Mick Foley Recalls Vince McMahon Putting A ‘Governor’ On Him, Reveals Rejected Book Pitch
Mick Foley knows all about the nice and gentle side of his former boss Vince McMahon.
Foley recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard while promoting his appearance in 12 Hour Shift, available now on video-on-demand services including Amazon. During the conversation, Foley was asked if he had a story that highlighted a warmer side of Vince McMahon’s personality. Foley laughed and shared how Vince praised him for the risky (and now infamous) Hell In A Cell bump—but quickly admonished him and told him to never do it again.
“Coming ripe off of the heels of the Hell In A Cell match, he came into see me in the dressing room and he said ‘You have no idea how much I appreciate what you have just done for this company… but I never want to see anything like that again.’ So he put what he calls a ‘governor’ on me, and I think that was nice and gentle.”
Foley added that if you gave him more time he could come up with several more stories, then recalled pitching McMahon a book that collected wrestler stories similar to the Chicken Soup For The Soul series. He said Vince turned it down because he didn’t want to be egocentric, but added that it is a situation that highlights a different side of him.
“One time I wanted to write a book similar to Chicken Soup For The Soul but do it with wrestling stories because there are so many feelgood stories. Vince said at the time ‘I’m not sure, Mick, that might come across as being self-serving.’ And at that time, it was before they even acknowledged the great relationship they have for 25 years with Make-A-Wish. Eventually, WWE went public and there was some heat from outside sources about the show and how awful we were, then that relationship came to light. But I think that shows a side of Vince that not too many people would know about, that he resisted having me write a book because it might seem self-serving to WWE.”
Foley talked about the message behind the book series and said it might be a good fit since there are so many heartwarming stories that wrestlers could tell, and maybe it’s something he should follow up on now.
Related: Mick Foley Explains How He Pays Tribute To The Rock, Taps Back Into His Dark Side For His New Movie