Table of Contents
Mick Foley and The Rock had an excellent relationship both on screen and off screen, as their storylines have always been really special. The duo worked as Rivals during their early career, and their rivalry from late 1998 and early 1999 is still considered one of the best rivalries of the Attitude Era. They did an amazing job of putting each other over during this feud.
The duo also worked as a tag team and were famously known as The Rock' n' Sock Connection. After challenging Triple H for the WWE championship at WrestleMania 2000, Mick Foley stopped working regularly in the ring as his body was slowly giving up. This was a fatal 4 way match, which also included The Rock and The Big Show. After this match, Foley started working as the on screen Commissioner of WWE.
Mick Foley remembers his iconic segment with The Rock from 2000
Foley was so famous among the WWE Universe that the officials did not want to let him go, even after he stopped working in the ring, so they brought him back on a non wrestling role. In an in ring segment with The Rock once, he completely owned the People's Champion with his own Catchphrase, "It doesn't matter." Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on the Insight Podcast recently, he discussed the following about that iconic segment;
“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, we 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?’
Mick Foley stopped working regularly in the ring after 2000
"Maybe it would have gotten shot down. 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 use the word mark in a positive way towards myself. I think the idea of referring to your fans in negative terms is self-defeating.
Mick Foley had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in the class of 2013
"You’re talking about your fans, people who like what you do, and then you’re going to give them a name based on them liking what you do? What does that make you? I consider what I do to wrestling is an art form, 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.” said the former three times WWE World Champion, the Hardcore Legend Mick Foley.
It turned out to be one of the best moments in WWE history, and it is still remembered to this date. Mick Foley himself was also quite happy after delivering this segment, and he could not control his emotions after doing it. Foley returned to entering action after his retirement in 2000, but he could never return on a full time basis. He had some excellent matches with the likes of Randy Orton and Edge. He had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
