Pro Wrestling Insider for July 30, 2003.

Mick Foley is tonight’s guest.

Discussion of PPV:  Everyone agrees the PPV was great all around.  Even the Big Show has been working his ass off the last couple matches and they have been really good recently.  Cena vs. Undertaker was good and sets up a great long run for Cena as a main eventer.

Mick Foley joins the show:

- Nothing can destroy the memory of the Shawn Michaels match (96 Mind Games).  Mick’s favorite match.  27-minute match, and Mick was in control for 26.5 then the run-in occurred.  Shows the importance of the finish, a bad finish can kill a good match (or book!)

Q: What’s it like being criticized by non-wrestling fans for your books, as opposed to having your wrestling matches analyzed (and usually praised) by wrestling fans?

A: It’s different.  Sometimes I feel like they are more judging me and not the books, like they don’t want me in their world.  I have gotten some negative criticism and it usually is regarding the last part, like I let the book get away from me. A bad finish- and at the same time, nobody said it was boring.  Even Entertainment Weekly gave it a C+. Me being from a wrestling background, it’s like walking through a minefield.

- I really didn’t have an audience set in mind when I wrote it.  My autobiography had a set audience.  My publisher thought I was writing another wrestling book.

- The book and the character require a lot of thinking.  Some people don’t like the way it goes, some do. This book doesn’t provide all the answers and it’s up to individual people to interpret it.  You have to come to your own conclusions.

Q: How did you decide to write a biography?

A: Well I read a couple of chapters from the ghostwriters and they were just boring.  I didn’t think my life had been boring and I didn’t want to be the subject of a boring book.  So I started to write it myself and I received great feedback from all the guys in the back.  So I kept going with all that encouragement.

Lots of traveling the next couple days for the book tour- 8 days in 8 different cities.  Goal is to write well enough so that I can do it for a living and it looks like I am going to be able to do that.

Q: With the promotion already on the way for Wrestlemania 20, what is a good main event and will Foley be a part of it?

A: That’s a tough question.  Maybe Rock or Austin again.  I hope I am back for it. I think a big money match would be Foley vs. McMahon.  We’ve had some great history.  I always thought the Foley/McMahon was vastly underrated for the entertainment.

- Especially the Rock/Foley this is your life segment.  Vince yelled at us for going 27 minutes for a 15-minute segment.  The next day when the 8.4 rating came through, Rock and I sought Vince out who was cowering from us.

- My departure wasn’t that great, but in comparison to other people’s departure, mine was downright cozy.   But with the book coming out, it was a good way for both. When I heard it was Hell in a Cell, I made a little inquiry.   I think the story was a bit rushed and needed 1 more week to complete the story.

Q. With your book writing, did you ever considering writing storylines for a wrestling company?

A:  I would be willing to be a consultant, but I couldn’t handle the weekly deadlines and schedules.  I would be willing to work with some of the younger guys about promos and teach a couple of guys the small but important things in wrestling.

Q.  Are there any wrestlers in the WWE who can bring the WWE back to its prior prosperity of Rock, Austin, Foley?

A:  I think a guy like a Brock is good.  If he had come in as polished as he is now, he’d be phenomenal.  I couldn’t have made the impact if I hadn’t had the polish over the years.

Another thing is, I think Kurt Angle is actually hurt by how good he is at being goofy.  His academy-award winning goofiness actually hurt him because he doesn’t show people how tough he really is.

Q: In each of the promotions, which was your best match?

A: HBK vs. Foley, Mind Games.  In WCW, vs. Sting, Beach Bash.  In ECW, my last match vs. Mikey Whipwreck.

Q: How’s the morale in WWE right now?

A: It wasn’t as bad as I heard.  Or, maybe my morale wasn’t as high when I left.

Q. Can you please recount your story of going to the Britney Spears concert with Blue Meanie?

A.  We basically tricked Meanie into thinking Britney treated us so well and was leaving me suggestive messages on my phone (with the Kat doing the messages).   Meanie would get some bummed.  But around that time Noel was a fan and thought it would have been weird to have those type of imaginary relationships with my daughter’s idol.

Caller 1: Does opening the PPV with a title match devalue the title?

Dave: I don’t look at it that way.  They opened a PPV with a great match, plus you don’t want two title matches in a row.

Buck: it reminds of old WCW booking.  Great opening match, the final match and filler in the middle.

Dave: I really think it sets the tone for the rest of the people on the PPV.

Buck: None of it was as bad as it could have been and everything was as good as it should have been.

Caller: Why didn’t they didn’t do anything after the Cena/Taker match to continue the angle?

Dave: I don’t buy PPVs for angles, I buy them for matches.  I didn’t have a problem with it.  They will probably continue it on TV.

Email 1: Does the overrun do better because people want to watch the next show?

Dave: I think it’s half right.  Some people want to check out the next show, but I think a lot of people want to see the end of wrestling.  I always thought it was because other shows end and they want to see what’s going on with the last couple minutes of wrestling.

Email 2: Should Hogan come back and be apart of Wrestlemania?

A: Yes and Yes.  He deserves it.

Caller 2: The PPV deserved 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

Dave: Definitely.

Caller 3: What’s the status of HHH and Goldberg for Summerslam?