Mick Foley Reflects On What King of the Deathmatch Tournament Meant To Him

Mick Foley famously defeated Terry Funk in IWA Japan’s King of the Deathmatch Tournament in 1995, something he recently spoke about in a new interview. Foley defeated his idol Funk in the finals of the tournament, and he spoke about the moment in an interview with Dominic DeAngelo for Wrestling Writing.

“The King of the Deathmatch tournament was so important to me,” Foley began. “Not because I won it, but because I won it with Terry Funk‘s blessing. Had I not been offered an opportunity in WWE, I likely would have made my living largely in Japan, largely off the prestige of the torch Terry passed to me that night 30 years ago.”

Foley’s win in the tournament, which came during his time in ECW, came after a finals in which he faced Funk in a Barbed Wire Rope, Exploding Barbed Wire Boards and Exploding Ring Time Bomb Deathmatch.