Mick Foley appeared on the Steve Austin Show podcast this week to discuss his frustration with the current state of WWE, how to improve the business, The Authority, the value in making mistakes, Dusty Rhodes, why he wants to see The Shield reunite and much more. Here are some highlights:
– Austin started off the show telling Mick that he’s enjoyed his Facebook post about what’s wrong with today’s WWE and some suggestions of how to turn the product around. Mick said sometimes he has to fight the urge to vent on social media, but he had to take a stand this time. He’s on the verge of not watching RAW anymore. Foley watches RAW with his kids and lately it’s just been unbearable. He’s as big a fan as anybody and if he’s getting turned off, it’s probably indicative of what the larger audience is feeling.
– Foley has a hard time buying into The Authority. He is concerned that WWE is going to react to low viewership by doubling down on WWE’s strongest personalities (Triple H & Stephanie) but they’re not the ones with their names on the marquee. The Authority isn’t wrestling night after night on the road. Austin complimented Triple H and Stephanie, but feels that it’s time to wind down The Authority angle. It’s the same old stuff. Austin wants to see the heels get theirs and some back to basics law and order.
– Mick says the ‘danger’ of bringing up good ideas is that once the idea gets out there, WWE wants to go in a different direction to surprise people. He feels Reigns joining The Authority at Survivor Series would have made the most sense and would have been a much better scenario than what we got. Foley says WWE is trying to put Roman Reigns in the Steve Austin anti-Authority role and that doesn’t work for everybody. He wishes he could speak to Reigns and talk some sense into him. Austin asks him if he thinks Reigns is over-acting and relying and going through the motions of ‘what a rising top guy should be.’ Foley basically agreed, saying Reigns is a good guy, a hard worker and deserves a top spot, but needs to work on his act. Foley puts over Reigns as being a handsome, talented guy with a lot of potential but his current role is just not working. Foley thinks there’s money in a Shield reunion, there’s money in Reigns vs. Rollins.
– Austin asks Mick if he thinks the talent is being over-coached and over-produced. Foley talks about the art of the promo and how the best promos work off bullet points and allow the talent’s personality to shine. The freedom to improvise no longer exists and it completely handcuffs the talent. Talent should not be afraid to make mistakes. If you try to eliminate the chance of disasters (ie. a promo bombing), you also take away the chance that something really special will take place. Foley referenced Dusty Rhodes how great he was on the mic. He mentioned Dusty’s “Hard Times” promo. He said that if Dusty had handed the transcript of that promo in to a high school English teacher, he’d get a C+. But the way Dusty delivered it, it’s magic. Austin said when you try too hard to be “what they want you to be,” you can’t be what makes you special. They reminisced about their time on top and the freedom they had to experiment.
– Austin says the WWE product is so slick that it feels like the spontaneity has been completely lost. There’s no longer a feeling that ‘anything can happen.’ Both guys agreed that WWE has a tremendous talent roster right now. Foley talked again about Sasha Banks’ match with Becky Lynch last week on RAW. Everything they did in the ring was good, but 4 minutes later it was like the match never happened because there were no ramifications. Mick said, imagine if WWE had booked their show like this during the Monday Night Wars. Austin said he enjoys watching the Divas who have been called up from NXT, but thinks they are being micromanaged on the main roster. Austin vented about Sasha and Becky only getting 4 minutes, questioning, why WWE even puts the match out there. Austin puts over Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley as being classic pro wrestlers that are being stifled by WWE’s bad booking. There’s no heat so the matches mean nothing.
– Both guys put over Sasha Banks as being a great worker with an original character but (recurring theme here) she’s being completely held down by the booking. Foley said, “She’s living the dream, she’s got this character that works and I think she’s being messed with. If you have someone who is there, who is firing on all cylinders .. and I’m talking to Vince, leave her alone and let her do her thing. You’re 70, Vince. She’s 23. You don’t speak to everybody out there. Just because you don’t get it doesn’t mean it’s not there to be gotten. You have people chanting We Want Sasha, it’s not without reason. Please, Mr. McMahon. Please leave her alone. Let her do her thing. If they want her, give her to them. Let her do her thing. You’re looking for faces, future faces of the company. Here’s one of them. It makes me sad to see someone work so hard, who is there and is being led in different directions.”
– Austin asked Mick if his working punches were stiff. Foley said not as stiff as Vader’s (because everything Vader did hurt), but Austin’s punches would hurt more when Austin was making his comeback during a match and got caught up in the moment. Foley said he once asked Triple H what the main difference was working with Austin and The Rock. Hunter instantly responded that Rock’s punches didn’t hurt and Austin’s hurt like hell. They both had a laugh.
– Austin asked Foley why Vader came in to WWE walking on eggshells. Vader worked with Shawn Michaels when he first joined WWE and got a lot of heat for working stiff with Michaels. Austin said he doesn’t think Vader ever recovered from that. Vader was upset early on because at the time in WWE, heels had to be booked as cowards. Foley put Vader over as a solid worker and being great and ‘making guys’ because he was such a strong heel. He thinks that when Vader got to WWE, he had so many people in his ear, so many people trying to tell him to be a heel, that he was baffled. Vader hated running away from opponents, but that’s how WWE booked heels back then. Foley said Vader is in phenomenal shape and doesn’t get his due as being one of the great heels of his generation. Austin agreed he was great.
– Austin asked Foley if he thinks today’s WWE roster is walking on eggshells. Foley said yes, he thinks so. You’ve got to get in your mandatory cool moves and it’s really hard to go out there and assert yourself with other people’s ideas (writers). Foley says the over-scripting leads to wrestlers not having to constantly think about and develop their characters. Back in his day, he would constantly be working on his promos. Foley told a story from a few years ago when he bombed on stage during the early days of his stand-up comedy career and it wound up being a great experience for him. Guys today are just memorizing and don’t have to think for themselves. Austin asked how to change the situation. Foley says he knows the McMahons are very busy. He has offered multiple times to come in and pitch ideas. He doesn’t think the McMahons like his ideas, but he would love to visit WWE headquarters and work as a consultant of sorts. More talk of everything being over-scripted and the performers not even having the option to think of themselves or make mistakes.
