WWE Promised Mick Foley Just Five Matches a Year When he Joined

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley is certainly a rich man now, but that wasn’t the case when he joined the promotion. 

Foley debuted in the then-WWF in 1996, as Mankind, appearing not long after WrestleMania 12. 

Mankind would immediately enter a feud with The Undertaker, with Foley getting the win in the first Boiler Room brawl at Summerslam. 

Five Matches & $750

Foley came to the WWF in 1996 after a lengthy and successful run in WCW working as Cactus Jack. 

Speaking on Foley is Pod, the Hardcore Legend said his deal when joining the WWF was much lower. 

“I signed on that opportunity, and the only thing you were guaranteed is five matches a year at $150 a match. So you’re guaranteed $750 a year and that’s it. If they decided not to push you or take you off the road, then you’re sitting by idly, not making anything.”

When asked by co-host Conrad Thompson how he felt at the time, Foley said he was just grateful for the opportunity. 

“I was happy. I didn’t start complaining about checks until 1998. I was just happy to be there, but they [the checks] weren’t enormous. Even the Pay Per View checks were not that big a deal.

“I remember accepting it as ‘this is what I get.’ When I did get a much bigger payoff for King of the RIng [1998] Hell in a Cell, it really did surprise me. I even wrote a letter of thanks to Vince [McMahon.]”

Marc Mero

While Foley received a very low guarantee, a sign of the company’s financial struggles at the time, Marc Mero had the opposite treatment. 

Despite signing with the WWF around the same time, and having also worked previously in WCW, Mero received a much more lucrative contract

Speaking about Mero, Foley said there was some resentment from the locker room at the time.

“It wasn’t his fault… It’s not like Marc was going to say ‘hey, looking at the guys, I’ve decided to give them a little bit of mine back.’ 

“I took it personally at the time, and I saw him [recently] and asked him to forgive me. I kind of dogged him for a few years, even in my book.”

Part of Mero receiving the WWE’s first guaranteed contract was that the company wanted to make sure his then-wife Sable joined with him.

Saying No to WrestleMania

After a year in the WWF, Mankind had established himself but continued to be in the mid-card. 

During the podcast, Foley said he even said he turned down a very short feud with Mero which would have culminated at WrestleMania 13. 

“I was opposed to working with Marc [Mero] was at Wrestlemania in 1997. I said ‘if it’s just on the card, if it’s just a matter to be on the card, I’d rather not be on it.’ Even though it’d be years before I referred to myself as Mr. In Your House, I realized there are opportunities for me to shine and be in main event matches and steal the show.”

Instead of Mero, Mankind teamed with Vader to face Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith at WrestleMania.