Mick Foley Reveals He Was Initially Against Winning the WWE Title In January 1999
A big admission from Foley
Jun 21, 2021
Mick Foley has revealed he was originally against Vince McMahon’s idea to have him defeat The Rock for the WWE Championship.
In one of the most famous moments ever in WWE, Foley pinned the Rock to win the WWE Title for the first time on the January 4, 1999 episode of RAW. WCW's attempt to spoil the moment famously backfired, as hundreds of thousands of wrestling fans turned back over to WWE to watch Foley claim the Championship.
The Rock would recapture the Title from Foley twice prior to going on to feud with Steve Austin at WrestleMania 15, and Foley - who has previously said he thought the decision was a mistake - admits he couldn't see the brilliance in switching the Championship.
Speaking on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, Foley said: "I was against the idea of me winning the title, so when Vince tells me and Rock that he wants to do a title change, it seems like bad business to me. I’m like, ‘Change titles three months before this program?’
"I swear, I don’t swear, I exaggerate and say I think I saw Rock looking for Ashton Kutcher [former host of hidden camera show Punk’d] to come jumping out of a bush because people don’t turn down title runs. I was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s good business.’ And then Vince has to talk me into the wisdom of having us exchange the title."
