Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Mick Foley: The Truth About Hell In A Cell, Crazy WWE Moments, The Rock, Randy Orton, Triple H

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Mick Foley (@realmickfoley) is a professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Irvine, CA to discuss how his career could have been different without the Hell in a Cell match, winning the WWE Championship on WWE Raw, his legendary hardcore matches with Randy Orton and Triple H, getting The Rock with his "It doesn't matter" catchphrase, if November is too early to put up the Christmas tree, and more!   Please support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFFSTASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHTto see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures   SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount   NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and reach your financial goals faster: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is great to see you. Well, thank you, Chris. I appreciate it. What a shirt. What several shirts. Look at these. Well, I'm out on the road a lot, right? I just mentioned to you before we started.

I was like, I'm actually working more this year than I did when I was on the road full-time with WWE. And one of the differences is like, I'm not riding with the guys. I'm not meeting up and hanging out with people I know and like. Pretty much just me in a rental car for, you know, a few weeks at a time. time. Like in this stretch, you know, from Spokane to Seattle, Seattle to Portland, Portland to Eugene, Eugene to Eureka, California, San Jose, and then three Southern California shows and a signing. And so I find when I'm out there alone, you have to do things to make yourself happy. And wearing my dogs on my shirt, it makes me happy. This little fellow, Randall, he's not with us

anymore. Randall. But having them on my shirt makes me feel like you're still here with us. And what's the name of your other one? Waffle. See, I was actually outvoted. The family voted for winning. And I was like, no, I'm just going to continue with my first choice, which is waffle,

which is short for waffle jelly cake, which was the imaginary confectionary treat that tiny Tim yearned for in the, uh, Mr. Magoose Christmas Carol, which is. It's actually very faithful to the, it is amazingly faithful to the Dickens text. So I just like having things on me, including my shoes. I mean, you mentioned the shoes. Look at these elf shoes. Hand painted.

They're hand-painted. Hand-painted. I saw. They're beautiful. Thank you. There was a woman at a wrestling convention and she was showing me like the actual sneakers like NWO for life and, you know, DX. And I was like, I'm not really interested in wearing those.

And she goes, let me show you my portfolio. And as soon as I saw the elf shoes, I was like, I need them. Now, now. It's two days after Halloween as we record this right now. Is it too early to have a Christmas tree up in your house? No, no, because I'm working on a year-round, not just a room, a year-round cabin now. Yeah, a year-round cabin. It's going to look incredible when it's done.

So just 12 months of the year? Well, I won't be there all the time. Sure. But when I get back, yeah, Christmas trees will be. Christmas tree. And the secret is, don't overdo it. You don't have to turn the lights on all the time. You don't get tired of it.

But it's there for you if you want it. You know, and that's why the cabin is actually like too small to live in full time, but it's a great place to visit and get recharged and out there in nature and see animals, things like that. Because my wife was saying to me, she goes, you know, when we take the giant 12 foot Home Depot skeleton down, probably put up the Christmas tree. It might as well. Why not?

Right. Might as well. Might as well. So how are you busier now than, I mean, everyone talks about 300 days a year on the road during the attitude era. Well, yeah, we did. I mean, that includes travel dates, which I, you know, when you're traveling seven hours, that's a workday. You know, that's, that's not a day off.

I just set out instead of doing the conventions. The conventions post-pandemic, all of a sudden, we're more lucrative than ever. And now in the last six months, we're seeing a definite toning down. You're seeing a lot more people coming to the table, like turning their back and doing the self-selfies. Stealing one. Well, but it's understandable because people just don't. don't have the money they had right after the pandemic. It had been three years since I'd done a tour and I combined them and I told my agent,

like, just book me. She books me in a way that makes geographic sense so that I can be in a rental car for a few weeks at a time. And I do love it. It just, you know, it gets a little, you know, I mentioned you off camera. Like, I was so tired today that I had to tell a friend of mine who's been at Disneyland for 20 years. I'm sorry.

I can't do that for. hour tour at Disneyland with you. Do you know how tired I have to be to give? I did do Halloween horror nights. Yeah. And did you happen to see any footage of me walking through the Wyatt six house, sick house? No.

It was fun, but the one I really am looking forward to is when I come out of the terror fire house. And this is a nod, a tip of my cap to, oh, wow, Chris Candido. because when I worked with Candido in Smoky Mountain, when he bailed out of the ring, he didn't just bail out and look around. He would sprint up the aisles to get away from me, legs churning and everything like that.

So I had a friend of mine at Halloween Horror Nights request, recording me going through the thing. And so they recorded me once, and then we did it a second time so you get the exit shot. And when I come out of that thing, I look like I'm leading the USC marching band, you know, probably the fastest I'd moved. And then they, and then they caught up with me and said, how wasn't?

It wasn't too bad. It wasn't too bad. I wasn't very scared. He goes, you want to do it again? I went, no. I started running. There was a woman in a wheelchair. I got like, and then as soon as she moved.

And I, you know, one of the things is you stop feeling foolish. Wrestling's really good at that. And it's like, I don't care if I look stupid. Look, I'm wearing elf shoes and a hardcore, you know. You're the hardcore champion. There was a defining moment in my life, Chris, where Jim Quartet and I were guests at a wrestling show at the Kentucky State Fair. And I had a fan go out and get me a funnel cake. And I looked at corny and I got funnel cake sugar all over my shirt.

And I said, Jimmy, I'm no longer playing by society's rules. long as I can be comfortable. Yeah, that's what counts. You're awfully mobile for a guy who did as many things in the ring that you did and the way you beat yourself up. Well, you know, the crazy thing is I'm moving better. Now, I dropped like 90. At one point I'd gone from 372 to 273. Amazing.

And then I may have taken it too easy for the next four or five months and crept up towards 300. But I think I'm down around 275. and the hip and knee replacements, those were game changers. I remember, I remember talking to Kevin Nash and saying, Kevin, something amazing happened to me today. He said, what's that? I said, I passed somebody in the airport. Like, I was always the guy, people like, hey, Sir, you moved to the side, and I was

starting to pass people, which you didn't mean I was fast, but, and I don't want to over-exaggerate the amount of pain I was in, but I think I've got a pretty high threshold. So when I say it was, I don't want to say. say agonizing, but it was more than severe. If it was not agonizing, it was agonizing at moments. Like I would need five minutes to get going after I got off, stood up out of my seat on a plane or when I was on a drive my car and my kids said this is what I would do for hours of a time. I punched my right thigh to try to get some feeling in my nerves. And when I went to the, at a friend's request, who's a physical therapist,

she said, I think that's your hip. And I was like, but the pain's in my lower back. And then she explained something about the pariformis muscle, gripping onto the nerve, mimicking sciatica. And when I went to that doctor orthopedic guy, and I saw the hip, like, I wasn't dismayed. I was actually happy because I saw, oh, there's, there's, You can fix this.

And he did the, I've been doing this for 25 years. It's the worst hip I've ever seen. He goes, I don't know how you're walking. And once I realized there was hope, and then once I had the hip followed by the knee, it was like a new lease on life. Now, if you were to suddenly transform someone else into my current body, they might think it was hell on earth. But compared to how I felt for like 10, 15 years, yeah, I am doing a lot better.

In the peak of your career, what was your relationship like? like with pain? Well, I realized early on that I had a style that was going to lend itself to frequent pain. And I had seen enough to know I didn't want to go down the pain medication route. That was like, that didn't lead to anything positive. And so I thought to myself, I'm only to take something if I'm really in pain. And then as time went by, I kept expanding my definition and what really in pain was. So I, yeah, I've gotten to know pain really well, but I'm so glad that it's not there with the frequency that it was.

But like, would you stare it dead in the eye, knowing you had a very intense moment in a match? Would you stare at in the eye and be like, bring it on? Well, when you do the crazy stuff, the barbed wire, I still maintain barbed wire strung up in place of ropes, still the most dangerous thing. It really is because he can catch and tear you. And there's a video of Sabu who would have needed 100 stitches if he believed in stitches. But one of the most heroic things I've ever seen, he wrapped himself up, Bill Alfonso, he went into the back, he made

a little a roll of athletic tape, and he wrapped it around his genie pants until he could get to the back. And that's where I think the irony of professional wrestling, when people call it the fake sport, the phony sport, show business sport. You mentioned somebody in baseball with a hundred stitch cut and they come out with a roll of athletic tape. And this thing is like split like this, you know? It's just, that's the way he was. And I bring up the death match stuff. And my favorite story to tell him this tour is about a match in front of only 150

people with me and Terry Funk and the lengths we were willing to go to, to put that little promotion on the map. And some nights I say, like, you realize there's a really good chance you're going to return to the dressing room in far worse shape than you left it and that's that's pretty harrowing so you have you have to be willing to accept it it's not for everybody but i believe uh in what mr miagi said many years ago you know stand on one side of the road you're fine stand on the other you're fine stand in the middle you get swashed like a grape so when it comes to that stuff there's nothing wrong with not doing it i don't you know some of the best wrestlers in the

history of the, you know, our business are not going to do that stuff. And that's, that's fine. Some of them, you know, a lot of them look down on it. And there's nothing wrong with going all out, you know, which is really what you have to do. But if you stand in the middle, it's no place to dip your toe in, you know, you kind of have to dive into the deep end of the pool. So similarly, what's your relationship like with fear? Oh, I'm afraid of a lot of things. You know, I wasn't. Well, Shane, I maintain Shane McMahon was fearless. I could, you could say I was courageous, courageous action in the face of fear. I was terrified of the cell. When I looked down, the entirety of Undertaker's entrance was spent

with me thinking, how do I climb down this thing without ruining my career? And I couldn't think of it. And that's why the match unfolded the way it did. But yeah, I get like when I drive through the Sierra Nevada's, I get really dizzy. Anything with heights. Like, I can't look over even if I'm going up to like Lake Arrowhead in the mountains like I can't look over I'm really scared of I'm I'm scared I'm I'm more fearful of many things than people would would believe what do you think your career would look like if you hadn't got thrown off hell in a cell man you know that really even though it wasn't the end of my career put an exclamation point and it gave me the moment you know there are there are football players who were known literally

for one play basketball player willis reed great career he's known for playing two minutes in game seven with a with a injured ligament his knee um joe montana's career great great quarterback but it's it's the the catch i think they just called it the catch and uh i don't know if i would have had one of those moments uh you know beating the rock um for the w w title was a great moment for w and for me, but I'm not sure if that would be something that would be passed on to a next generation. And that's what stuns me about the cell is that half of the people who talk to me about it. And this is like where I don't write it down, but I would estimate half of the people that talked to me about that match were not born when it took place. Wow. Yeah. And there's even

a, you know, a story I'll mention, uh, from time to time. And I did it on the 20 years of Hell tour, saying it was really powerful when my wife said, my kids wanted to watch the cell match. I said, how do they even know about the cell match? And she said, well, kids are talking about it at school. They said, in preschool, but it's something that parents have handed down. And it's, it's the go-to for wrestling fans to show their non-fan friends who don't understand what it's about. It is the definitive moment of when you're trying to argue against, don't you know wrestling steak. Do you have 15 seconds? Let me show you this. There's even those classic reaction videos on YouTube where they show it to someone.

And I was really impressed by that because I would go through and I'd be like, you know, voice, voice coach reacts to Ronnie James Dio, you know, and I love, I love the idea that you can change someone's mind or at least make them question what they thought. Well, the wild thing is like they see you get thrown off the cell. And then it's like, oh, no, but just keep watching. He's not supposed to continue, tears himself away from everybody, climbs back on top. Oh, I've realized on this tour I'm doing that me not talking about the cell is like George Carlin not alluding to the seven words you can't say on TV in his subsequent specials. As brilliant as he was, If I was watching, he didn't at least allude to it, I didn't feel completely satisfied.

And so I have like a five-minute condensed version that I tell towards the end of the shows. And my favorite line, even though I think I did use it in the special, whereas I said, you know, I climbed up that cell one more time, slowly. I'll grant you that it was not a speedy journey, but it was done with a peace of mind that can only come from knowing at the worst part of my evening was over. And then you get the big laugh for people. You know, like, I say, that was my bad. It got worse. It got a lot worse.

And it was, that match just had so many surreal moments, you know, like, it just was really strange. Even, even something simple like, I mean, not simple, but when I hit the table, the table about imploded and spun my body so that, you know, the lower half of me was sticking underneath the bicycle rack. didn't have those cool, you know, those cool barriers at the time. We just had the metal rack. Yeah. But just something like that where my feet and my half of my body sticking out into this, into the audience and then the EMTs who were not in on what we're going to do, realize their

gurney can't get around the structure. So somebody, and I don't think Undertaker knew, I don't think they yelled, hey, the cell's going to start raising up into the air. It starts rising towards the heavens with him on top of it, you know, and it's just, it's just a series. It's like a series of unfortunate incidents for grown-ups or preschoolers, you know. This episode is brought to you by Factor. When you're on the go and you're busy, finding time to cook can be tough. That's why I love Factor. Their chef-prepared, dietician-approved meals make it easy to stay on track and enjoy something comforting

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Teams have already automated over 300 million AI tasks using Zapier. Join the millions of businesses transforming how they work with Zapier and AI. Get started for free by visiting zapier.com slash insight. That's ZAPIER.com slash insight. What hurt more when you fell through the cell? Yeah. Was it the fall or was it the chair landing on your face? Chair to the face? Yeah.

You know, I stopped kidding myself. I stopped wearing the bottom flipper because my feeling is I know it's not a good look. My son Huey broke it to me this way. like eight years ago. Dad, don't take this the wrong way. And first of all, you know no sentence ends well. Right. Don't take this the wrong way,

but you used to look kind of cool with your top teeth missing. Now you look like a crack addict. I said, son, I believe you were thinking of a meth addict, but point well taken. Yeah, yeah. But my feeling is like, I know it's not a good look,

but it's my look, and I earned it. You know what I mean? So I don't mind at all. And plus, you know, Jay Lethal and Kurt Angle could attest for the fact that I would say it was more than an interrogation in Amsterdam where apparently I was suspicious because these teeth that one of them was knocked out,

the other was knocked in, and chipped in half, but they started to put the other tooth back in. Like when I got back from that match, it was in a glass of milk to keep it vital. And on the 20th anniversary of the cell when I did my show in Pittsburgh, the dentist or orthodontist, whatever he was, who was on call, said he was there that night. They said, we've had an accident at the civic arena.

And the first thing he asked me was, how long did they last? And he said, about eight years. I was like, yeah, yeah, then they started turning color. And you've probably heard how, you know, guys in our business will say, well, I would do it, but would my character? And so my version of that is, I don't mind having gray and blue norly teeth, but would Santa have gray and norley? No. And so I pulled one out with a, I went to work with a ball peen hammer and a pair of pliers. What?

Pliers, yeah, to pull it out because even though dentists will let children keep their teeth, they lose. For adults, it's considered medical waste. and I was like, no, I don't want to lose these. I want to make jewelry for my children. You took your own tooth out? I took one of them out, but I'll admit the other one was too tough, and then my son found a dentist who was letting me keep my tooth. But yeah, I got interrogated in Amsterdam.

I mean, the way I, if you have Jay Lethal on, ask him, my memory is that guns were at the ready, and I finally was like, do you have a computer? And they said, yeah, they speak English. I said, can you? I told him we Google Mick Foley, hell in a cell. See that thing in my nose there? That's my tooth.

Yeah, that's my tooth. What a story. So you can tell, like, that this was 15 years ago, I probably would not want to talk about the cell. You know, I had a love-hate relationship with it. And then as you get older, I think it's in the same way that Bruce, Adam West, accepted that he was Batman.

You know, that guys who feel like their career was pigeonholed, because of an iconic role. Norman Bates, Anthony Perkins, couldn't get work, you know, outside of a few, like, knockoffs and sequels. But you come to appreciate it, and I realized, wow, this is even before I started really doing the conventions. Like, I'm so lucky to have anything people remember me for after the fact, let alone, you know, probably two or three things.

What's your favorite match? Because that's obviously your most iconic. What's your favorite? My favorite match was backlash against Randy Orton. What a match. The crazy thing is if he has a new favorite, I don't want to know about it because How could he? You know, he's technically probably had better matches.

But the idea of being in that spot, people ask me like, well, you know, you just say you made somebody. Nobody makes, no one person makes anybody. It takes a lot of people, a lot of factors. And even if the bases were loaded for Randy, it was still up to him to knock it out of the park. And he did. And one of the wisest decisions I ever made, much wiser than working at the Huntsville Auto Show

the day before my street fight with Triple H, much wiser than catching a red eye in for the, you know, getting into New York City at 6 a.m., you know, for the Royal Rumble. I did a lot of stupid things that way as far as travel. I actually called off, I canceled, a talk at a community college so that I can come in the night four as opposed to the day of the show. And I don't, you know, I like people to be able to read between the lines, you know, rather

than just spill the, you know, but in this case, I think it's beneficial to know. Randy came up to my room and for only the second time my entire career, I had an A through Z plan. And I'll never forget, you know, just he was. was just taking it all in. You know, I'm getting like the tingles here. I mean, this is, you're talking about a moment that changed his career.

And I don't know if we could have had that type of match if I'd taken that, if I'd gone through that speaking engagement. And the other key factors that Michael Hayes heard some of the things we want to do, he goes, you're going to need more time. And so instead of rushing through, we had time to let things breathe. And it just really,

it felt really good. And even though I had many trials and tribulations getting back home, my luggage was delayed for four hours. I did throw up in the parking lot at Tim Horton's in Edmonton, you know, because my brain had been jogged a little bit.

But I made it back in time for Raw the next night, and it was like the fans looked at him like he was a completely different guy. And it really, it made me feel good. Now they turned a baby face in two weeks, which I thought was a big mistake. but it was hard not to like somebody who'd been through that type of, I mean, it was an ordeal, right?

Well, because going into that match, it's like, you want to hate Randy. Yeah, yeah. Incredible, he looks great. He's an incredible shape. And he's in this match with Cactus Jack and he's not going to do anything like that. Like Cactus Jack will take all the crazy stuff and Randy'll just look good. Oh, no. And I believe by the time I had that match, it was pretty well.

known that when I brought something out, it would backfire on me. Sure. I used to joke that Wiley Coyote had better conversion rate with Acme products than I did with, you know, thumbtacks and things of that nature. And I think everyone thought, oh, okay, it's going to backfire a Mick. And then sure enough, Randy gets me in the RKO. He took that bump and it was just majestic. He came up.

And I know Randy's act of an entertainer. I don't think you can act that shocked in the way that he came up. like this so that even when I threw Randy off the stage and got ready for the best elbow I've ever, that was a career type of elbow I dropped on him, partially because of the great camera shot. The low angle. Yeah, just

perfect. Just perfect. Mike Kyoto went to check on him and Randy's response was, Keota, those thumbtacks were a big mistake. It felt like a mistake at that point, but I think you know, he realized, and from what I was told there were a few key members of the WW locker room, big time members, who went,

oh, like, like they thought it was too much. And it was like, no, it was just enough. Like, the proof is in the pudding and the pudding was served that next night. You said that was only the second match that she went through. Yeah. What was the other one? Yeah. Um, the street fight with Triple H. My, that's my favorite. So when two of my five favorites are on that list, maybe I should, should have done more that way. The only other one that was A to Z was when I got to Japan for, I only worked two FMW shows. A lot of people think I worked FMW. I actually worked IWA and I did two anniversary shows for FMW. And it was Wing Kenemora. And he was a good worker and he did a lot of crazy things and he had like five notebook pages written out in English. And I'm a guy that likes

to have a lot of say, you know, because it's not a matter of pride. It's that I think I have something to offer. And then when I looked at this thing, I just, I like you. So if you watch that match with Kenamura, I had zero input in the creativity, but then it's up to you to, you know, as a performer to pull everything off. Like, I asked my kids, hey, see if AI can just come up with a hardcore match. And a minute later, they're telling me the, you know, the spots, the moves. I was like, it's not a bad match,

but it's all dependent on how it's carried out. You know, and you see some guys who can do so much with so little, and you see other guys who do so much and it doesn't mean anything. Yeah. I feel like you really made Triple H in that Royal Rebel match. You know what? This was the best case, Sarah.

He allowed me to retire, you know, for the first time, for six weeks. as the performer I wanted to be. So the best case scenario is like, I helped bring out the best in him. He helped bring out the best in me. And I'm not just saying this because I might want to work in WW again someday.

I'm saying this because he is one of the best ring generals I've ever been, I've ever worked with. You know, I remember when I was riding to a OVW show with J-Row, Jennifer, Rodan. You know, she was the OVW champion for a while and she was asking me the most important thing about a comeback. And I told her the story about Triple H bringing it out of me. Like, you know, like I'm up there. And I think, keep in mind, three months earlier, I was, Vince told me I'd had my last match because I was getting around so poorly. I mean, in about one year span, I went from

feeling, okay, you know, kneewise to just really having trouble navigating stairs. or anything like that. I was falling down in matches. I couldn't do the things I wanted to do. So they did give me some time. I went back over six weeks and weeks and dropped some weight. But when I got in there to do the big payoff angles, I mean,

it was Triple H just urging me, bringing it out of me. And as many times as I've done the, it wasn't really a running knee, but the running flaccid thigh doesn't sound that intimidating, you know, I actually had, I don't know if it was bruised

because I didn't go to check it out, but I know I had soreness in the sternum because when I ran through on that knee, I was moving faster than I was used to moving. And that was all because of him. So I told J-Row, like, be that type of person who brings out the best. So if your feet in your opponent's comeback, be that heel who makes your opponent believe in themselves. So Triple H made me believe in myself again. any credit people want to give me for helping him has to be tempered with the help that he gave

me. I just can't believe on that pedigree. You went face first into those thumbtacks. Only thing is I did have a tendency to move my arms up before it looks like I needed to, but I'm a perfectionist. Nobody's looking at that. I know. It was. I mean, yeah, you have to, you have to be all in. It's like, yeah, again, to quote Mr. Miyagi. you know, you either go all in or you don't do it at all. But where did you think they were going to land? I knew if I turned my head when I landed and closed my eye really tightly that the chances, this was the, this is the infamous fully instantaneous risk reward ratio analysis.

Okay. Where, first of all, we weren't supposed to do the tax. So Mr. McMahon is a no thumb tax. And as soon as he walks away, Triple H says, Mick, you put the tax on the ring. I was like, I had it covered. So we weren't sure whether we're going to do it or not. But then when I kicked out of the pedigree,

I don't think anybody had at that point. Maybe the tax were already out. I'm not sure. But it was like, yeah, we're going to go for it. And I thought to myself, okay, okay, you could lose an eye, but imagine the pop. And I just closed my right eyes as tightly as I could, turn my face. And so there was a few sticking in there.

But again, trying to compare that risk to the risk of doing a no-rope barbed wire match with Terry Funk. Yeah, you're going to probably come out better with the tax than you will with the barbed wire. This podcast is brought to you in part by Stash. So you want to start investing, but you have no idea where to begin. Stash makes it easy. Stash isn't just another investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automates. invested with expert guidance so you don't have to worry about figuring it out on your own.

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That's Timeline.com slash insight for 20% off. Your cells will thank you. What was the match you were most nervous for before? I'd say that when I talk about with Terry, you know, because I couldn't see him, couldn't talk to him. I hope you have a chance to attend the show tonight. It's going to be a nice crowd. And this story about Terry in its own way, it brings him alive on the stage.

Because, you know, Terry, you know, he, you know, by the end, he didn't look like himself. I would try to visit him anytime I was in, like, within 300 miles of Amarillo and later Phoenix. So I probably got to see him four times in the last two years he was alive. and his you know his mind was slipping noticeably each time maybe not in a way that someone who's with him every day could tell but um yeah when I would visit him every six months or so you could see he was slipping and I didn't cry when Terry died because I cried when I saw

the photos of his birthday where he just he's unrecognizable and so I tell his story each night is the only story I tell that I also included on the last tour because it makes me happy and it makes me feel like he's still there with me. And I believe I'm going to, I'm not to believe, I'm going to, I'm going to contact his daughters and say, please come to one of these shows. Like, I want you to be there

so that you can hear how much your dad meant to me. I love that so much. Yeah. If we were to find you backstage before a match, what are you doing? Well, for that type of match, that was the most nervous I ever was. You know, it's easy to get fired up in front of an MSG crowd.

Sure. Or even 2,000 people or 800 people. people jammed into the ECW arena. 150 Japanese fans wearing winter coats because it's just hovering right above freezing. And me and Rick Patterson and Tracy Smothers and the headhunters are hovered over a little kerosene heater trying to get warm. And I'll just say that there's no legendary stories about me clearing out a bar by myself. You know, like no stories of that nature.

But yet when Tracy Smother, this is the most badass thing I've ever said. When Tracy looked at me and said, Cactus, there's not many people out there promise me you won't do anything crazy. I looked at him and I said, you know I can't do that. That's where I was at that moment in my life. Like I had two kids, you know, like I was making 3K a week, which meant, you know, it was a 10-day tour. I include the travel days.

I was pulling down $300 a night to do this type of crazy stuff. But we just felt once we saw the media contingency, this is a lot of. this is going to be on, this is going to be featured in front of, and two magazines, both of them had to think had readerships like around 250,000 a week. Like this is our TV taping.

And we went all out. When you have stories like this of all the crazy stuff you did pre-WWE, then we see you in WWE doing some crazy things. Who starts to see that a mix actually pretty funny? When do we start to get that? I think as far back as WCW, I think my promos, using the old Paul Heyman line, make them laugh and cut them off. And he talked to me about the actor Arlie Irmy in Full Metal Jacket where when he's, when he's being merciless on these guys, he's doing it with humor.

And it makes you laugh. But then a second later, he says something. so dehumanizing that you you fault yourself for laughing. And so, you know, so as far back as 91 when Sting and I, I mean, Abdul and I did a birthday party for Sting, you know, we can make people laugh. Like we were literally singing happy birthday where Abdul was eating the cake. And this was actually a Paul Heyman line. The payoff was a Paul Heyman line. And I like to come up with my own stuff, but if someone as wise as Paul Heyman gives you a line and it works, you know, you use it. And I'll tell you what the line is when we get to. It's like, happy birthday to you,

and, well, Abby's eating the cake. And then Jim Ross goes, oh, that's, that's nice, but it's not Sting's birthday. I went, I know that. Don't you think I know that? But it's very important that we celebrate Sting's last birthday. I was not on hand for Sting's last birthday, but it's very important now that we celebrate Sting's last birthday. And I leaned into gym and I went, because Sting's last birthday, was Sting's last birthday? And you get the people where, wait, did he just sing happy birthday and then scare my child? You know, like, so there was, there was humor in the stuff that we did, you know, even the, you know, even the market-specific promos, you know, the field tears in trash cans and hardwood and tables landing on concrete as long as I'm

Mabel dropping an elbow on poor helpless sting. These are a few of my favorite things. So the humor was there, but when it really came to the forefront, was after the cell where I thought, I have to find another way to connect. And catchphrases were so big then. And I remember how frustrated I used to be because, you know, you would literally see people on both TV shows doing the same promo. I'm not, and I'm not talking about the two or three best promo guys.

I'm talking about guys who found a role and they just kept using the catchphrases. I remember one time being so frustrated, I even dropped an F-bomb in front of Paul Bearer. And I was like, these people don't have any attention span, they don't want to listen. But I also thought, and I remember saying to Sean Michaels, I said, eventually there's going to come a time when people are going to need more than this. But ironically, sadly, they'll be seen as the people who can't draw, because ratings will be down when in fact they're the people holding the business together. And so there did come a time when people did want more.

And the guys that just did the catchphrases kind of got, they got kind of left behind. And it ended up working for me. But I took a gamble that there was an avenue open for someone who would be kinder and gentler because Steve Austin was so big that there were a lot of stone cold lights in dressing room. None of the baby faces were nice. And I thought, we're not, this is not who our audience is. Like there's a lot more people like me, you know, wearing double dog shirts and a hardcore championship and elf shoes. I'm not saying exactly, but I'm a nerd, you know, it's like everything that works is just you turning up the dial. Yeah. So maybe I was, you know, four on a scale,

at 10 being a nerd. But turn that up to eight or nine, you know, and you've got a very likable character. But who would have thought have a nice day would become a catchphrase? I know. I know. I mean, that was just a throwaway. Jim Ross told me, you know, he goes,

you know, do your promo and just have a nice day. And did I say that? We might want to edit in case of that marketing pie. You can't really trademark have a nice day, though. Right? You can trademark Austin 316, you can trademark smell with the rocks cooking. Yeah, yeah. You can't trademark have a nice day.

You're probably right. So Jim Ross gave me that, yeah. It's, but it works so well with what you were doing, right? Right. Where did you come up with the voice? Well, I did not think Cactus Jack would ever be seen. And so there was some Cactus Jack to it, but I didn't want to just be Cactus Jack in a mask. So, you know, I created a darker backstory.

And even though the backstory was dropped after my initial promos, it still made me feel like I knew the character better so that when I got out there and portrayed it, I wasn't acting as much as I was feeling. You know, that warbling voice and the screeching, you know, I may have borrowed a thing or two from an actor along the way, but we all borrow. Like on my birthday, I got a, back when I used to be on Twitter, I got a tweet from the actor who played Negan on Walking Dead. And he said, happy birthday, Mick, I may have borrowed a move from you. And I said, well, I did it first, but you made it iconic. And first of all, I don't want to sue people over trivial things because I don't want to be sued over trivial things. And second, there were like seven other people in Japan using the bat by the time I used it. So it wasn't mine.

I brought it over to the United States. I think I brought it over the United States. I think I brought the barbed wire bat and the thumb tax over. I think that was my contribution to hardcore wrestling in the United States. Well, there's a lot of people now that would thank you for that. And I believe when Undertaker and I had our boiler room brawl and he grabbed me in the goose, he threw me backwards and I went into a bunch of light tube back first. That may have been the first time.

Influrescent light tubes were used. And the reason I'm not high on them is because from that match, Taker got a shard of that in his skin and it created, what an incredibly bad staff infection. And the fact that he actually worked a couple dates where he didn't have to pretend to be a dead man walking, like he looked like a dead man walking. And he got through those matches.

But I was in Puerto Rico when two doctors squeezed his elbow. And it was from like here to the wall, Puss just you can hear it hit the wall. But you're also talking about a guy who had pyro go off underneath him. And the easiest thing in the world would be to walk back to get some medical attention. And he stood in that pod for 40 minutes. So we're talking about a really tough dude. And I was at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto where someone didn't get the notice that you only put the pyro on three corners.

So here I am wrestling taker and it's a big crowd and that thing, boom, goes off in his face. And all of a sudden, I'm wrestling Undertaker with no eyelashes, you know. So, and again, it wouldn't even cross his mind because he's the Undertaker. The same way he dropped 12 feet onto a broken ankle. You know, I get a lot of credit for that cell match. But without him in that, you know, match would have been very, very different. Can you explain to people why the mandible claw works? Yeah, I can.

Because I think that people think you're stuffing a, a son. down their throat. That's what it became. And I apologize to every younger sister or brother who had that happen. Jim Cornett gave me the idea. And it's based on Dr. Sam Shepard, who was the physician that both the TV show and later the movie, the fugitive, was based. And I'm not a historian like Corny is, but I believe that he was not guilty, but in that

state that wasn't the same as being exonerated. So whether he would not practice medicine or could not, I don't know, but he wrestled for a while in a couple of the southern territories. He was kind of slight a build, and they explained away his lack of physique by amplifying his knowledge of the human anatomy. So the idea is mandible claw, two fingers under the tongue, they pressed down simultaneously on the nerves lying underneath the tongue, while also simultaneously pressing up with the thumb on the nerve underneath the chin.

and if you do it, you cannot move. That hurts. It does hurt, right? I'm doing it myself. And like, if a guy like Danny Hodge, you know, like Danny Hodge had that incredible hand strength, like if Danny Hodge were to put that on somebody, that person's life would change. Yes.

This is a Danny Hodge story. When I was getting inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Iowa, Terry, Terry Funk did my induction, and we were signing afterwards. and Danny Hodge was probably in his early 80s then, and he put somebody in a headlock and the person was screaming, and I said to Terry, I said, Terry, I need to know. And Terry's out, you know, he was out of his mind.

And so when he looked at me, he said, Tactus, you don't want to put your head in there. I said, no, he went. I said, okay, okay. This is a guy, you know, some of these legendary stories about people calling wrestling faggin, oh, yeah, you know, let's just shake out of it.

And then there would be the lack of ability to hold on to any type of bodily function just because he was squeezing the hand so hard, you know. But I was able to, you know, create a backstory or I had some type of, you know, superior strength. But once I put the sock on, it stopped being an nerve hold. It's just starting to be, he's putting that sock in their mouth, you know. But that was never the case. You got a sock over it.

But it's the only move that a wrestling fan can do on themselves. So that's a good point. It's a good point. If you're at home, like underneath the nerves of the tongue, press up, and you can't move. You have to let go of your own hold. What do you think beyond the mat did for your career? Because I remember watching that and having a tremendous amount of empathy for you. I don't know.

I don't know. I know, you know, the McMan's did not like it. They thought it took away from the magic. Didn't they try to shut it down? I know that there was something that the film he doesn't want you to see. I don't think they ever tried to shut it down. Great tagline, though. At the time that, I mean, it's time Barry Bloom introduced me to Barry Blowstein.

It was at an econelage in Vegas where I was getting ready to wrestle Saboo at like the brass nugget, like off, off the strip. And probably the best match, my favorite match. I didn't know that it's illegal to do a clean sweep of a blackjack table in order to pile a wrestling opponent. Who'd do this? like $10,000 other things. There they go. And Barry told me about this movie, Barry Blaustein, that he was working on.

And my role was originally going to be the guy who had that, you know, flirtation with stardom and was now back, you know, back to his roots. And then fortunately, things changed. I do believe for anyone who saw it, it created a lot of empathy for me, so much so that when Al Snow and I were invited to the premiere of Arnold Schwarzenegger's end of days, there were about 30 women that were like whispering and looking, and then they finally came over and said, we're not wrestling fans,

but we pre-screened beyond the mat and we think you're a great father. And that meant so much to me. But I don't know, like, overall how many people saw it or if it affected the way Main Street people saw me. But I know when I was doing it, I felt this is going to be the most important. thing I ever do. I think we all looked at your family.

Yeah. And the way that they were reacting to the chair shots from the rock and we all went, that's us. Yeah. That's how we all feel in that moment. You take 11 of these chair shots to the head. That wasn't, the plan was not for 11, right? Plan was for, yeah, for five, but I was still in the ring at five, you know?

And I didn't know, it's, you know, I didn't realize that your body has the ability to give with a chair shot. And it doesn't make it fake, you know, I mean, it's just like anything, you know, you have the ability to give. It would be like all of a sudden now, instead of having an ability to give, somebody's punching you square in the face while your head is up against the wall. The impact is going to be so much worse. This isn't an exact analogy. But once my hands were cuffed, and anyone at home can do that, I'd be like, oh, I can see why if you were hit in the head, it would be far more painful. So I literally could not believe how much that first chair shot hurt than anyone I'd ever taken.

And so instead of being halfway up the aisle on five, I was still in the ring. And so I was, you know, I wanted to do the best job I could, but even as I was getting there, I did not know my children were crying. I thought, and the original finish, which was supposed to be, the camera sees my family crying. I see my family crying and I quit. Because you don't want them. I don't want to do that. Now, if you go through history, it was like within two weeks, Triple H did the same thing that I wanted to do with China.

But it was just done so quickly, you know, there's so much in wrestling, you can't digest at all. And that wasn't something people were able to sit down and like really enjoy. But that was the original idea. And my worry was that I'd spent their whole lives telling them that I was just playing and that Dad Dad couldn't be hurt. And I thought they'd come over to the kids. they'd be like reading.

I didn't know they'd be crying, you know, like. But to borrow a line from John Candy and Home Alone, kids are resilient. They came around. What a great line. Started talking after a couple weeks. You remember that whole match? Oh, yeah, yeah.

Is there any match you don't remember? Oh, yeah. It's not because of head injuries. It's because you only remember. This, I believe it's scientifically proven. But I learned it in Santa class. with a Santa who's a lot of time reads up on science, you only remember the things that went really well,

the things that went really poorly. Right. And your pleasure. Yeah, you remember being bullied as a kid. I remember 12 years old, you know, the opposing team's coach. Why an adult would yell out this kid, kid runs like, is it dumping his pants? I don't know, you know, like there were so many times.

The real thing? Oh, yeah, real thing. He called me blooper arm and the same thing. And I was behind the plate. and the umpire behind the play was the older brother of a friend of mine. He's named Kenny Erickson actually went on to be a coach on the U.S. Olympic softball team. And so I'd been over at his sister's house many times,

still one of my best friends. And he hears me doing that. He said, what's wrong? Mickey, I was Mickey. I said, the other coach is making fun of me. And over the years, there were so many times I was like, I want to find out where that guy lives. I just want to let him know how freaking bad is.

hurt so bad that in 2001 my book hit number one on New York Times I was on the today show and I went out like for one of my son's first baseball games I was on those bleachers and I wasn't the number one bestseller three-time w-dovey champion I was that kid 12 years old it all came back to me so you remember things that were bad you remember the things that went really well and so there are matches like I could probably tell you 80% of what happened in mind games off the top of my head, 80% with triple H. I might get a move here and there.

That move, the match with the Rock, it's actually a good, kind of fun match up until the chairs come out. You know, I wish I'd use my left hand more. I don't think I'd confidence in my left anymore because in WCHW has to bring lefts and rights all the time. But there's so many things in the middle, even good promos, good matches, where I was like, don't remember a thing about that. It's just because it kind of gets lost in the mix. People talk so often about the pop when you win the championship that night, the pop after

Stone Cold music hits. How loud was it for you when you were in the ring? It was louder than the pop when I won. So yeah, you got one of the loudest pops of all the time. I was like, I didn't even get the loudest pop in that minute, you know? Actually, the loudest reaction I ever heard was, was it Mania 99, where Big Show it squashed me and I wasn't able to fulfill my refereeing duty but then I came down I swear that was the loudest thing I'd ever heard I could not believe the noise level

I wish I could say it was my match but it was an incredible night it was so much only downside is you know I saw a blue meaning in the lobby and I've been meaning to celebrate with a room service meal and a pay-per-view movie with some adult themes and instead Blue Meanie, you know, end up, all right, come on, and he snored and farted the whole night.

And I just remember thinking, I like this, like by a little corner of the bed. Like, this is not how I imagine my first night as a champion would be. What a night. Yeah, yeah. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking.

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I've heard you say that going through the fire table with Edge at WrestleMania 22 didn't hurt. How did that not hurt? Well, there's also the, in the same way, getting thrown off the stage into the open grave, big show,

it didn't hurt because I was so happy that it had gone well. And especially in mania with Edge, when as soon as we went through, and then, you know, in particular, Edge did that slow cover

where he was like, shakey, I'd never seen a cover like that. up before he was like sitting and he shaking and then he gives you that I love you that doesn't feel homoerotic in the least not that there'd be anything wrong if there was but it's just like a guy I love you man type of thing yeah and so I felt the giant weight off my shoulders which was the match the elusive magic wrestling mania moment so even when I went through the table um it was hot you know uh every you know I've got the hairy forums anyway and I usually tape up to

about here. Everything afterward, down, tape below, intact. Everything up, gone. You know, Edge worked that next, uh, he worked the next night. And it was his, uh, eyelashes gone. So that's, to me, that's one of the most difficult things about wrestling full time, especially in a big spot, is that you have to be able to peek emotionally over and over again. So I would joke, people have probably heard this, you know, Super Bowl ends, you know, hey, you just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do?

He's like, I'm going to Disneyland with us. Hey, you just had to, won your WrestleMania match. What are you doing? I'm going to get in a car. I'm going to drive 300 miles. I'm going to be on a show tomorrow night. Now it's three and a half hours of a slave. Yeah.

It's a little different now because they have the raw in the same city. Yeah. But it is still the same in that you peak for our Super Bowl and you're expected to be an honest. 100% the next day. Did Rock know at all that you were going to get him with that? It doesn't matter. I don't know. Because your reaction's incredible.

Yeah, I don't know. I'd like to say it was his idea. I don't know. I don't know if I would have been bold enough to say, can I use your catchphrase against you? But part of the fun of being with Rock is that nobody gave us a script and went out there as the Rock and Sock connection. So even when I started playing off his catchphrases, it worked so well because it was live,

whereas if I'd said, hey, how do you feel about this? Like maybe it would have gotten shot down. But I remember I was doing a signing somewhere and they were playing like the best of rock and sock connection. And I had to remember I'm at a signing because I was marking out so much for our own work. And by the way, I only used the word mark in a positive way towards myself. I will never. I think the idea of referring to your fans in negative terms is self-defeating.

Like, is you talking about your fan, people like what you do, and then you're going to give them a name based on them liking what you do? Like, what does that make you? Like, I consider what I do to, you know, wrestling is an art form. Like, it really is. It's anything you want it to be. And if you take pride in what you do, then you should not be criticizing the people who like it. So when I say marking out, I only do that in happy terms and usually about myself.

One of the things that I think is most impressive about your career is mankind doesn't get the credit. Cactus Jack doesn't get the credit. Dude Love doesn't get the credit. McFoly gets the credit. First of all, dude love does not deserve credit. He does for his cameo videos and for his signature. Dude's signature, I think it's the best signature in the game. I really do with the Valentine for the letter O.

Love that. And the big looping L that I still. from the list of Jericho. I was like, all right, now it's just two lines. And then I was like, list. I come up, down, boom. And then if I want, I can put HOF 13 in that loop. Yeah.

You are bigger than the characters you played. And that is so rare in rest. Michael Hickenbottom doesn't get the credit. Chris Irvine doesn't get the credit. Mark Calloway doesn't get the credit. McFoly does. I think that had a lot to do with the interview I did with Jim Ross in April 2017, where I was Mickey Foley.

And then Michael Cole, I think, did a really good job. When I won the match, he was saying, Mick Foley, Mick Foley, Mick Foley. And that was, I think, an overlooked classic. It's really tough to step into J.R. shoes. And Michael Cole's been so good. And I think if you were to ask Michael about his top 10 calls, that would probably be on it. He hit it out of the park. I know I had to fight with WWW.

to get my name on the cover of my own book. That's why the mankind is this big. And I remember, I think his name was Jim Bell in marketing, was like, well, your best known as mankind. He's like, yeah, but I wasn't sitting at my table with a mask on. It was me. And so I had to fight to use my own name. By virtue of my mask, my old mask, stinking so much,

I had taken to putting it up on top of my head. And then we got new masks. So the Rock and So, era has a much lighter beige mask because the deep dark brown is explained by perspiration for two, three years. Like a worn baseball glove. Oh, it was so bad. But it's right there.

I was like Jody Foster in Science of Lands. Remember they're doing the autopsy. They're putting the vapo rub. Yeah, I used to go out for the first two years with vapo rub on my mustache just so I could breathe a little better. Jeez. It was not easy. first of all, cuts off your air supply by having strips of leather covering your nose, and it stunk.

I want to thank you for everything you put your body through for our entertainment. And I've been wanting to get you on the show for so long. So thank you for taking the time to do this. It's such an honor to be able to sit with you and just hear about your incredible career. And, Mick, I want to end this conversation with the question I ask everybody at the end, because gratitude is such a huge part of my life. Yeah. What are three things in your life?

you're grateful for right now. You use family. That's a given, right? Sure. Family, fans, waffle. Family, fans, waffle. Also, we need to talk about what you've been doing with cauliflower hour, Allie Club.

And the great auctions you've been doing with them. How much of you, how much money has been raised? Well, I was in that minor fender bender on April 1st, right? People thought it was the, how ironic is that that your theme song begins with a car car crash. You're in a car crash. Are you doing okay from that? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I still have some trouble like with shoulder movement, get it over the head, some soft tissue. I could still press and feel where the injury was, but it could have been so much worse. And I realized, you know, whether some higher power was intervening and keeping me safe, even with the, I came to,

I don't know how long I was out for, but the airbag was so hot on my leg that I thought was going to spontaneously combust. So I exited the car at a much quicker pace than the EMTs who were anticipating anybody. And they also didn't anticipate, hey, I remember that guy from my childhood. Of course he walked away from a car crash. But I felt really fortunate. And there's that phrase there, but for the grace of God, go I. And I realized that given what I did in my wrestling career, in addition to that, car accident.

I could very easily be somebody who needed a helping hand, who needs a helping hand. And there are so many wrestlers who love the business more than the business, love them back. They do such a great job. Brian Blair's, you know, he's a former commissioner of, I think, Hillsborough County. Like, he knows, he knows how to organize. I don't know how to organize. I forgot we even had this. You showed up on time, though.

Come on. Because my social media system was like, Bing, you're supposed to be there. But what I can do is get out there. and create awareness because most wrestling fans don't even know there's an organization whose sole goal, and it's a registered charity, their sole goal is to help out wrestlers in need. And so I was asked by Brian, have I ever heard of a, there was a certain female wrestler from the 60s. I said, no. And he said, well, you know, $3,000 of what you raised went to her, helping her funeral costs. And I was like, it doesn't matter they don't know her. Like,

she's part of our family. Wendy Richter. has had trouble after a fire burned her down her house. I used to watch Wendy Richter on TV, and now the money I'm raising is going to help her. So I just went out with the idea of auctioning the shirts off my back, which I had done for a variety of different organizations, most notably NAMB in Georgia after Daphne's death. I wanted to raise some money for mental health awareness.

But we're up to $200 short of $25,000 raised over the course about 45 shows. So we're averaging almost $500 a night. People know the shirt is worth 10 and the flannel shirt's worth 30. Like they know they're bidding on something worth $40. But they want to have, it's like keepsake, but it's also a way of doing something really nice.

And I'm so appreciative, not only the high bidders, but those two or three other people in the crowd that, you know, that get into the bidding auction. But it makes me feel good, you know. I keep telling Brian, Brian, you don't have to thank me every time a donation comes in, you know, this is what I promised to you guys. And I'm really proud of that.

I'm really proud of that because I feel like if we love wrestling, you know, if somebody at home loves wrestling and has no idea that there's an organization that does this stuff, that specializes it, make sure every dollar counts that, you know, when they're,

if they're of the mind to want to contribute to organizations, maybe they'll consider this one. Well, it sounds like after your next show, you'll be well over that cool at 25,000. I hope so. We have a nice crowd on hand at the Chris Irvine Center. Irvine, California. We have a nice crowd there, and I think we'll pass 300 tonight. Well, thank you again, Mick.

But I got to tell you, Chris, much as I love, Callie for Alley Club, they're not getting the wiffle shirt. Nah, they're getting the wanted dead and a flannel. Nobody's touching this. Nobody's, that's mine. I do love that you have become synonymous with flannel shirts. This is the summer flannel now. The Summerflyle.

The Aloha shirt. For years it was the Hawaiian Santa shirt. But once I was, I got a, we have a couple more minutes before I have to hit the road. Sure. Yeah. I was at a signing and I had ordered a Hawaiian shirt with raccoons on it because I love raccoons. Who wouldn't? I mean, they stink.

They have rabies. But other than that, they're so cute. Yeah, so cute. They have little thumbs on them. And so I've got, when they're gripping things. They're so cute. are amazing. I'm wearing that shirt at a convention, and a guy comes up in my line, and I jokingly,

he's got a Hawaiian shirt with a cat on it, similar to this, same cat. I go, hey, didn't you get the memo? I'm the only guy who's going to have cute animals on my, before I even got it out of my mouth, said, is that your cat? I said, where can I get one? And so it's like, gecko plus if people want them, it's pretty much all I'm doing for Christmas. You know, there are going to be wuffle pajamas. Woffel and Randall's sweatpants.

You really can't go wrong with that. I need to do this for my elderly dog Luna. It's a beautiful name, by the way. Luna? Yeah, good name for it. We call her the loon, loony. Luna means moon, right? It does.

She's quite the loon, though. She pooped on our floor earlier today. Oh, no. She's 15. Okay. It's probably not. Although I feel like she does it at a spite. Why do you feel she has spiked in her heart for her?

Two very young children. Okay. And then the kids get the attention that Luna used to get. Two and a half year old, my two and a half year old daughter, 10-month-old son, exactly. They're getting all the attention that my dog used to get. Yeah. So she's like, guess what?

A poop on his floor. Yeah. There's a nice little surprise over there for you. But Mick, thank you. It's a good way to end. And can I say to you, have a nice day. You can. Thanks, thanks, Chris.

It's been a lot of fun. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video.

They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.