Mick Foley Reveals Cancelled WWE Heel Turn Plans In 1999
Mankind was set to turn on The Rock before plans changed
Since turning face at Survivor Series Deadly Game in 1998, Mick Foley has pretty much always been a face in WWE - aside from a tiny spell in the heel chair at ECW One Night Stand 2006.
Now, during an appearance on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, Foley has revealed there were plans for him to turn heel in 1999 and reignite his feud with The Rock following their Rock 'n' Sock Connection pairing.
“I remember calling Vince and saying, ‘I don’t wanna do this heel turn. Vince, I feel like people are really responding,’” Foley said. “I realised that I’m coming slowly but surely to an end, my knees are giving me trouble. It’s real, people feel it on a definite basis, and that’s part of the reason I think why the character still resonates.”
Foley’s gut instinct was right, as later in 1999 Mankind and The Rock had their infamous ‘This Is Your Life’ segment on Raw - the highest-rated non-wrestling segment in wrestling television history - and this simply would not have happened had Foley turned heel.
“Because we didn’t do the turn, it allowed people to have those great memories of The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection,” Foley said. “Fans come up to me, ‘You guys were the greatest tag team in history,’ and I’ll say, ‘Can you name one match we had?’ They can’t but they do remember how we made them feel.”
