Mick Foley losing his connection with the fans?

[Skullz Crack'Em]

I don't know if i am the only one who noticed this, but did anyone else notice Mick Foley is losing his connection with the fans? A couple of weeks ago on RAW he did a promo concerning the death of Mr. McMahon/WWE Championship match and the fans seemed to be chanting "What"!? after each of his sentences, fans usually chant that when a heel or somebody boring is doing a promo. The reason of those chants may be that he was talking about Mr. McMahon and the fans hate Mr. McMahon, or is it because they are tired of Mick Foley? I am not saying all the fans were booing him, but compared to 6 years ago, he is only getting half the pops he usually got.

Also, today his character is a lot more serious and more realistic instead of being the funny and crazy Mick Foley we all knew and loved, could that be the reason fans are not as interested in him anymore? I know that he is not a full active superstar on the WWE roster and that he don't need to go deep into his gimmick anymore, but I really think he is losing his fan base which may possibly ruin his legacy has a future Hall of Famer.

What are everybody elses opinion on Mick Foley? Is he just as popular as he was six years ago? Or do I have a point when I say that his slight change in personality and his many returns have worn out his welcome to the fans?

 

[Da Vinci's Nightmare]

I don't think he has as good as a connection with the fans anymore.

He used to get "cheep pops" just by naming the town they were in and them pops used to be as loud as anything else you would get that night.

Normally with a foley promo you would be gettin something that generated good pop or heat depending on which one he was.

But now he doesn't seem to have the passion anymore from what i can see and that had gone across to the fans. People who cheer for Mick are the older fans, who used to watch him day in day out when he were on a full time schedual, and they never cheered for some1 who didnt put passion in to it.

To sum it up, i think people are just beginning to forget about the great mick foley wrestler, an now seeing mick foley author and ranter

 

[Low_Ki]

Maybe its because most of a WWE audience consists of 10 year olds who would rather see a John Cena match over a Mick Foley 90's classic.

I completely agree with this statement. The wrestling business was completely different getting on for ten years ago now. The attitude era was just getting started and Mick's character (Mankind) was perfect for that era. Mankind was just starting to get over with the fans because of the funny skits that the WWE were putting him in at the time (The Mankind-Vince skit at the hospital is still my favourite). Sure Foley has become more serious now purely because he is no longer playing the part of Mankind, or any other of his three alter-egos for that matter. Wrestling fans in this day and age have no appreciation for real talent. Now Foley may not have been the most technically sound wrestler of all time but he could sure as hell put on an entertaining match. (Just look at his first WWE title win against The Rock). Kids and women in this day and age would rather watch John Cena and Batista stink up the joint on a weekly basis. To me, Foley is still great and I will always appreciate what he has done for the WWE.

 

[Edgeh]

Well..He stills uses his cheap pops..and his references to his old personalities to get a reaction..and usually gets one. But Its hard to make a connection when only wrestling 3 or 4 nights a year..and appearing like 7 times. But he tries his best to do it. But as far as passion. I think he's lost most of it. He's really not a title contender and he doesnt get worked into the storylines often. So yes, i think he's lost his connection.

 

[Jonny B]

Anyone who doesn't Cheer (or Boo in the case of him being a heel) Mick Foley is no Wrestling Fan. People probably don't know this about me, but I'm a huge Mick Foley mark and I have to disagree with the point that he is losing his connection.

In my opinion Foley is still getting some of the largest pops in the Company when he appears, the thing about it is though people generally these days dont pop when someone comes out, we dont get those Triple H return Pops anymore, even Austin wasn't getting huge pops before WM but he was still easily the most popular person on the roster.

Its not that people dont care about Foley anymore, its that they dont care about wrestling in general.

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

I think Foley has lost his edge over the past few years. He has lost to the likes of Orton, Flair, Cena and not to mention joining the kiss my ass club. The fans are not going to believe hes a threat to anybody. He only wrestles occassioonaly and usualy loses or gets his ass kicked.

 

[PrimoEco]

Foley is great and is Hall of Fame material. What he has done for this business could never be fully expressed through words. He still gets a huge pop regardless of whether he's heel or face... and he still has some fight left in him. I think his next match should be a hell-in-a-cell. Foley can take a bump like no other. He is living proof that you dont need to be pretty or have huge muscles to be a superstar; you just need a guy like Undertaker to throw you off of a big ass cage. Foley's great.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Mick Foley isn't losing his connection with the fans.

Mick Foley has LOST his connection with the fans.

Jonny B, you make a fair point that anybody who doesn't react to him isn't a wrestling fan. Mick has a hall-of-fame legacy that elicits him a certain level of respect at every turn. But the truth is, that respect can get you little more than the obligatory clap when you come out to speak or wrestle.

The fact that Mick was in the main event at Vengeance should have made that match a blockbuster alone. But it didn't. People didn't really notice or care too much.

A big reason for the fall has to be the numerous face / heel / tweener / author changes he made over the past few years. He turned on ECW, Melina fired him, and the whole allure was totally lost. He disappeared! He returned to peddle another book, of course, and I think fans see through that. Making a return just to push a book / movie / TV Show pisses fans off if you do it more than once.

If they had kept him consistent and respected his legacy (and not made him make that cheap turn on ECW to side with Edge for no reason) we wouldn't be having this discussion now.

 

[PrimoEco]

I agree with the Irish Canadian. I hearken bake to the Wrestlemania in 2000. Foley was in the match; brought in by Linda McMahon. Foley hadnt been on TV in awhile. At that time, he never got to compete for the big gold in the main event at wrestlemania, so his storyline going into that match had heart and the fans wanted him to win just so that his dreams would be fulfilled. But his recent return is another example of how poorly used he is by the WWE writing staff and how incompetent they really are. But dont blame Foley for all of this. It isnt his fault. This isnt WCW; the wrestlers do not have creative control on how they are used. Maybe if Foley had married the boss's daughter, he would have more control over the direction that he went in. And as far as him turning on ECW: thank Vince because Vince doesnt give a rat's ass about what ECW used to be. If Foley went to ECW to wrestle, it would be only to job to guys like Burke and Nitro. Its a shame I know. The WWE couldve done more with the last Funk vs. Foley match, but like always, they dropped the ball on a potential big buy rate match. I would love to see Foley receive a miracle from the heavens having him end up in ECW full time. Him and Kevin Thorn could have a good feud. Foley did his best with that heel turn with Edge. But that was only to put Edge and Melina over. McMahon doesnt see the potential for these older wrestlers to still draw in the fans. I can understand that McMahon wants to put these young guys over so that when Foley and Flair and others finally retire, the young guys will be ready to carry the proverbial torch. In a business sense, it's an investment with a projected payoff in the future instead of going for the payoff now by using guys like Foley and Flair properly. If anything, the young guys should pay attention to how Foley is being used because one day McMahon or one of his snobby kids will be doing the same thing to Cena, Orton, Edge, and others....

 

[X]

Mick Foley isn't losing his connection with the fans.

Mick Foley has LOST his connection with the fans.

Jonny B, you make a fair point that anybody who doesn't react to him isn't a wrestling fan. Mick has a hall-of-fame legacy that elicits him a certain level of respect at every turn. But the truth is, that respect can get you little more than the obligatory clap when you come out to speak or wrestle.

The fact that Mick was in the main event at Vengeance should have made that match a blockbuster alone. But it didn't. People didn't really notice or care too much.

A big reason for the fall has to be the numerous face / heel / tweener / author changes he made over the past few years. He turned on ECW, Melina fired him, and the whole allure was totally lost. He disappeared! He returned to peddle another book, of course, and I think fans see through that. Making a return just to push a book / movie / TV Show pisses fans off if you do it more than once.

If they had kept him consistent and respected his legacy (and not made him make that cheap turn on ECW to side with Edge for no reason) we wouldn't be having this discussion now.

First off, the entire storyline of Foley turning on ECW and being heel last year, all of it, was totally thought up by Mick himself. Mick was the one who thought it up, and had to convince the WWE to do it. He writes about it in the Hardcore Diaries. So can't exactly say "If they had kept him consistent and respected his legacy"...

Further on that note...people seem to be forgetting that Foley was one of the best heels to ever grace this business. Before he was goofy-lovable Rock-N-Sock era Mankind, before he was Cactus Jack facing HHH in a HIAC, before he was the goofy commish and before he was getting cheap pops, he was one of the greatest heels to ever grace this business. You say "if they had respected his legacy"...well...they were doing exactly that! Foley was one of if not THE most hated man in ECW. They made signs asking for people to cane his children, they spit on him, chanted "You Sold Out!" at his last show(while only a few monthes earlier they would chant "Please Don't Go!" to Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko who were also "selling out" to the big times) and hated his guts. Foley used to come out with freakin' WCW shirts on with Eric Bischoff on the front! He was lucky to get out of those arena's alive doing shit like that! Then he went into WWF and totally reinvented his heel character as a totally insane man-child in Mankind.

So, to blame this on the WWE when all of last year was Foley's idea, and to pretend that Foley was some ECW God or the all-time face is ridiculious. Last year's heel turn was one of the best things done with the Foley character in years, did anyone else really want to see another face Foley come out, get a couple cheap pops, and leave(like he's doing right now)? The cheap pop happy-go-lucky Foley character is more stale then Cena as champ.

 

[PrimoEco]

I didnt know last year's story line was Mick's idea.... but I must agree that Mick made his mark in this business as a heel. Will he ever return to those good ole' days? Who knows? I doubt it but it's possible. I just stopped having nightmares about Undertaker's American Badass gimmick... Maybe one day I wont have the deep pain in my stomach that the current usage of Foley gives me.

 

[Downward Spiral]

It just comes down to the simple fact that we just don't see enough of the guy to start with, and when we do, it's because the WWE have just thrown him on TV for some boring reason. Yeah, Mick Foley deserves to be as popular as any other guy on the roster, but it's just that most don't really care about him anymore, and that's really sad.

This guy, along with Edge, saved WrestleMania 22 from being a total shitfest, and if that doesn't give you an idea of just how good this guy is for his age, I don't know what will. To get him reconnected with the fans, he needs to go on TV and do something interesting. To say that the WWE fans have no respect would be a little harsh, but it is a little upsetting that people aren't giving enough respect towards Foley. The guy is a legend, and should be treated like one, but he won't be if he's just going on TV once every two months or so.

Will this hurt his Hall of Fame chances? God no. The WWE aren't going to forget everything this guy did for the business. How he is still able to wrestle after the stuff he's been through, is beyond me. This guy must feel aching in every bone, every night he sleeps, from the years and years of damn hard work that he did while busting his ass for the wrestling business that we all love. So yes, the fans aren't reacting like they used to, but the WWE aren't going to put that in the way of what he has done beforehand. This guy is one of the most deserving of being in the Hall of Fame, and taking that honour away from him is something I can't even begin to comprehend. Get him back on television, and get him back doing the stuff that made him popular, because we know he has it in him.

But in all honesty, what are we judging the 'fact' that he's lost his connection with the fans on? I can only recall him being on Raw twice in the past 6 months or so, and all he did was cut two promos. What do you expect the fans to do? It wasn't a traditional Mick promo, no, it was just something McMahon told him to do, and of course the fans aren't going to like it. Get him back in the ring, put him in a feud, and the cheers will come. But again, I can't see how we can judge all this from two shows or so.

 

[Mexican Geek]

You are right D-spiral, we can't judge Mick for two or 3 shows, but right now, the only problem i see is Mick's age, he is kind of old for today's wrestling FANS (watch this term...) and frankly, i cant see him returning even for a mild schedule, maybe some sporadic appearances (Vengeance and Probably GAB or Summerslam) and thats all. Dont get me wrong, but i felt sorry for mick's physical condition on Vengeance.
Now, the term i told you to watch: Wrestling FANS. The only thing i have to do here is changing the word fans for a most accurate definition of today's reality: MARKS. That's why Mick Foley cannot success on today's WWE, because of all the Cena marks, because of all the Batista marks, hell, even there are some Khali Marks!! and a common characteristic of all this people is, they don't give a fuck about Mick Foley because less than a half knows that Mick Foley was the first ever hardcore champion, or 3 times WWF champ, they just care about Cena and if he is making another shit movie.
Maybe its just time for Mick to hang up the Socko and let him be involved in other kind of activities, like booking matches, or training younger talent.
Or maybe it isn't, and he is going to kick some asses before!!!

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Here's a question - the "on-again, off-again" sporadic appearance schedule by Mick Foley seems to have dampened his allure with the fans, but why didn't that happen with Steve Austin, The Rock, Jimmy Snuka, etc?

 

[noone911]

He's just boring. He's shows up for something like a 2 week angle, and always loses. He is basically just a blatant promotion machine. His promos and fueds are all emotion and when he comes out 4x a year claiming "this is it" or something, it's hard to believe, especially when he loses all the time.

In addition to that he is really only entertaining in hardcore matches or matches where he takes ridiculous bumps.

He's run his course.

 

[ACTAFOOL]

the problem is he just comes out to talk about his new book, he should go to smackdown and have some hardcore matches with edge (who knew edge could put on a good hardcore mathc =/), it would be better to see that than him jobbing for cena...

 

[Jonny B]

But in all honesty, what are we judging the 'fact' that he's lost his connection with the fans on? I can only recall him being on Raw twice in the past 6 months or so, and all he did was cut two promos. What do you expect the fans to do? It wasn't a traditional Mick promo, no, it was just something McMahon told him to do, and of course the fans aren't going to like it. Get him back in the ring, put him in a feud, and the cheers will come. But again, I can't see how we can judge all this from two shows or so.

I couldn't agree more there man, but to add more to that...

If you think about it the fans today, especially the "marks" are a different generation to those that were around when Foley was actually on the Main Roster. People only remember the stuff he has done post-2000 which in all honesty is not a lot. People dont remember his (as X pointed out) ECW Heel run, people dont remember the Heel Dude Love that feuded with Austin and to some extent people dont remember his huge feud with The Rock which turned him face for the first time in a very long time.

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

The ONLY thing that gave Foley a connection to the fans was the Hell In The Cell spot which showed that he was more than just a flabby overplayed jobber. He have never delivered any good promos AS Mick Foley. All of his better promos were as Mankind and Cactus Jack. hell, he even gave some non-chockable promos as Dude Love, but only because is was something new and people wondered just how far he would go to mock Shawn Micheals. The fact of the matter is that Mrs. Foley's baby boy has lost his hunger and edge. Back when he was a hard worker, he has a thrist to build a legacy. Once he did that, he felt he didn't have to work hard anymore and decided to just life off of his legacy. And I am not blaming him, cuz the guy has to think about his long term future and family and not what the fans think now. Unfortunately, he doesn't work hard anymore and the legacy built on that one match is all but gone.

 

[ACTAFOOL]

gone? its not gone every1 will still remember everything hes done over the years, to his early ecw days wwf attitude era, when he really brought some great matches

its like ric flair, just because he doesnt do much now (actually he doesnt really do anything) its not like they're are gonna forget what hes done over the years, foley will still be a HoF, and he had many moments, not just his hell in a cell, wich, btw hes had great hell in a cell matches against HHH and Kane, some ppl seem to only give him props for that one match against undertaker.. wich is simply just wrong...

 

[X]

The ONLY thing that gave Foley a connection to the fans was the Hell In The Cell spot which showed that he was more than just a flabby overplayed jobber. He have never delivered any good promos AS Mick Foley. All of his better promos were as Mankind and Cactus Jack. hell, he even gave some non-chockable promos as Dude Love, but only because is was something new and people wondered just how far he would go to mock Shawn Micheals. The fact of the matter is that Mrs. Foley's baby boy has lost his hunger and edge. Back when he was a hard worker, he has a thrist to build a legacy. Once he did that, he felt he didn't have to work hard anymore and decided to just life off of his legacy. And I am not blaming him, cuz the guy has to think about his long term future and family and not what the fans think now. Unfortunately, he doesn't work hard anymore and the legacy built on that one match is all but gone.

Obviously you didn't watch anything Foley did until his WWF run I'm taking here? Watch Mick Foley's "Anti-Hardcore" promos from ECW, and try and tell me those weren't some of the greatest promos in wrestling history? He still has that in him, because the man is so very intelligent and funny and irreverent that it's really no surprise at all he turned into such a successful writer. I know I love his books, all of them, including his novels.

To say that because of the HIAC bump that made Foley a legend is ridiculious. The man was already a legend before that, he had been showing America hardcore wrestling since the late 80s, from his WCW tenure dropping elbows on concrete and having hardcore matches with Vader, Sting, & Orndorff, to his Japanese Death Match with Terry Funk which is one of the most influential matches of our time, to his time in the WWF doing crazy things like breaking tables on RAW in 97 back when a table being broken was something you might see once in a year and was some crazy uber-nuts spot.

Foley put in a good 15 years of fantastic and incredibly influential wrestling. The fact that he half-asses it now is for one main reason, and that is that his body is broken down. Did you ever see the back cover of his first book, Have a Nice Day! where it lists all the injuries he's had? This man is lucky to be alive without a freakin' brain tumor from all of the things he's done to his body. He still gives it his all in promos and storyline ideas(of which he's always been very involved in, more so then probably any other wrestler in history) and if the guy who beat the shit out of his body for 15 years can't put on a classic Mind Games style encounter, I have no beef with him for that. He's earned it. Its the same way with HBK and Flair, they both haven't put on a good match once in the last year, but I have no problem with that, because of what they've already done for us as fans. They could go out there and fart in a microphone and I'd be cheering for them.