INTERVIEW CLASSIC: Mick Foley talks King of the Ring 1997 vs. Triple H, Taker breaking character, Fiend-Mankind parallels, Samoa Joe, more

Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast

Wade Keller

Leisure, Sports, Tv & Film

3.8 • 903 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2025

⏱️ 106 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s Interview Classic episode from five years ago (4-17-2020), PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents an interview with Mick Foley, a pioneer of early hardcore style wrestling and one of his generation’s great promo artists. In this wide-ranging interview lasting well over an hour, Foley talks about these topics:

His memories of the 1997 King of the Ring match with Triple H that was highlighted on Raw last week in the Triple H Career Moment Countdown.
Advice Triple H gave him about his in-ring style as a babyface.
His thoughts on empty arena wrestling, his memories of Backlash 1999's Boiler Room match with Big Show and his Halftime Heat match with The Rock (including a great story on helping Rock prepare by watching the Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler empty arena match).
The parallels of The Fiend/Bray Wyatt and Mankind/Mick Foley characters with a critique of Bray's early work.
How he feels about pro wrestling still happening despite the rest of entertainment shutting down due to the coronavirus.
His thoughts on Vince McMahon and how he has changed over the years.
Memories of working for Joe Pedicino and his Global Wrestling Federation.
NXT starting a true developmental off-shoot where wrestlers can find their voice in a smaller setting.
His son working behind the scenes in NXT and where his son's passion lies.
Working with Big Show on his new Netflix sitcom series.
Did Big Show have the career he deserved?
His kinship with Chris Jericho and thoughts on the long-lasting career he's had.
A great anecdote about Japanese wrestling culture, Jericho bulking up, and Jericho's approach to t-shirts in Japan.
What prompted him to compliment Samoa Joe's color commentary on Twitter.
His thoughts on MVP and the new team of Cedric Alexander & Ricochet.
His opinion on Drew McIntyre as a centerpiece top act in WWE.
His updated thoughts on the women's division in WWE including Becky Lynch.

VIP AFTERSHOW TOPICS…

Any interest in writing another wrestling book and the plot idea he has in mind.
Mick’s position on semi-colons and commas.
Someone who betrayed his trust and how it changed his approach to interacting online.
Which two or three wrestlers did he have the most fun working with.
His thoughts on Undertaker breaking character and diving into social media and long-form interviews, in light of Mick’s Hall of Fame speech comment about not wanting to live in a world where Undertaker is Tweeting.
What he’s doing to fill his time isolating himself during the coronavirus.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	One benefit of VIP membership is access to our back issue library, contemporaneous, in-depth, insider reporting on pro wrestling in real time over the past 30-plus years.
0:11.7	And throughout the year 2022, we're going to begin our March through the year 2002 with back issues posted each week in PDF and all text formats.
0:20.8	You can read it in a PDF format with our original
0:22.7	magazine slash newsletter style layout on your screen and flip through the pages, or you can read
0:28.0	a straightforward all text format on your phone or tablet or laptop. The back issues early in 2002
0:33.5	covered the arrival of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan to WWE, and all the controversy
0:38.4	that came with them. Plus my cover story that broke the news on the planned launch by Jerry
0:44.3	and Jeff Jarrett of a promotion called TNA. Also, the early 2002 features are 2001
0:50.4	year-in review features, including ranking Pro Wrestling's most influential power brokers and our
0:55.9	torch year-end awards, the year in quotes, and the top 50 stories ranked in order from the year
1:02.5	2001. So go VIP and dive into our back issues. We have most of our back issues available
1:08.2	as soon as you sign up with new back issues week by week from the year 2002 one at a time throughout the year 2022 pwtorch.com
1:16.5	slash go VIP pwtorch.com slash go VIP that's pwtorch.com slash go VIP for full information
1:24.8	and our sign up form. It's more than podcasts.
1:28.3	It's an unmatched library of wrestling history spending more than three decades as soon as
1:33.5	you sign up with more issues added throughout the year.
1:58.0	Now, P.W. Torch and Spreaker bring you the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling podcast. It's time for this week's interview classic, where Wade Keller interviews one of Pro Wrestling's Newsmakers.
2:08.8	Five years ago this week, I interviewed Mick Foley, and we covered a lot, including his memories of the 1997 King of the Ring match with Triple H that was highlighted on Raw the
2:12.4	previous week in the Triple H career moment countdown.
2:16.1	Also advice Triple H gave him about his in-ring style as a baby face, his thoughts on empty arena wrestling in the Triple H career moment countdown. Also advice, Triple H gave him about his in-ring style as a baby face,
2:19.3	his thoughts on empty arena wrestling in the pandemic,
2:22.3	his memories of Backlash 1999's boiler room match with Big Show
	...

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