Mick Foley Recounts Telling Vince McMahon He Couldn’t Remember Where He Lived, How Vince Reacted

Mick Foley brought his in-ring career to an end in 2012, but he recently recalled how it almost happened 13 years earlier. Foley’s final match to date was an appearance in the 2012 Royal Rumble. He has appeared in some spots where he’s taken an occasional bump here and there in WWE and on the independent scene, but has not returned to the ring for an official match.

Foley was on the latest Something to Wrestle for their “Curtain Jerkers” segment and recalled how he planned to retire in 1999 when he started having some memory issues. He recalled the conversation he had with Vince McMahon over the matter, and said it would have bene his last match had Steve Austin not gone down to a neck injury. Instead, Foley continued through WrestleMania 2000, after which he semi-retired from active competition. He would of course return for occasional matches in WWE and then had a three-year run in TNA, before he returned to WWE for his final (thus far) retirement. You can see highlights below:

On Nearly Retiring In 1999:

“I had essentially retired in Vince’s office in October of ’99. Because I couldn’t — I fell down twice in a Smackdown episode doing spots I’d done. Like, they had to edit the match because I sucked in it. And also I was — you know, what happened. One of the biggest mistakes I made career-wise is that I probably had to be 280 when I came into WWE, so I could work with the Undertaker. And I’d come down from about 320 in WCW. You know, put on some weight, drop 40 lbs., I think I had some of the best matches of my career. ECW, I would go over and you know, work for Otto Wanz in Germany. And I felt really good at 280.

“But once I got over and they’ll accept you at any weight, I should have dropped down to about 250 to make life a lot easier on my knees. And instead, I went the other way. And it wasn’t hurting the matches, but it was hurting me in the 23 hours and 45 minutes in between matches. And I also started leading with my head to make up for the lack of mobility. And that was a mistake, and I was paying the price for it because I was kind of forgetting little things.

On Talking to McMahon About His Memory Issues:

“Not to make light of it, but I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure I live 20 miles from here,’ you know? And so I said to Vince, ‘I said, I think I need to retire.’ And he [said], ‘Okay, why?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m having trouble mobility-wise. If the kids playing soccer, tf they don’t kick it right to me, I can barely move to side to side. He talked to me about my weight.

“And I said, ‘Vince, I can’t remember where I live some of the time.’ And right there, he goes, ‘You’ve just had your last match.'”

On Why He Kept Wrestling:

“Had it not been for Steve having the neck injury, that would have been my last match. And then there was a sense like, ‘Can we pull together for the good of the team?’ And he met with me and Hunter — I think at the Garden — and asked if I thought I could have at least one more good match in me.”

“And going in, Hunter was already a huge star. But he’d done it on a tag team level, and within a group with DX. And he was looking for that opponent he could walk through hell with. And I was looking for somebody who could raise me up and let me ride off into the sunset with something I could really be proud of… We did the first one at the Garden, second one in Hartford, Hell in a Cell, and it was really a great, just a best case scenario for both people.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something To Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.