Mick Foley

Mick Foley

Mick Foley has made a career of jumping off cages and taking chairshots inside the wrestling ring. However, he’s also penned nine books – three of which have landed on the New York Times Bestseller List. BEN HARLUM caught up with Mick to discuss his latest, Countdown to Lockdown.

Am I right in saying that your attitude toward the wrestling business has changed since your first autobiography?
What would you say would be the major change?
Well at the risk of sounding rude I would say you seem more bitter toward the business.
A couple of people have sensed bitterness when they read it, but I don’t think I wrote it with a bitter perspective. [laughs] I came to the realisation that maybe there’s so much wrestling going on that it’s really difficult for fans to remember what I consider to be the most important moments.

The book revolves around a match with Sting on a TNA Pay-Per-View. Did the fact you were writing the book pressure you to make the match more memorable?
Oh yeah, this was a big deal for me. It was my first big main event match in TNA and I would’ve wanted it to be memorable anyway but because I was writing about it, it made me feel more pressure to make it memorable.

Your wife asked you to be drunk when you wrote the chapter in your first book about how you met. Were there any such requests this time – I know you wanted Tori Amos’ approval?
What’s funny is that, looking back, how unusual that request was. [laughs] The whole idea that I wanted to check whether she liked the chapter before we published it. I just recieved a really nice letter from Tori herself and if I didn’t get the chapter to her, I would be sitting here wondering if this person had any desire to be talked about by a pro wrestler.

I have to ask, there was an event you were supposed to attend in 2005 but you dropped out at the last minute. I was there, I need answers!
[laughs] I guess I have to point fingers at somebody! The guy who booked me had been paid in part, but had his assets seized by authorities in relation to a boxer that he had managed.

I found out that I wasn’t going to get paid and that the Australian promoter hadn’t done one tiny part of his obligation. It was enough that I didn’t have to go since I wasn’t going to be paid for the trip.

Countdown to Lockdown is available in bookstores right now.