Mick Foley is known for taking risks in his career, and one of those risks included defying the orders of Vince McMahon.
Royal Rumble 2000 saw Foley resurrect his Cactus Jack persona and take on Triple H in a highly-praised street fight for the WWE (then WWF) Championship. Midway through the match, Foley brought out a bag of thumbtacks, and at the end of the match, took a Pedigree on a mountain of tacks before being pinned and sent off into a very short-lived retirement.
Speaking to Sean Evans on a recent edition of Hot Ones, Foley recounted that then-WWE owner Vince McMahon insisted that tacks not be used in the match.
“It’s the instantaneous risk reward analysis. I think it was a god given gift that would tell me — So, January 2000, just a few blocks away at Madison Square Garden. I remember Mr. McMahon saying to me and Triple H, ‘No thumb tacks.’”
“Imagine The Pop” – Mick Foley On Deciding To Use Thumbtacks At Royal Rumble 2000
However, Triple H and Foley decided to use the tacks against the wishes of Mr. McMahon, having already put them under the ring ahead of the big spot.
“As soon as Mr. McMahon walked away, Triple H goes, ‘You put them under the ring already?’, and I said, ‘Yeah, I got it taken care of.’ This was one the last matches of my career and so it was a big moment. I just saw that majestic pile, there were five or six thousand tacks, and I thought about the wisdom of taking that pedigree face first into those thumbtacks. I came to the conclusion that, okay, I could lose an eye, but imagine the pop. [laughs].”
While Foley was forced to retire as a stipulation of the bout with Triple H, he returned at WrestleMania 2000 and competed in a fatal four way match in the main event. Back in May, Mick Foley revealed a bizarre dream match of his that would also see him in fatal four way action.
h/t Fightful