Mick Foley Shares His Last Conversation With Lanny Poffo, How The Poffos Inspired Him

On a recent episode of Foley Is Pod, Mick paid tribute to the recent passing of Lanny Poffo. Mick shared about conversations he had with Lanny, and talked about how the Poffo family’s legendary money saving inspired him. Read on for highlights!

On Lanny sharing stories about a young Randy Savage: “I had a good talk with Lanny about… four years ago, that was the last time I talked to him at length. It’s great to hear these stories. Lanny was telling me, his brother [Randy Savage], you wouldn’t think that way at all now; [Randy] was getting the in-ring part but he was having trouble with his character. He watched a couple guys, like we all do, we take stuff that works and twist it and make it our own, and I always loved hearing those perspectives.”

On the Poffos’ legendary frugality: “What I was really fascinated by was when I was in my World Class days and one of the guys said I was the most frugal wrestler they’d ever seen. And then Frank Dusek goes, brother, don’t me wrong Jack, you are cheap — but you are not even in the Poffos’ league. And so it was the Poffos and the Rip Rogers who I looked up as the great money savers.”

On the Poffos’ philosophy in Angelo Poffo’s territory: “I think when I first mentioned it to Lanny, he thought I was taking a knock at him, when I was really praising him. Because that was the category that I wanted to be in, you know? Angelo [Poffo] had that territory in Tennessee, Kentucky, parts of Arkansas. They didn’t have the TV behind like Lawler’s company did. They had to save money; they had to work harder. The legendary stuff that I heard about Lanny and Randy doing in these small venues were things that I really connected with. I wanted to be that type of guy.”

On wishing he could go back and watch young Lanny: “We get to see a different type of Lanny Poffo in WWE, then in WCW, and it was enjoyable, but I wish I could go back and see the Lanny who was cutting his teeth in Angelo’s promotion.”

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