WWE.com
Mick Foley recent spoke with rvamag.com about a wide range of topics. Check out the interview down below:
Talking about diagnosing a problem, you’ve been pretty vocal about the way WWE is mishandling the Daniel Bryan character due to his overwhelming popularity. Without destroying another TV, what are you feeling about Daniel Bryan now?
You know what, this is the truth. I’m not pandering to Virginia right now. Not that I’m above it, but I’m not right now. I was helping my son with his Civil War homework. Luckily, unlike almost everything else my kids study in school, I do know a lot about the Civil War. When Robert E. Lee’s name came up, I said that one of the things that made him a great general was that when he signed the treaty at Appomattox Court House, he knew that the gig was up. He knew when to surrender. Literally, that night, I thought I should be like Robert E. Lee, because to fight this thing would just drag myself and the people who like me down. I’ve decided instead to look all of the positives that WWE has to offer instead of being this voice crying out in the darkness about the way I think things should be run. Besides, there’s a good chance they’ll turn it around. If they do and WrestleMania ends in 75,000 people on their feet chanting “Yes! Yes!”, I’ll be the first one to admit I was wrong.
You had a lot of people shaking their heads lately when you said that Daniel Bryan was more over than you ever were.
They’re shaking their heads in that they disagree with me?
Yep. You were one of the biggest stars of the biggest eras in wrestling history. Do you really think Daniel Bryan is more over than you were?
Thank you, I will admit to that, but I was never the guy. The being really in big capital letters. He is THE guy. People are showing up specifically to cheer him on and follow him on this journey. My title victory over The Rock was importantly historically because of the number of people who switched channels to WWE from WCW during what we called The Monday Night Wars. But I was always like the third or fourth guy. I had a lot of layers to the characters and put a lot of myself into those characters so that people could make an emotional connection. I’m beyond flattered and thankful that people still remember me so fondly fourteen years after I stopped wrestling full-time, but I was never as popular at any given point or time as Daniel is right now and I will stand by that completely.
Have you gotten a chance to try out the new WWE Network yet?
Yes, I did and it’s tremendous. I think that it’s a win-win for everybody. Obviously, it’s a win for WWE, but it’s also a win for me and my children who get to check out anything we want at any time. Although Thursday night, the PlayStation 3 was not cooperating with us so we were not able to the NXT show. In the long run, I think it really helps guys like me by exposing what we did to an entire new generation of fans. There was a similar feeling I think when my DVD, For All Mankind, came out just about a year ago. There was a generation of people who had only heard the name and couldn’t figure out why this sloppy looking guy carrying quite an extra bit of weight was such a big deal. The DVD gave them the chance to say, “Oh, I get it!” I think the Network will do the same thing for me over the course of time. Allow an entirely new generation to get it. To get me.
You were definitely not alone in not being able to view parts of the NXT show from Thursday night. What do you make of all the technical problems and issues the Network has had so far?
I know the McMahons are consulting with the Obama Health Care people on this one. [Laughs] I don’t know though. I think if no one was looking for the Network, if the interest was minimal, I’m sure they would not have encountered these problems. They’ll get it ironed out though. I think there’s a definite parallel though. Just one of those things that will hopefully improve with time.