Mick Foley: I Don’t Even Have To Think About It, Vader Was The Hardest-Hitting Competitor I Wrestled

Mick Foley praises Vader and their time together in the ring. 

In 1993, Mick Foley was not used to being in pay-per-view main events. However, he was involved in the main event of WCW Halloween Havoc 1993, when he took on Vader in a Texas Death Match. 

During a recent video on the WWE Vault YouTube channel, in which he looked back at the best moments of his Cactus Jack character, Foley revealed that he considers Vader to be the hardest-hitting competitor he has ever wrestled. He also says that at the time, he truly thought it was the peak of his career, and he would never reach that level again. 

He was thankful to be wrong. 

“I was really excited about the Texas Death Match because it played to my strengths, and I did not think I would ever get a chance to main event another big show in WCW, so I wanted to make sure I took full advantage of it,” said Foley. “He was very comfortable here opening me up. When I’m asked by fans who was the hardest-hitting competitor I’d ever shared a ring with, I don’t even have to think about it; it was Vader. It jogs your brain. It really does. Nobody brought it the way that Vader did, and there were those who did not like to work that style, and I did. I liked working with Vader because his size made me such an underdog. 

“Two types of people that Vader would face. There were those who were so intimidated. Then there were those who saw it as an amazing challenge, and I saw it as an amazing challenge. This is my Frazier/Ali. This is my ‘Thriller in Manila,'” he continued. “He was about business when he got in there. If you weren’t interested in having a great match, he was going to tear you apart. He forced you to be your best… I really thought this match was the apex of my career in wrestling, and I’m so glad to tell you I was wrong.” 

Elsewhere in the video, Mick Foley revealed that his match with Randy Orton at WWE Backlash 2004 was his favorite match of his career. Read more here. 

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