WWE Legend Mick Foley talks about his video gaming habits in this exclusive interview.
What role do you see this video game playing in educating people about the history of WWE?
I think WWE has done a great job for the last eight or 10 years of reintroducing and acknowledging the guys who paved the way. It’s very seldom that I’ll show up where a kid is eight or older, and they won’t be aware of something I’ve done.
As a matter of fact, almost every day I get asked about a certain match called Hell in a Cell, which took place in 1998 before a lot of the kids who ask the questions were actually born. Thanks to action figures, video games, and YouTube, the younger generation is familiar, but I think the current guys are gonna have their hands full when people see this and say, “I want more of these guys.”
Then when they bring us out on the show we’re old and grey, and it’s like, “Okay, let me just stick to the video game.” But it’s nice. People acknowledge us and seem to appreciate us.
What was it like living through the Attitude Era? Did you guys realize exactly how big of an impact you were having at the time?
We couldn’t really appreciate the history we were making, because we were too busy making it. Everything was going at light speed. You didn’t really have time to reflect. If you sat back and reflected on everything you were accomplishing, you really weren’t doing your job. It’s only years later you can sit back and say, “Wow, I’m in a video game that kids who weren’t even alive when I was making that history will be recreating.”
What’s it like now seeing these kinds of matches virtually knowing that you can inflict pain on your virtual self and not worry about your real body?
You can work out some very deep psychological issues without actually injuring yourself. It’s great. I made a joke a little earlier about the royalty check that comes in. That’s no joke; that’s the best product beyond WWE is that video game, because they’re so popular.
The Mankind yoyo, quite frankly, did not sell that well in 1999. There were some “Stone Cold” Steve Austin condoms that I have to believe were not big sellers. This is what people want, and it shows.
Do you have a favorite match that people will be able to play in this game from back then?
I just saw one that I was not even aware was available. It’s Mind Games from 1997, which is actually kind of a harbinger of things to come in the Attitude Era. It was just cutting-edge, pre-Attitude Era. I believe that was one month before Mr. McMahon had the speech with us about how things had changed and that if we were going to survive, let alone excel, that we were going to have to bring more of ourselves into the character.
For example, Mankind became more like me. I started bringing more of myself in that character. Guys who just months earlier had been thought to be dead in the water, like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, suddenly not only resurfaced—I’m sticking to this water metaphor, but just exploded out of the waves of tranquility to overtake the WWE universe by storm.
They did a great job, and it was only because they were given the chance in a way that guys previously had not, really the chance to be themselves, turn up that amplifier a little bit, but let people see a big part of themselves on screen.
What are your thoughts on this video game allowing past greats like Cactus Jack, in his prime, to face off against new superstars like John Cena?
I think that’s gonna be a big draw, too. People have the argument, “Which era was better?” Personally, I feel that any time an era passes, people only tend to remember the really bad moments and the really great moments. We had so many great moments in the Attitude Era, but there were some stinkers, too. It wasn’t like every moment was golden.
There was some stuff I don’t want to bring up…that was not good, but people remember the great moments, and we had lot of them. I see great moments on a weekly basis with the current product, too. I think people are gonna be split. Their loyalties are gonna be divided between the more seasoned veterans like me, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Stone Cold and the new generation of superstars in WWE.
