After 30-plus years of affiliation with WWE, Mick Foley parted ways with the company last December. But the Hall of Famer still has plenty left to give the pro-wrestling world.
The decision came purely on behalf of Foley, who was on a WWE legends deal — a specialized, long-term agreement for retired or semi-retired wrestlers. Foley, 60, was still collecting a “retainer fee” along with merchandise royalties under the deal. However, after seeing U.S. President Donald Trump’s disparaging comments about murdered Hollywood actor and director Rob Reiner, Foley couldn’t stomach the affiliation any longer.
Foley explained on Tuesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show” that WWE’s relationship with the president had become too much, creating a personal conflict of interest.
“Everyone has to make the decision that feels right to them, and I sometimes describe someone’s ‘big break’ as a series of little breaks,” Foley told Uncrowned. “Like a ball-peen hammer on a windshield. You don’t know which tap actually causes the crack, but without a multitude of them, that glass isn’t cracking at all.
“For me, it was the comments about Rob Reiner. Just heartless, unbelievably cruel comments coming from the most powerful man in the world finding joy in how somebody died. I don’t want to paraphrase, but belittling the man who just died, somehow tying it into Reiner’s dislike of Donald Trump — for me, that was the ball-peen hammer tap that broke the windshield.
“I just think WWE had a very cozy relationship, where there was definitely the illusion of a relationship there — a perception, rather. I think when five different people are posing in the Oval Office, and they’ve all received Stone Cold Stunners, that’s a little cozy.”
Foley ultimately had one conversation with an unnamed higher-up when letting the company know he wanted to leave. They tried to reason with him, noting that UFC CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque was just working on a fitness program within the context of the Trump relationship, he said. While Foley ultimately elected to leave regardless, he says the door isn’t closed forever — just as long as Trump remains in office.
“I felt like even though I wasn’t technically employed by the company, but because I had a legends deal, and because my name’s been associated with WWE for over 30 years, that I was complicit in my silence. So I did speak up. I reached out to the head of talent relations, who I consider a friend,” Foley said.
“The legends deal runs out at the end of this month, and I realized that by giving up two really easy, very high-paying jobs at WrestleMania week with WWE, I’d have to work 24 hours on my own to make what I could have made in six, and I’m OK with that. I’m good with my decision. Everyone has to make a decision that’s right for them. In my case, I didn’t want to be in the position where my grandchildren are asking what their grandfather was doing when things were really tough. I want my grandchildren to say, ‘This is what grandpa did.’
“I made the move that I felt was right for me. I love that company. I’m not going to disparage them. It just didn’t seem like a good fit. It didn’t seem like a fit that would allow me to look at myself in the mirror before I went to bed.”
Foley recently made his return to wrestling TV in late May at AEW Double or Nothing 2026. The appearance was initially nothing more than a special appearance for the
“Buy-In” pre-show before the pay-per-view began — in the closing moments of the pre-show, Foley received a class feel-good moment that was integrated into the main-event story between MJF and Darby Allin.
Foley said a decent amount of time passed before AEW contacted Foley after his departure from WWE. Having known AEW founder Tony Khan for 15 years, Foley found it easy to hear what Khan had to offer. Now, he’s officially signed to the company.
“I think my role is to be the Swiss Army Knife of AEW, working wherever I can and wherever they need me best,” Foley said. “There’s quite a few things I can do. Host those shows with Renee [Paquette], who is so much fun to work with. I think I can do a good job on publicity, for being sent out a day or two early. I believe I could take on a managerial role for a handful of misfit babyfaces or heels, and try to take some of the guys in the middle of the card and give them a little boost up a little closer to the top of the card.”
The mid-card, in particular, was something that Foley saw highlighted by AEW when he first started taking notice years ago. In comparison, he used the tag-team division as a solid example — in many instances in WWE, strong duos reign supreme for months as tag-team champions, only to be knocked down by rag-tag combos, which, as a viewer, always told Foley they didn’t matter.
“AEW has done a really good job of making their mid-card mean something. That’s one place where I will compare the two companies. They do a much better job in the mid-card. I think there’s just a little bit more pride,” Foley said.
Few wrestlers throughout history have put their bodies on the line in the way Foley has. He became a hardcore legend for a reason, and admittedly regrets his decisions to never slightly protect some of the gruesome chair shots to the head he took back in the day.
“You used to shake off concussions. You weren’t concussed unless you were knocked out,” he described.
Now fully removed from an in-ring career, Foley hasn’t officially retired. You can never say never in combat sports, as we’ve seen countless times over the years. And while no plans are currently in the works for one last Foley match, he does believe he could fit a grand finale into his storybook career.
“It’s definitely crossed my mind,” Foley said. “The cinematic matches have opened up the door for guys whose cardio might be suspect. This loss of 100 pounds made my life so much easier. I used to have to stop a couple of times just walking up a moderate hill. Now, I don’t even realize that I’m walking up hills when I do them. I’m not getting winded like I used to.
“Clearly, if I had a match, it would have to be a match that would avoid trauma to the head. Luckily, there is a whole lot of me to traumatize below the neck. I think I have one more last good match in me. All the stars would have to align. It would have to make sense. Maybe that long-term goal of dropping an elbow off a TV truck onto a parked car — I had a serious talk with myself and realized just how much my hip replacement and later knee replacement changed my life. I don’t think they’ve got statistics on former knee replacement recipients dropping elbows off of TV trucks onto parked cars. There is a 50-50 chance it could undo all the good it bought me, and I don’t know if I’m ready to take that chance.
“But I find my mind wandering and coming up with ideas that look better than they hurt, that rate higher on the ‘Instantaneous Foley Risk-Reward Ratio Analysis.’ If I can come up with enough of those types of moves that allow me to risk a little bit less while still giving fans a good match, if I feel I’m up to it, maybe a couple of years down the road, we will look into that. Stranger things have happened.”
Foley’s last match was the 2012 Royal Rumble match in WWE, when he entered at No. 7 before he was eliminated by Cody Rhodes.
