With recently cutting ties with WWE, some fans have wondered if this means Mick Foley could show up in AEW. Like other wrestling legends, such as Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Ric Flair, have appeared in the land of the Elite in prominent roles.
Presenting championships, managers, and guest appearances to help push storylines, AEW has a history of utilising legends in roles to spotlight the present generation. Respect and homage are paid.
You could argue that AEW knows how to present and book legends better than WWE. Jeff Jarrett and Dustin Rhodes experienced career resurgences. Arn Anderson and his gun became a meme. Then there’s the final chapter of the man called Sting. A man who was protected and yet made to feel timeless and ageless. A perfect retirement. Something Foley has had at least three times.
Yet Foley always found a way or reason to come back. Recently, footage released by Inside the Ropes showed Foley talking about having one more match. Foley disclosed he had met with MJF to outline a six-week program. That stirred my imagination. What if this happened in AEW?
On paper, it sounds awesome. Reality, Foley’s health makes it impossible.
Foley’s bump card has disintegrated. His history of head injuries means a doctor will never clear Foley to compete again. Experiencing dizziness, light-headedness, and memory lapses, Foley can’t ride rollercoasters anymore. Foley even believed he suffered a “minor” concussion, showing trainees how he would hit the turnbuckles. There’s no way Foley can take a bump.
However, like my previous what-if articles, this is an exploration of our present. Given talk of John Cena’s retirement, rumours of Chris Jericho’s retirement, and pearl-clutching of AEW’s use of violence/lack of safety, what if…
Not a Match
Foley can’t enjoy rollercoasters anymore, but he still enjoys a slow ride on a choo-choo train. Can the same approach be taken with a wrestling match? Yes, but no. Having Foley do anything physical would have a risk. Risk can be minimised but not completely eradicated.
AEW gets pearl-clutching and knee-jerk criticism that gets a lot wrong about violence and safety in AEW. Yet one thing criticism has gotten right is AEW’s record with spots or allowing matches to continue despite possible head trauma. The reputation AEW has for violence would play into media attention and social media conversation. Criticism would be inevitable. Yet the risk of what “could” happen is too much to risk Foley’s health and life.
The reality overrides even kayfabe logic for a final match. Unsanctioned, Lights Out, or otherwise. No one wants to see Foley hurt. Plus, we’re unlikely to see anything new. Foley has done everything he needs. There can’t be a final match, but there could be a final program. On that joins the reality and kayfabe history and puts a bow on Foley’s career. On requiring a significant number of necessary bells and whistles to act like cotton wool.
A program that’s 50% promo skills and 49% cinematic. If there’s any physicality, it’s at most 1% where Foley controls the pace, and contact is far away from his head.
There’s a natural story. No one wants to see Mick Foley hurt anymore. Fans want to see Foley having survived everything. Where Foley chooses discretion as the better part of valour, this only works if Foley is tested in a way no one has tested him before.
Skipped to Week 5
Mick Foley makes a surprise appearance in AEW for X reason. Foley puts over AEW wrestlers like Darby Allin, Mark Briscoe, and Jon Moxley, but he excludes one big name. MJF subsequently takes shots at Foley every time he speaks. The digs are getting more pronounced and personal.
Foley doesn’t appear again until AEW returns to Long Island. MJF in the ring, cutting a promo when- screech! The sound of a car crashing! Foley comes to the ring. Cheap pop for their shared home, Long Island.
Foley says he didn’t forget MJF, but he was waiting for the right time and place because he has something important MJF needs to hear. Foley puts over MJF as a generational talent, as more talented than himself and many others. That MJF is already better than him, and everyone knows it. But one thing stops MJF from being the best… himself.
Foley tells MJF he tries too hard to be who he thinks everyone else wants him to be. Cut the low-hanging fruit insults. Stop overthinking. Stop attempting to outdo himself and everyone else because that self-consciousness is holding him back.
Uncharacteristically, MJF seems moved. Even offering and hugging Foley. MJF doesn’t hurt Foley. Instead, MJF says he hoped Foley would come out because he has a gift for him. It’s a long, thin gift-wrapped box.
MJF tells Foley he is full of shit and that he’ll be the reason Foley dies in this ring. Instantly, wrestlers run out to protect Foley. MJF bails, but not before telling Foley he skipped to week 5 of their program. Foley opens the box, finding a bloodstained Singapore cane.
Caned Dewey
MJF has used Foley’s history against him. MJF has hurt Foley’s son. Fined and barred from attending AEW events, fans still hear from MJF in a series of vignettes. In the first, MJF teases sharing his “snuff film”- his canning of Mick Foley’s son, Dewey. AEW refuses to air it, allowing MJF to take a shot at how Tony Khan released the backstage All In 2023 footage.
In the next few weeks, MJF’s reasons will be expanded. It’s about Foley not acknowledging him. Foley’s arrogance to think he needs “help” from a man who gave himself brain damage. MJF highlights that he is the antithesis of Foley. One vignette takes place at the steakhouse where he and Foley planned his retirement program.
MJF says he is owed a match. Knowing AEW won’t grant that, he wants a fight instead with Foley. MJF goads Foley, the father, not the wrestler. If Foley refuses, he releases the footage and dares AEW to fire him.
Meanwhile, wrestlers like Briscoe, Moxley, and Allin speak to Foley, reinforcing that he can’t fight MJF, and each offering to fight for him. Foley remains conflicted. Eventually, Foley wants a face-to-face meeting with MJF, but no physicality. MJF agrees, but the hook is there. What will MJF do?
The meeting happens on PPV, but it doesn’t get an official graphic. Halfway through the pre-show, MJF releases the footage online. Mick Foley storms to the ring just before the PPV begins. Fired up and with tape on his fists, Foley demands that MJF come down.
The PPV starts. MJF comes out, but it’s a set-up. Jumped by Moxley, Briscoe, and Allin, MJF escapes and flees backstage. Then events become cinematic.
Don’t Die, Mick
Moxley, Briscoe, and Allin do the heavy lifting. Ganging up on MJF with a series of Foley-inspired spots, they get catharsis for us, Foley and. They beat up MJF through the building to the car park. They set MJF up on a car bonnet near a production truck. In the background, before Allin and Briscoe can climb to the top, Mick Foley has somehow beaten them to it!
The one spot Foley never did but always wanted to do was an elbow drop from a production truck, with the camera angle making it look like he was going to crash through the viewer’s TV. Everyone pleads with Foley not to do it. Foley stops himself. Instead, Foley gives Daby or Briscoe his blessing. They hit the spot.
The arc completed, Foley has accepted his limitations. He passes the torch: no physicality and an option for an encore, where there would be more of a risk.
Salt of the Earth
Perhaps later in the event, a bloodied and battered MJF comes to the ring. MJF demands that Foley meet him. Flanked by his children, Foley reassures them before entering the ring. Foley tells MJF enough. Foley still puts over MJF, but throws one last dig: “Have a nice day”. Foley begins exiting the ring. MJF kicks the ropes, crotching Foley. MJF sets up for the heatseeker.
Noelle Foley gets on the apron and gets to act on many female fans’ desires. She slapped the smile off MJF’s face. MJF backs away. Foley recovers and sees the opportunity. Foley gets out, Mr Socko! Foley sets up for the mandible claw. Foley locks it in! But MJF low blows Foley again! Foley crumbles at his own pace and speed.
MJF grabs Foley’s wrist and locks on the Salt of the Earth armlock. Foley taps immediately. Dewey, with a cane, enters and beats MJF to release his dad. MJF flees.
Foley gets closure. MJF gets beaten and humiliated, yet he still gets a moment of glory. Additionally, there’s room for connective tissue and character growth for MJF. Maybe MJF is kayfabe suspended for a while. Maybe Foley’s criticism spurs a change in MJF.
Ultimately, Foley’s lifetime arc concludes with a bang (bang)!
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