Extensive Update On Mick Foley - Would He Go To TNA? Report by TNAWrestlingNews.com Staff on 08/06/2008 at 08:45 PM
According to a report, the latest on the Mick Foley/WWE front and his future as a Smackdown commentator is said to be up a question on the minds of many within the company.
Foley was not used as a commentator at last night's Smackdown/ECW tapings in Atlanta. Matt Striker replaced Tazz on commentary for ECW joining Todd Grisham, while Tazz filled in for Foley with Jim Ross on Smackdown commentary. They kept Foley off the show to sell the angle from last week involving Edge. It is interesting to note that on last night's ECW, they didn't explain Striker's appearance as a one-time deal and gave the impression that he was now going to be joining Grisham from that point on. This could indicate Foley may not be coming back and the situation at TV yesterday was described as tenuous.
All indications going into last week's Smackdown taping was that using Foley in the segment with Edge was planned out and that he was scheduled to return soon afterwards. As reported on earlier, Foley's contract with WWE is believed to be expiring at the end of August and it isn't known by many if he will be leaving or staying. It should be noted that while Foley has said he enjoys working with Jim Ross, he hasn't responded well to being yelled at for his commentary by Vince McMahon, which is something all WWE announcers have to deal with and something Foley wasn't used to as a performer.
What Foley's plans would be post-WWE are interesting. If his contract expires with WWE and they don't reach a new deal, he would be available for TNA. While there is said to be zero talk on the TNA side of bringing in Foley, it should be noted that Foley's current deal with WWE was a result of Foley accepting a deal from TNA a few years ago and informing Vince that he was leaving. As a result, Vince offered him a bigger deal to stay. The relationship between McMahon and Foley reportedly hasn't been the same since this went down.
At the very least, should Foley depart WWE, he'll definitely be more involved in the entertainment field. Some sources within the TV industry have discussed the possibility of Foley leaving WWE. Foley has had a few television projects floating around for development and pilot ideas. There were also plans for him to do a quasi-reality show featuring his family, but was forced to drop it when he took the SmackDown announcing job.
Internally, his future as the SmackDown color commentator still remains in question. There is definitely a good chance that his days as an announcer for SmackDown are numbered. Last week's angle could have been done to write him off the show, but the indication given is that he would be back again. Foley enjoys working with Jim Ross, but isn't particularly fond of Vince McMahon yelling at him over the headset while he's doing commentary. It's something all of of the announcers have to deal with, but it's something new for Foley as he wasn't treated in this manner as a performer.
We will continue to follow this story as it develops.
