Mick Foley Shares His Thoughts on Deathmatch Wrestling, Recalls Nick Gage Nearly Dying During One

On a recent episode of Foley is Pod, the former Cactus Jack talked modern deathmatch wrestling and what he likes and doesn’t like about them. You can check out some highlights from the discussion below:

On using light tubes in matches: “I don’t like light tubes because they don’t rate high on the Foley Instantaneous Risk/Reward Ratio Analysis. There is a potential for fans to get injured, and I don’t like that. It’s unpredictable. And I saw what it did to Undertaker when we used light tubes in 1996, in the Boiler Room brawl. It got in and gave him a horrible infection; conceivably, if he didn’t have better medical attention it could have been a really bad mark on his career or the end of his career.”

On Nick Gage almost dying during a deathmatch: “I think Nick Gage had to be resuscitated. He bled out, y’know? He had to be brought back from the dead. I think everybody has to watch out. I do believe these are consenting adults; it’s not something kids should be doing or emulating.”

On easier ways to get pops: “Some of the things that got the biggest pops when I was doing the wild matches are the easiest and least likely to lead to real injuries. I took issue when my own hometown paper tore me apart for the ‘violence’ I used, including salad tongs to the genitalia. I remember calling up the editor and saying, can you point to one incident in real life where someone has been injured with salad tongs? You want to point that out to me? And yet you could get a monster pop, one that would just last a 15-20 second pop, depending on which member of the Nation [of Domination] was willing to run in place and sell it (laughs). If you had a good heel like The Rock, who would run in place, and circle around the ring, you’ve given every person a great view at the goings on. Nobody’s getting hurt.”

On the value of weapons like cheese graters: “Incorporating some of the fun stuff, like a cheese grater. Has there ever been an instrument of destruction easier to feign than the cheese grater? If you’re really applying pressure, and really dicing someone’s head? You’re doing something wrong.”

If using any of the above quotations, please credit Foley is Pod with an h/t 411mania for the transcription.