A site called Hobotrashcan.com recently sat down with Mick Foley. Here are some snippets of the interview:
Recently, a few prominent wrestlers have been tied to a mail-order steroid scandal. Obviously, with you physique, questions are going to surface. So, let me ask you for the record – Mick Foley, are you on the juice?
(Laughs.) No, I’ve safely avoided that scandal. I guess I’m lucky. Mother Nature didn’t deal me the best hand, but in an ironic twist, I may have gotten with WWE in 1996 after 11 years wrestling around the world because no one was ever going to accuse me of being on the juice.
I’m glad we got that cleared up – none of us wanted to put an asterisk next to the “Dude Love Era.” One more question along the same lines, what goes through your mind when you hear about a Sports Illustrated article naming several professional wrestlers and accusing them of using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs?
I don’t know if they’re proven and I know that the allegations came before WWE’s new wellness program, where guys are tested pretty regularly. I don’t look down on anybody who tries to help themselves and I think the media can kind of pile on certain subjects to a degree that it just becomes unfair – like Mark McGuire was mugged because he dared to take Andro which is a GNC supplement. And, generally speaking, if you can get something at a General Nutrition Center, you’re under the belief that it’s good for you while you’re buying it and taking it. So, I’m afraid if they start cracking down on all performance enhancing substances coffee drinkers better beware.
For those who may not be familiar, what was the idea behind The Hardcore Diaries and what did you hope to accomplish with this book?
I had agreed to write another book and didn’t really know what I would be writing about. I only knew that I wanted to make it different than the books I had written in the past. I was really concerned because I knew I had a wrestling comeback to pitch to WWE, then to train for and prepare for mentally and physically. And then I thought, “Hey, that sounds like a good idea for a book. I’ll just chronicle the events as they’re unfolding.” I thought at the time I pitched the idea that it would be the greatest six weeks of my life and it turned out to be the most frustrating. But, from a writer’s standpoint, it was actually far more interesting to write about a creative disaster than a creative gem.
That is one of the things that sticks out about the book – at the beginning, you are very excited about this idea and by the end, you almost sound defeated. Obviously, you had no idea what was going to happen when you wrote the book, so what was it like to write it and then to look back once it was done?
It was very frustrating and I wondered in print several times if it would even be published because it did so often question WWE’s decisions and creative direction. I guess I was fortunate that Vince McMahon really believed in my right to tell the story as I saw fit. But certainly I never envisioned the story not having a very happy ending. At the end, I measure it all out and I realize it may not have been as bad as I thought, but I certainly wouldn’t have done it over, that’s for sure.
Once you finished writing it, what was the reaction when you turned in the book to the people at the WWE? Was there a lot of resistance to it?
I guess there was a lot of concern. (Laughs.) None of the other books had been critical at all and here’s this one that was in a sense a flattering portrait of Mr. McMahon, but it was also a far more honest portrait than most of the guys had painted. Generally when it comes to Vince, the guys’ take is simply “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him, he’s a creative genius.” And, to tell you the truth, I think Vince gets sick of what he will readily call ass kissing. I think he found my viewpoint to be refreshing, although at this point I think he’s had about as much of me as he’s willing to stomach. But, until the moment I saw the commercials airing, I had kind of accepted that the book might not get publicized.
You almost signed with TNA?
Yeah. I don’t know, we’d had several verbal run-ins over what my role in the company would be and I talk a little bit about how I was dying to get out of my contract early and the fact that they made things like publishing a novel that had nothing to do with wrestling difficult for me to write outside of their realm. I think when I left in 2001, it was out of necessity, because had I not left when I did, I would have probably been bitter and angry with WWE. As it is now, I love the company, I like and respect Mr. McMahon, but I can’t claim to be a real friend of his, which I thought I was back in the late 90s.
In your book, you mention that you end up becoming the safe male friend with a lot of the WWE Divas.
(Laughs.) I think I said if it wasn’t for my super-de-duper heterosexual lifestyle and four – count them one, two, three, four children – I might be considered the gay friend. I’m flattered by that because it’s not such a bad thing to have the WWE Divas feeling comfortable around you because they are pretty sure they’re not going to be hit on.
Are there any other projects on the horizon you would like to mention?
I guess it’s bound to happen to everyone sooner or later, but there is a reality show in the works.
In the book, you mentioned …
That I specifically wouldn’t do it. But, I’ve got a pilot with A&E. I actually called them within the last week and said I’ve got exciting things happening now, if you don’t get those cameras out here in a few weeks, I can’t guarantee that my life will be this exciting come summertime.
To read the full interview, click here.
Multiple-time New York Times bestselling author and World Wrestling Entertainment superstar 
On his match with Edge at WrestleMania 22 last year:
The latest book from Mick Foley, titled “Hardcore Diaries,” will be released on March 6.
