Mick Foley Recalls 'Really Special' Match With Fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels

According to Mick Foley, the most favorite match of his in-ring career pitted him against "The Viper" Randy Orton at WWE Backlash in 2004. His personal runner-up, on the other hand, came in 1996 when he (as Mankind) challenged Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship in the televised main event of In Your House: Mind Games.

"I love wrestling people who had different styles than me. What I would try to do is take their style, but put my own twist on it, so that it came across as both a Shawn Michaels match and a Mankind match," Foley said at "For The Love of Wrestling." "At that time in the mid-90s all the way up until the early 2000s, we lived or died on our champion. The champion was responsible for so much of the attention and the ability to draw. I knew Shawn was worn out. That's a heavy load to carry, so when it came time for ideas, he was really open to my ideas.

"... It was just really special," Foley continued. "I'm not sure if you could find another two people in the ring for the first time in a singles match putting on that kind of a match."

On this occasion, Michaels and Foley fought for over 26 minutes until Vader interfered and struck "The Heartbreak Kid," causing the referee to call for the bell. As such, Michaels retained the WWE Championship via disqualification. Looking back, Michaels believes the match also allowed him to display an elevated toughness – something many wrestling fans hadn't seen from him before at the time.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "For The Love of Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.