WWE Attitude Era legend Mick Foley has called off plans to celebrate his 60th birthday with a final ‘Deathmatch’ to end his career.
The Hardcore legend and multi-time WWE Champion had been plotting the ‘gory’ send-off as an incentive to lose weight but has now shelved the idea altogether.
Now 58, he’d been eyeing up a return to the squared circle in time for his landmark birthday celebrations and has previously eyed up AEW star Jon Moxley and independent wrestling sensation Matt Cardona as possible opponents.
Speaking on his Foley is Pod podcast, the veteran had originally explained his wish to lose 100 pounds in weight, saying: “[Age] 60 is right around the corner.
“Thinking of doing one final match for my sixtieth birthday, a Deathmatch.
“I’m not kidding. I think it’d be a great incentive to drop those 100 big ones. I think it might be fun…I think it would be a pretty gory spectacle.”
Such talk had left fans reminiscing of Foley’s glory days in WCW and WWE – the latter where he battled the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Triple H, sustaining remarkable punishment along the way.
Hopes of a repeat of scenes like the 1998 Royal Rumble, where Rock demolished him with a brutal beating courtesy of a steel chair, have been dashed.
Foley has since revealed that medical issues had forced a revaluation.
Speaking on YouTube, he explained: “[I have] an update on that final match that I was thinking about having for my sixtieth birthday.
“As some of you know, I had to miss a couple weekends of appearances because of dizziness and light-headedness.
“After consulting with a couple of doctors and also using my own experience with concussions, the symptoms… they seem to point to a concussion that I did not even know I received.
“I hadn’t done too much in the ring, but I had done a little bit. I had noticed that I was light-headed after one of the workouts, but thought it would go away.
“So, it just seems like the wisest move – and one that’s strongly supported by my family – [to] call off that final match.
“If I can get concussed from something I’m not even aware, then some of the things that I was thinking of doing, hoping of doing in a big match would not be smart.
“So, with my family’s urging, and after careful thought, I’ve decided there will be no final match.”
The daredevil antics of Foley’s prime in WWE remain some of the most incredible scenes in the history of the industry, including his King of the Ring 1998 bout against The Undertaker.
Battling the Deadman on the top of the Hell in a Cell structure, Foley, then wrestling as Mankind, was hurled some 20 feet from the very top of the cell, crashing through the commentary table below.
Later in the same bout, having returned to the roof of the Cell, Foley fell back through it.
A loose panel gave way under the force of an Undertaker chokeslam which also saw Foley land on a steel chair for good measure.
Foley’s WWE career effectively ended back in 2000 after defeat to Triple H forced his ‘retirement’, though sporadic appearances did follow after.
As well as a stint wrestling for TNA, Foley enjoyed a final WWE outing in 2012 at the Royal Rumble.
News Summary:
- WWE Attitude Era star Mick Foley reveals why he scrapped plans to return for ‘Deathmatch’ career finale
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