Mick Foley Names His Mt. Rushmore Of Play-By-Play Announcers, Recalls the Birth Of ‘Bang Bang’

On a recent edition of Foley is Pod, Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy credited Dusty Rhodes for pushing Jack’s “Bang Bang” catchphrase. Foley also praised the early 90s WCW commentary teams, giving his “Mount Rushmore” of play-by-play announcers. Read some excerpts below, bang bang!

On the first time he said ‘bang bang’: “Bang… bang… bang… on the door, baby. You can actually hear me sing ‘on the door baby.’ So it wasn’t a quick ‘BANG BANG!’ Have no idea where it came from. It was just one of those things.”

On delivering his elbow to the floor on Ned Brady: “Shout out to [Nasty Ned Brady]. Ned had great facial expressions. He was just such a magnificent loser, if that makes sense. Now, he takes the clothesline, he rolls into perfect position. It was about eleven-twelve feet away. Boom, I hit that thing on the hockey arena floor. Come up with the catchphrase that would tide me over for many years.”

On Dusty Rhodes pushing him to use bang bang more: “I liked it, but it was also in ’91, where Dusty talked to me about it and how much he liked it, and to emphasize it even more. So somewhere in that fifteen month period… I had been utilizing it. It was alive, but Dusty really urged me to push it to the forefront.”

On the WCW commentary team helping to put him over: “I was really lucky that the announcing team, they were interested in my character. It was a character that was easy to work with from an announcing perspective. So up and down the line, I had [Jim Ross], of course. With all due respect to Gordon [Solie], JR is the best I’ve ever seen. He will graciously say we’re all playing for second place and give the Dean the nod. But JR is the best there’s ever been.”

Mick on his Mt. Rushmore of play-by-play announcers: “I would have Lance Russell up there. This is as the primary announcers; the color matches are so much more plentiful. I would say JR, Gordon, Lance… Vince. Vince was that hyperbole, man. ‘Dowwwwn to the canvas, oh, whatta maneuver.’ And with ‘whatta maneuver,’ there’s a whole lot less learning that needs to take place.”

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