Mick Foley Explains Why He Never Asked For A Creative Role In WWE Or TNA/IMPACT Wrestling

Mick Foley is credited as being one of the most creative minds in the business with a brain that thinks about wrestling, structure, and promos in a unique and outside the box way. 

While Foley could put together and pitch creative for himself and help others throughout the years, he was never officially part of the creative team.

“With WWE, I didn’t — Clint Eastwood said in Magnum Force, ‘A man’s got to know his limitations,’ and my limitations would include not spending any extraordinary amount of time with Mr. McMahon. I love Vince but I don’t think I could operate. He has a certain way of motivating people and like Al Snow said on Wrestlers, ‘A pat on the back is two feet higher than a kick in the ass.’ I always responded better to the pat on the back and Vince is more of a kick in the ass type of guy,” Foley said on Foley is Pod when asked why he wasn’t more involved with creative in WWE or IMPACT Wrestling.

Answering the TNA/IMPACT portion of the question, Foley said, “I do regret that I did not get more involved with TNA on the creative end. Yeah, I should have. I did used to have some good ideas storyline-wise. I don’t think I’ve had one in a very long time though. So that would be the reason. My son would just come up — when he worked for the WWE and especially when he worked really closely with the talent NXT on their promos, he could just come up with idea after idea, but I stopped having those ideas a while ago.”

Foley was in IMPACT from 2008 to 2011 before he returned to WWE. During his time in IMPACT, Foley won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Upon returning to WWE, he would briefly wrestle before retiring and then becoming the WWE Raw General Manager. 

Foley’s son Dewey Foley worked in WWE creative from 2016 to 2022. 

Elsewhere during the podcast, Foley revealed Becky Lynch has pitched for him to return as a manager. You can find his full comments by clicking here. 

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.