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WWE legend Mick Foley reveals how ‘bad’ mistake actually saved his life in iconic Hell In A Cell match
WWE legend Mick Foley has revealed he could have died during his iconic Hell In A Cell match – but one ‘bad’ mistake saved his life.
The Hall of Famer’s 1998 King of the Ring war with The Undertaker has gone down in wrestling history with Foley – performing as Mankind – was thrown off the cell and later chokeslammed through the roof.
The latter didn’t go quite as planned, with Mick actually crashed through and hitting the mat below.
Recalling the memorable moment with Steve Austin on Broken Skull Sessions, he said: ‘This is where I regret that I didn’t have the energy to exchange with Mark [Calaway].
‘But if I’d had the energy and I’d gone up for this chokeslam the way that I usually did, then you and I are not having this conversation.
‘It’s the only time I take a bad chokeslam, but because of that, I don’t over-rotate and land on my head.’
The former world champion admitted that for a long time, he struggled with his career being largely defined by that Hell In A Cell match, although his kids being introduced to it changed his mind.
He added: ‘I realised, wait a second, like, I wanted to make people feel the way that I felt the night that I saw [Jimmy] Snuka come off the top of that cage, and I’ve done it, and I’m too stubborn to realise it.
‘You know how many great workers there’ve been in our business who aren’t remembered for anything?
‘It’s like, now I’ve got not only this match but also the title change with The Rock. Like, I got a few things and it no longer bothers me that I’m asked about that match almost every single day.’
Speaking last year, Foley opened up about the financial and physical impact of that night at King of the Ring.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘Oh wow. Yeah, I would say Hell In A Cell – I think it may have shortened my career. It was definitely the point from which I believed in my own mortality, so everything was different following that cell match.
‘I don’t have any regrets – I have some small regrets about things I did later in my career. But no, I don’t regret starting that match on top of the cell.’
However, he’s still paying the price for that decision.
‘Things did not work out like I’d have hoped,’ he admitted. ‘The cell collapsing when I was chokeslammed still has fallout for me!
‘I just paid $425 to remove my bottom flipper – which are false teeth which were knocked out in that cell – and I’ll have to pay $15,000 or so to get those teeth fixed.’
*Watch ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Mick Foley on Broken Skull Sessions on the WWE Network.
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