Mick Foley wanted to win one of WWE’s most significant match types.
In 2004, the hardcore legend Mick Foley was neither part of RAW nor SmackDown. He was embroiled in a feud against then Evolution member Randy Orton and even returned at that year’s Royal Rumble to eliminate the legend killer from the Rumble match. Although this would ultimately lead to Foley teaming with the Rock to take on Evolution at WrestleMania 20, Foley recently revealed that he had other plans.
On the latest episode of his podcast Foley Is Pod, the hardcore legend revealed he pitched to win the 2004 Royal Rumble match. However, Vince McMahon immediately disregarded the idea, and Foley had to devise another pitch involving Orton:
“Well, I said, Vince, I’d like to enter the Royal Rumble and win it. And because I am neither a Raw or Smackdown guy, I would like to challenge both champions into a three-way dance to unify the WWE title and win that as well. And he looked at me and said, ‘Mick, I have no interest whatsoever in doing that.'”
Foley then explained how he pitched the idea of having a “crisis of confidence” in the feud against Orton. He pointed to another member of Evolution, Ric Flair, and how he infamously had a crisis of confidence before being paired with Evolution leader Triple H. Foley wanted the storyline between himself and Orton to mimic that of Rocky 2 when Rocky was goaded out of retirement.
Orton and Foley would have a hardcore match at that year’s Backlash PPV. Foley would later call the matchup one of his greatest matches.
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