Mick Foley Talks About The Screaming Match That Ended His Commentary Career
One thing is for sure: it's not fun at all being a part of WWE's commentary team.
Mick Foley learned this the hard way. He talked about his run as part of the Smackdown commentary team recently on the Sirius XM radio show Jim Norton and Sam Roberts. It wasn't a particularly fun experience to be yelled at by Vince McMahon on a constant basis, Foley explained:
There was a female wrestler named Layla, and when I returned to WWE [in 2011], she was cowering, backing away — she was terrified of me. She said I was the meanest person she had ever seen based on one interaction she observed with me and Mr. McMahon where I did not take well to being cursed at on the headset. She just happened to be there when I just snapped [at McMahon] and said, ‘I don’t care who you are or how much you’re worth, you’re not gonna talk to me that way ever again.’ Then three years later, the same finger that was wagging in his face was dialing the phone and going, ‘Hey, can I come home?’ I left for three years.
This ultimately led to Mick Foley leaving WWE shortly thereafter, going to Impact Wrestling and working there until 2011. But like many stories with Vince McMahon, time heals all wounds, and when Foley called WWE after his TNA departure, he was welcomed back unconditionally:
It had been a year and a half since we’d spoken, and I’d gotten a message on my phone that said, ‘I know you don’t like me, but I know you love this company.’ There was a time when some people were badmouthing the company, and he wanted me to weigh in on my feelings. I called him back and told him, ‘I like you.’ Deep down, I like him. I didn’t like that [commentary] job; it wasn’t the right job for me. I was a pat-on-the-back guy, not a kick-in-the-butt guy, so I didn’t deal well with that.
Foley most recently was part of the Raw brand as the General Manager following the reintroduction of the brand split. He left WWE earlier this year after needing to take time off due to hip surgery.
