Mick Foley Reveals Favorite Match of His Career, Recalls Street Fight Against Triple H

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley recently joined Insight with Chris Van Vliet, where he discussed some of his best and most memorable matches. Mick Foley named his No Holds Barred Match against Randy Orton at WWE Backlash 2004 as his favorite match of his career.

He named his epic Street Fight against Triple H from WWE Royal Rumble 2000 as another memorable matchup for him. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Mick Foley on His Favorite Match Being Against Randy Orton at WWE Backlash

“My favorite match was Backlash against Randy Orton. Crazy thing is, if he has a new favorite, I don’t want to know about it. He’s technically, probably had better matches. But the idea of being in that spot, people ask me, you will just say you made somebody. No one person makes anybody. It takes a lot of people, a lot of factors, and even if the bases were loaded for Randy, it’s still up to him to knock it out of the park. And he did, and one of the wisest decisions I ever made, much wiser than working at the Huntsville auto show the day before my street fight with Triple H, much wiser than catching a red eye and getting into New York City at 6 am for the Royal Rumble. I did a lot of stupid things that way, as far as travel, I actually canceled a talk at a community college so that I could come in the night before, as opposed to the day of the show. I like people to be able to read between the lines, rather than just spill the [beans]. But in this case, I think it’s beneficial to know Randy came up to my room, and for only the second time in my entire career, I had an A through Z plan, and I’ll never forget, he was just taking it all in. I’m getting the tingles here because you’re talking about a moment that changed his career, and I don’t know if we could have had that type of match if I’d gone through that speaking engagement. And the other key factor is that Michael Hayes heard some of the things we want to do. He goes, ‘You’re going to need more time.’ So instead of rushing through, we had time to let things breathe. And it just felt really good. Even though I had many trials and tribulations getting back home. My luggage was delayed for four hours. I did throw up in the parking lot of Tim Hortons in Edmonton, because my brain had jogged a little bit, but I made it back in time for Raw the next night, and it was like the fans looked at him like he was a completely different guy. And it really made me feel good. Now, they turned him babyface in two weeks, which I thought was a big mistake, but it was hard not to like somebody who’d been through that type of ordeal.”

On His Royal Rumble Street Fight Against Triple H

“The street fight with Triple H. So when two of my five favorites are on that list, maybe I should have done more that way. The only other one that was A to Z was when I got to Japan. I only worked two FMW shows. A lot of people think I worked FMW. I actually worked IWA, and I did two anniversary shows for FMW. So. It was Wing Kanemura, and he was a good worker, and he did a lot of crazy things, and he had like five notebook pages written out in English. And I’m a guy who likes to have a lot of say, because it’s not a matter of pride, it’s, I think I have something to offer. And then when I looked at this thing, I just, I like it. If you watch that match with Wing Kanemura, I had zero input in the creativity, but then it’s up to you as a performer to pull everything off. I asked my kids, ‘Hey, see if AI can just come up with a hardcore match.’ And a minute later, they’re telling me the, you know, the spots, the moves. I was like, it’s not a bad match, but it’s all dependent on how it’s carried out. And you see some guys who can do so much with so little, and you see other guys do so much, and it doesn’t mean anything.”

On How He Took the Pedigree Onto Thumbtacks

“I knew if I turned my head when I landed and closed my eye really tightly, that the chances [were good]. This is the infamous Foley instantaneous risk reward ratio analysis, where, first of all, we weren’t supposed to do the tacks. Mr. McMahon said, No thumb tacks. And as soon as he walks away, Triple H says, Did you put the tacks under the ring? I was like [yeah], so we weren’t sure whether we’re going to do it or not. But then, when I kicked out of the pedigree, I don’t think anybody had at that point, maybe the tacks were already out, I’m not sure, but it was like, Yeah, we’re going to go for it. And I thought to myself, Okay, okay, you could lose an eye, but imagine the pop. I just closed my right eye as tightly as I could, turned my face, and so there was a few sticking in there. But again, trying to compare that risk to the risk of doing a no rope barbed wire match with Terry Funk, you’re going to probably come out better with the tacks than you will with the barbed wire.”

Randy Orton defeated Mick Foley in their brutal matchup at WWE Backlash 2004 to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title. Mick Foley was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2013.