Credit: John Carroll
I went to Mick Foley’s comedy show last night in New Brunswick, NJ. At the end of his show he does a Q&A and I asked him a question about the WWE Network (I believe I worded it as “with the WWE Network now replacing PPV, as someone who headlined many PPVs, will you miss having PPV as a part of wrestling and do you think we’re losing something?”). I thought his answer to the VERY full house might interest you.
Basically, Foley said that he’s glad PPV was around during his day (maybe a subtle reference to PPV bonuses now going away?) but he thinks the WWE Network is a great idea. He mentioned having a meeting yesterday in Connecticut with Vince McMahon, though didn’t really go into any specifics on what the meeting entailed. He then gave what I thought sounded like WWE spin (and I don’t mean that at all in a negative way towards Mick, just that I thought this was probably something he heard from them): it’s getting very difficult to convince people to spend $60 a month on a PPV with so many TV channels and so much content out there, so he thinks this plan is the way to go. Maybe that’s WWE’s own internal belief in why their buyrates have plummeted? In which case, the Network makes sense.
Then, without prompting by me or anyone else, he responded to a point the two of you have been making repeatedly since the Network announcement: he said “and I don’t think the PPVs will decrease in meaning or importance- I think SummerSlam and the Rumble will still be very important shows.” I think most people would probably agree with him there- yes, SummerSlam 2014 and Rumble 2015 will probably still both be a big deal even on the Network, for historical reasons more than anything else- but it’s all the B-shows we’re worried about, which he didn’t really address. Anyway, I thought it was interesting and thought I’d share it with you. Also worth noting: the Network got a VERY huge reaction from the crowd as Foley was talking about it. The Network is *over*, among the type who went to Foley’s show at least.
(On another, random note: in the most uncomfortable moment of the night, another fan tried to ask Foley about whether or not Chris Benoit belongs in the Hall of Fame before getting cut off by Foley and roundly booed by the audience. Very awkward, although Foley did basically answer the guy’s question: no, he should not. Yep.)
