Last December, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley revealed that he’d be parting ways with WWE upon the expiration of his Legends deal. Six months later, the hardcore legend is now “All Elite,” with a role he describes as the “Swiss Army knife” of All Elite Wrestling.
What exactly attracted Foley to his new home? According to the man himself, multiple things, one of them being AEW’s dedicated spotlight to its mid-card divisions.
“That’s one place where I will compare them, the two companies, and say [AEW] do a much better job in the mid-card. I think there’s just a little bit more pride,” Foley said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Going back to the way WWE did things, they would build a tag team for two or three years, have them win the tag team title multiple times, and then two big stars who’d never teamed would face the tag team and destroy them. Showing you that the tag team was never that important to begin with. That would be the message that I would get as a fan. And I don’t think you see that type of thing [in AEW].”
Foley noted that, years ago, he took a break from watching pro wrestling. Once he eventually tuned back in, though, he noticed glaring differences between WWE and AEW.
Similar to his favorite family-owned theme park, Foley found himself gravitating to AEW due to the love, and more importantly, the magic behind it. WWE, on the other hand, has seemingly lost some of its magic since coming under the ownership of Endeavor, and subsequently forming TKO, in 2023.
“I think when you’re part of a corporation and the bottom line is everything, you take away from your mid-card by making it clear that what you’re selling is more important than the product in the ring,” Foley said.
Foley Recalls First Impressions of AEW CEO Tony Khan
In a surprise revelation, Foley noted that his first meeting with AEW CEO Tony Khan didn’t actually revolve around pro wrestling. It came through a mutual connection to the Jacksonville Jaguars, an NFL team owned by Khan’s father Shahid, about 15 years ago.
“Alex Marquez is a journalist in South Florida now. Why he knew the Jaguars, I don’t know, but he said, ‘Hey, a friend of mine is a big fan of yours. His father owns the Jaguars. He’s a good guy. We know you’re in town. Would you like to have lunch with him?’ I said ‘Yeah, sure,’ and I haven’t forgotten it,” Foley said. “[Khan] has got that indomitable spirit.”
During his short time in AEW, Foley feels he’s already gotten a good sense of what Khan now brings to the table as a wrestling promoter and booker. In comparison to former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, Foley described Khan as “joyous,” with a tendency to physically jump out from his seat while working backstage.
“As a guy who always reacted better to a pat on the back than a kick in the butt, I would have really enjoyed that style,” Foley said. “Mr. McMahon had his own style, and of course, when he put you over, it meant a lot. He didn’t do it nearly as much, but he didn’t jump up from his seat to meet the talent that was coming through. You had to take the walk over there, so I just marveled at it.”
Foley marked his first on-screen AEW appearance by co-hosting the Double or Nothing Buy In with fellow former WWE personality Renee Paquette. Toward the end of the hour, Foley also crossed paths with MJF, who went on to dethrone Darby Allin as AEW World Champion later that night.
Foley Feels Connected To Tony Khan & The ‘Different’ People In AEW
Throughout his in-ring career, Foley has prided himself on standing out from the rest and highlighting the things that make him different. Following Foley’s famously violent Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker in 1998, those things included a kinder, gentler spirit, purposely meant to separate himself from the tougher, more outspoken on-screen characters, such as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, at the time. Nowadays, Foley sees the likes of Tony Khan and former AEW World Champion Darby Allin embracing their own unique qualities, which in turn, has formed a natural bond between them.
“I do connect with a guy like Tony who’s a little bit different. I gave the promo about Darby because I knew he was a guy who was different,” Foley said, referring to his complimentary speech about Allin on the Buy In. “A lot of people find comfort in professional wrestling because they may not be as comfortable with themselves outside of that world. I think the best move I ever made in wrestling was having the confidence to believe that I could speak to fans who were outside of the fans we were marketing to. I remember thinking not everybody’s hip and slick and cool. I knew for a fact I’m not hip and slick and cool. I remember thinking to myself, there’s a lot more of me out there than there is of them.”
In assessing the current landscape of AEW, Foley said that he’s identified a handful of talents, such Allin, that don’t look or act like traditional pro wrestlers. It’s those talents, though, that Foley particularly wants to help, potentially by uniting them in a stable under his managerial guidance.
“I just think there’s room for everyone in AEW. I really do,” he added.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “The Ariel Helwani Show” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
