10 Fascinating WWE WrestleMania 14 Facts
5. Mick Foley Pitched Working A Deathmatch With Terry Funk For The Show
Terry Funk had retired for the 4,827th time in 1997, and wouldn't ya know it, his retirement didn't last long. By year's end, Funk would be bizarrely costumed under a sheer stocking as Chainsaw Charlie, playing Cactus Jack's equally-insane running buddy. The partnership was a Plan B to an earlier Foley idea for he and his grizzled mentor.
Foley had gone to McMahon in late-1997 with an idea of battling Funk in a best-of-seven deathmatch series, a callback to their famed 1995 IWA King of the Deathmatch tournament final. The seventh and deciding match would have been filmed at Funk's Double Cross Ranch in Amarillo, TX, and inserted into the WrestleMania 14 broadcast.
Per Foley, McMahon was intrigued by the idea at first, understanding that it was edgy, outside the box, and had its appeal. However, as the media eye drew closer to WWE with the impending arrival of Mike Tyson, McMahon scrapped the proposal, figuring such overly-gruesome violence might be a bad look to the mainstream, as well as new viewers.