Mick Foley has recalled how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon once told him he should never wrestle again after making numerous mistakes in a match.
Al Snow and Foley won the WWE Tag Team Championship from Crash Holly and Hardcore Holly on the November 4, 1999 episode of WWE SmackDown. Four days later, they quickly dropped the titles to Billy Gunn and Road Dogg on the next episode of WWE RAW.
Speaking on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show, Foley said the pre-taped SmackDown match had to be edited due to his “really awkward” mistakes. Following the match, Vince McMahon told Foley that his in-ring career was over.
“I did my move where I think Bob [Hardcore] Holly catches the boot, spins me, and I fell down. I made a couple of really awkward mistakes that I really let down, because I always put a lot of pride in my performance. I didn’t wanna be the guy phoning it in. That night I really felt like I let myself down. Vince said, ‘Mick, you’ve just had your last match.’ I was like, ‘You sure you don’t want me to do…’ ‘No, that’s it.’”
Steve Austin underwent neck surgery in January 2000, forcing him to miss almost an entire year of in-ring action. As a result, Vince McMahon decided he wanted to keep Mick Foley on the WWE roster for another few months.
Vince McMahon booked Mick Foley in a retirement match
In early 2000, Vince McMahon lacked credible babyface superstars on the WWE roster who could challenge Triple H for the WWE Championship.
Although he originally wanted Mick Foley to retire, the WWE Chairman approached him about having two matches against Triple H. Foley added,
“Hunter [Triple H] is about to take off as the number one heel. He needs someone to work with to further establish him in that role, and deep down I want to go out with the type of matches that I had. This is not a knock on Big Show, but Big Show wasn’t ready to be that guy then. And so Vince asked me and Hunter if we thought we could pull off main-event quality matches. ‘Yes, we can.’”
Foley lost a Street Fight against Triple H at the Royal Rumble and a Hell in a Cell retirement match at No Way Out. The WWE legend also participated in a Fatal 4-Way match against Triple H, The Rock, and The Big Show at WrestleMania 2000.
Please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
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