, I like MNM. I think the combination the guys have with Melina is really unique. Randy Orton’s still considered a young talent, and in a lot of ways he’s still improving. And Edge is not a young talent. He’s been doing it fifteen years, but he’s finally getting a chance at the big time, so I’ll include him as a guy who is going to shape the future. If he’s in any shape to walk after he deals with me at Wrestlemania!

Mark O’Connell: I think he’s going to be in a mess. How would you like to be remembered?

Mick Foley: You know what, I like the idea that I was both the hardest core wrestler and the silliest of all the wrestlers, you know, in my Commissioner Foley role. Maybe silliest isn’t the right word for it, but the nerdiest maybe. So I like the idea that I can make laugh and make them sick, and nobody has a better gift for doing it like I did.

Mark O’Connell: Have you got any messages for your fans at home?

Mick Foley: Where, back in the States?

Mark O’Connell: Everywhere…

Mick Foley: You know, I really just want to thank them for remembering me six hours, six years after retiring because, the truth is, you know, wrestling fans can have short memories and I never really gave… I never really thought they’d consider me somebody worth remembering six years after retiring.

Mark O’Connell: Well that’s great. Thank you very much for your time, and good luck at Wrestlemania!

Mick Foley: Alright, appreciate it! It was a great day. This is the hardcore legend Mick Foley, RIGHT HERE with Mark O’Connell. Bang bang!

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