On a recent edition of his “The ARN Show” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson discussed Mick Foley’s early stint in the wrestling industry before he made a name for himself as Mankind in WWE.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether there was talk among wrestlers about where they fit in the new direction of WCW: “Again, not — you know, I was glad to be where I was. I’m just, ‘I’ve already been there and I’ve already done that, and if they want to bring some showbiz and our lives,’ whatever the remaining time all my contract was, I was set. And that governed every thought that I had during that time… I was a wrestler, I would go wrestle. You have to have those. You can’t have everybody be showbiz; you have to have a blend. My spot was boots, tights, tape around the wrist, go wrestle for 15 minutes.”
On Mick Foley taking damage to his body due to his style: “No [it wasn’t detrimental to the industry], but I think he beat his own body up to a degree that — and the first time that that I witnessed him taking these bumps off the apron to the floor on his back and all that stuff, I went up to him and I said, it’s a famous conversation. I said ‘Jesus Christ, Cactus. You ain’t got no sense.’ And he said, ‘No, Mr. Anderson, I don’t have any money.’ That says it all, don’t it?”
On Foley trying to stand out with his style and doing bumps on concrete: “He had dug out a ditch that nobody could follow. It would have killed anybody else to take the bumps. I mean, if you take a bump from the apron to the cement floor, there’s a pretty good chance you’re gonna break your back. Break your neck, break your back, knock your hip out, whatever it may be. I couldn’t have taken that bump. And he was willing to do that because he saw a niche where he could create his own [style]. And he was willing to beat his body up to do it.”
