Wrestling Voice Radio has a 25-minute video feature on Mick Foley's comedy show in Ireland earlier this week, a sit-down interview with Foley before the show, and clips of Foley's WWE return. Foley addressed why he would return to WWE at a house show: "The basic answer is because I just happened to be flying into Dublin the day they were there and my hotel was literally across the street. I called and asked if I could come hang out and it was a lot of fun." ... Foley said he would like to wrestle The Miz if he returns to the ring. He joked that he has probably one decent match, a few mediocre ones, and one bad match left in him. ... Foley said he wasn't surprised when he was off the three-hour Raw featuring The Rock because Rock's TV return is a "big enough deal," but he wouldn't be surprised if he's back on for the show. ... The Foley feature with Duane Doogan & Luke Barry is below.
Video URL:
blip.tv/file/5692568~~
WWE executive/wrestler Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels went in-depth on several subjects during a 25-minute interview on 790 AM The Ticket in Miami Friday morning promoting the WrestleMania 28 ticket on-sale date. The following are highlights of the interview on The Jorge Sedano Show worth listening to at 790theticket.com.
-- The most newsworthy aspect of the interview was Triple H nearly revealing the 2012 Hall of Fame venue before saying it's to be determined. He added WWE is finalizing the list of inductees for next year's HOF.
"We have a pretty decent idea, but I can't tell you," Hunter said. "We don't have it completely ironed out yet and we're still working on it and we like to - ya know, WWE is all about presentation - and we like to make a big production out of who's going in." Hunter did note Mil Mascaras is official for the Hall of Fame.
-- Michaels joined Hunter half-way through the interview after running late from a previous media appearance. They openly discussed Vince McMahon's personality as head of WWE and Hunter specifically mentioned McMahon's reaction to a bad TV taping.
"No one beats himself up more - if we have a bad show, he won't sleep and he beats himself up for a week over it," Hunter said.
Michaels described McMahon as "fair" and "patient," adding that "no one cares or puts in more time than Vince." HBK added, "Does he ask a lot? Yeah, he does. But, he gives a lot. Is he crazy? Yeah. Is he certifiable? You betcha. That's one of the things that makes him fun to work with." Hunter, as the son-in-law, joked that the "certifiable" part applied after he experienced his first McMahon Family Thanksgiving.
Later, Hunter described McMahon's twisted sense of humor and referenced the infamous Katie Vick storyline that "went way array."
"Vince sometimes has this wacky, disturbing sense of humor," Hunter said. "That was one of those ones when I saw it, I was like, 'I'm not doing this.' And Vince was like, 'It's going to be great.' Hunter said he wanted it to be comical and funny if he was going to do it, but Vince wanted it dark and horrible. "He talked me into doing it and, to this day, everyone always brings up the Katie Vickie incident. Vince thought it was funny in his warped mind," Hunter said.
-- Hunter and HBK addressed criticism of the product, especially when they did their off-the-wall DX skits a few years ago. Hunter said sometimes they got to the point where their only goal - even if the audience crapped on the segments - was to crack each other up.
"Everybody takes what we do so seriously - everybody but us. We look at it as it's just funny and tongue-in-cheek and everyone looks into it and they ready way too much into it. Vince will say, 'Oh, at the end of the day, we just put smiles on people's faces,' and that angers some people who want serious," Hunter said. "We're entertainment. Sometimes we're just entertaining ourselves and you do this 52 weeks a year, every single year after 20 years, you gotta entertain yourself after a while."
Michaels countered, "The thing is, eventually everything in our line of work has to result in a wrestling match, for the most part. And, I always thought for the purist and traditional guy who thinks, 'They need to use better workers,' eventually everything will wind up as a wrestling match. That's when a guy gets a chance to appeal to those folks. It was always important to do your best to balance both. It's tough. And it's a lot of work, but if you do enough research and you work hard enough, you can sort of satisfy everyone."
Hunter chimed in, "That's one of the things I'm most proud of in my career is we have succeeded on so many different levels." Hunter said he felt they were successful making people laugh, cry, angered, and love the wrestling aspect. Hunter said when he's had enough of the serious aspect, he can just do the DX comedy and be goofy.
-- Prior to Michaels joining the show, Hunter talked about being a very casual sports fan, but being good buddies with Floyd Mayweather, who Hunter noted he trained for his WrestleMania 24 match with Big Show. Hunter said he gets into sports when the personalities interest him.
"Whether it's MMA or boxing, it's really about the personalities," Hunter said before saying half-seriously that he thinks Mayweather vs. HBO commentator Larry Merchant could do 1.2 million buys right now.
Hunter talked up Mayweather's training ability and focus on his craft when he's all about business and not into his "crazy life" in Las Vegas.
Michaels then joined the show and Hunter said he was nervous being on a sports station by himself because he knows nothing about sports. HBK said he's a big sports fan and recalled when they were together at an Atlanta Falcons NFL game last year to promote WM27 in Atlanta and Hunter was asking questions before and throughout the game. HBK recalled a conversation where Hunter asked, "Why'd that guy in the striped shirt throw that yellow thing?"
-- Other highlights from the interview: Michaels said he can't pick a favorite career match. He listed his favorite opponents as Hunter, Undertaker, Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. Hunter said he got the opportunity to work with The Rock, Steve Austin, Undertaker, Mick Foley, and Michaels. He said he was recently interviewed for a "book or video" and couldn't pick one. He noted wrestling Michaels at Summerslam 2002 when Michaels was only scheduled for one big return match after a five-year absence "really holds a special place for me."
Asked who came up with DX, Hunter told the story about Shane McMahon running with the concept after Bret Hart called them a "bunch of degenerates" during a TV promo. Michaels said they were talking about Hunter showing more personality outside of the Hunter Hearst Helmsley persona and they decided to run with DX.
Regarding the Monday Night Wars, Hunter and Michaels shared some stories, including Hunter telling a story about paging Kevin Nash when Nash was ringside on Nitro to rib him on live TV. Hunter said he kept paging Nash, who kept fumbling with his pager on TV.
