WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley appeared on an episode of the podcast “Something to Wrestle” during their “Curtain Jerkers” segment, where he discussed various topics, including nearly retiring in 1999 due to memory issues.
Foley said, “I had essentially retired in Vince’s office in October of ’99. Because I couldn’t — I fell down twice in a Smackdown episode doing spots I’d done. Like, they had to edit the match because I sucked in it. And also I was — you know, what happened. One of the biggest mistakes I made career-wise is that I probably had to be 280 when I came into WWE, so I could work with the Undertaker. And I’d come down from about 320 in WCW. You know, put on some weight, drop 40 lbs., I think I had some of the best matches of my career. ECW, I would go over and you know, work for Otto Wanz in Germany. And I felt really good at 280. But once I got over and they’ll accept you at any weight, I should have dropped down to about 250 to make life a lot easier on my knees. And instead, I went the other way. And it wasn’t hurting the matches, but it was hurting me in the 23 hours and 45 minutes in between matches. And I also started leading with my head to make up for the lack of mobility. And that was a mistake, and I was paying the price for it because I was kind of forgetting little things.
On talking to McMahon about his memory issues:
“Not to make light of it, but I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure I live 20 miles from here,’ you know? And so I said to Vince, ‘I said, I think I need to retire.’ And he [said], ‘Okay, why?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m having trouble mobility-wise. If the kids playing soccer, tf they don’t kick it right to me, I can barely move to side to side. He talked to me about my weight. And I said, ‘Vince, I can’t remember where I live some of the time.’ And right there, he goes, ‘You’ve just had your last match.’”
On why he kept wrestling:
“Had it not been for Steve having the neck injury, that would have been my last match. And then there was a sense like, ‘Can we pull together for the good of the team?’ And he met with me and Hunter — I think at the Garden — and asked if I thought I could have at least one more good match in me. And going in, Hunter was already a huge star. But he’d done it on a tag team level, and within a group with DX. And he was looking for that opponent he could walk through hell with. And I was looking for somebody who could raise me up and let me ride off into the sunset with something I could really be proud of… We did the first one at the Garden, second one in Hartford, Hell in a Cell, and it was really a great, just a best case scenario for both people.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)