Eric Bischoff Talks Mick Foley's "Dark Side" Leading To His WCW Exit
On the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast, Eric Bischoff covered the Halloween Havoc 1993 pay-per-view. The main event of the show featured Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) facing Vader in a Texas Death Match. Bischoff talked about a conversation he had with Foley prior to his match with Vader where Mick wanted to jump off the top of the building onto the concrete floor. Foley had said somebody talked him out of it and that person was Bischoff. He said that legal issues were the reason Foley didn't last much longer with the company because of how dangerous he was.
"That someone was me," Bischoff said. "That was also the precursor for Cactus Jack leaving WCW. Cactus was becoming a danger not only to himself, but in the opinion of WCW legal, was providing a significant amount of litigation exposure because of the things he wanted to do. It was just over the top.
"Every week it was crazier and crazier, and we just couldn't let it happen. In addition to probably other things, I've never talked to Mick about this, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back with WCW and Mick. Mick wanted to increasingly become more physical, more violent, bloodier, more over the top, and WCW was going in a different direction."
Bischoff continued to talk about Foley and how much he would worry about him after he left WCW and went to WWE. He also said he is shocked Mick is still able to be alive after all the stuff he did after he left WCW.
"More than a little bit, a lot," Bischoff said. "Mick is proud and should be proud of the big moments he had in WWE. It's not like Mick is a 170 pound gymnast – this guy is a big dude. I don't know how he survived it. I really, really don't.
"Mick is a very, very intelligent person. He's not your average guy when it comes to intelligence; incredibly intelligent guy. But he had this bizarre dark side that he needed to explore and feed. It was becoming increasingly obvious to WCW and myself. I was just like, 'enough is enough dude. Enough is enough,' and that was it."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.