Exclusive Mick Foley Interview: His Comedy Tour, Santa Claus And Brock Lesnar

Mick Foley is one of the most well-known and respected retired wrestlers on the planet. He's held the WWE Title 3-Times, was one-half of an incredibly memorable tag team with The Rock, wrote a couple of New York Times bestsellers, and at heart, is man who just loves Christmas time. Foley is now on tour performing his hit show "Hardcore Legend: An Evening with Mick Foley" as well as being featured in the upcoming documentary "I am Santa Claus." Here Foley talks about his current projects as well as thoughts on Brock Lesnar ending The Streak, and who on the current roster he would have loved to wrestle. Andrew Soucek (AS): Your Hardcore Legends show has been getting great reviews, everything I€™ve seen has been really positive. In general, how are you feeling about it? Mick Foley (MF): It's been a lot of fun, besides three weeks in Western Canada, when it was clear that two weeks would have done the trick. We kind of back tracked through British Columbia and hit many of the same, or at least within 20 miles of the same, cities. So we€™ve been kind of doing some unnecessary shows. But even along the way I wanted them. Have as much fun, and put on as good of shows as possible. They were only hindered by a little person who kept following me every step. So I had to change my show around. Every night, for one little guy, who may have heard me tell a story before. So we finally incorporated him on the second to last night of the shows. And he destroyed my Hulk Hogan story. And not destroyed it in a good way either. AS: Oh no. What did he do? MF: He just, he was not as familiar with the art of refereeing that I thought he had. Sometimes things look much better on paper than how they work on stage. But this was something that had been a proven winner in past tours and I thought the idea of asking for a licensed referee in British Columbia, and then having a little guy whip off his shirt to reveal a genuine referee shirt would get howls of laughter. It just didn€™t work out the way I hoped. So you have some of those nights from time to time. AS: I'm sorry to hear that. Well, it looks like you€™re booked up through the end of November. Is there going to be more shows after that? Or are you taking a little break? MF: No, we have a few more. We just added some things December-well, I got the international fruit cake eating championship in Santa Claus, Indiana on December 6. There was some controversy last year. I€™m going to try and claim the title outright and fair without any controversy. And then the beauty of doing these shows is kind of have my guy, my agent, make a couple phone calls, and the next thing I know I€™m doing a show in St. Louis on a Friday. I can afford to do the really fun things, especially since I have shows backing them up. But I am taking a deliberate break in December. We have our documentary film €œI am Santa Claus€ coming out. I do want to be ready not only to do my own thing as a Santa Claus ambassador, but to be ready if any of the shows come calling. You know an easy guest that evening. AS: Yeah, you€™re obviously a big Christmas guy, tell me more about the documentary and how you got involved. MF: Yeah, the filmmaker Tommy Avallone, he saw a guy doing his thing in the Santa chair. It was late December, he turned to his wife and said €œI wonder what that guy does on December 26th.€ So he essentialy made a movie about what Santas do the rest of the year. Because I was a well-known Christmas afficianado he gave me the opportunity to really give it a try. Not just throw on a wig and pretend, you know, for our troops for a vignette on SmackDown, but to really go out there and meet the kids and do my best to portray the cultural icon. AS: You€™ve taken a beating in the past as Santa. You got hit by a car. You€™ve taken a Stunner. Do you think we€™ll see Santa again this year? MF: (laughs) I think that was a different Santa taking a Stunner. That was me getting hit by a car...unless I€™m mistaken. That€™s one of the beauties of the film. One of the things I€™m looking forward to seeing live is that in our house it made complete sense for my kids to watch their father get run over by a car on Christmas Eve. And then be like €œHey kids, that looked pretty good, didn€™t it?€ I had a feeling when that aired live it would be a nice laugh. AS: You€™ve battled The Undertaker many times in the past. How did you feel about The Streak ending and would you have chosen someone else besides Brock Lesnar? MF: Aw man, you€™ll have to come see one of my shows. It€™s like a doctoral thesis on why Brock Lesnar was not only the perfect person, but the only person to end the streak. AS: You€™ve been instrumental in helping Randy Orton and Triple H to the next level. Anybody on the roster you wish you could have worked with to also bring them to that level? MF: I think one of the most important things to getting guys to that next level is the really memorable feud. There are a few guys out there who are only missing that from their resume. Whether it be Dolph Ziggler or Bray Wyatt, whose had good feuds to be sure, but hasn€™t had that one that makes you step back and go €œwow€ I think we€™re seeing The Shield in one now. I think all those guys are going to be okay. But those would be the two guys that I think I could step up, and the old Mick Foley could have made a difference in their stepping up process.