Mick Foley explained why he ended his relationship with WWE in an interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, saying the breaking point was Donald Trump’s comments following the death of Rob Reiner and that he could not remain silent while carrying the WWE name.
“Everyone has to make the decision that feels right to them,” Foley said. “I sometimes describe someone’s big break as being more like a series of little breaks, like a ball peen hammer and a windshield. You don’t know which tap actually causes the crack. For me, it was the comments about Rob Reiner. Just heartless and unbelievably cruel comments coming from the most powerful man in the world, finding joy in how somebody died, 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.”
Foley said WWE’s proximity to the White House made staying silent feel like complicity. “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. Even though I wasn’t technically employed by the company, because I had a Legends deal and because my name’s been associated with WWE for over 30 years, I felt like I was complicit in my silence.”
He reached out to the head of talent relations, who he described as a friend he still sends handwritten Santa videos to every year, before making his decision public. He also received a call from someone high up in the company who suggested the connection between WWE and the Trump administration was not what it appeared. Foley pushed back. “I said come on, five people in that Oval Office took the stunner. And theoretically that’s the case, but I could have sworn I saw Paul behind the president’s shoulder when he was at a policy announcement. Her last name is McMahon, and she’s associated with the company.”
He said the financial cost was real. “I realized that by giving up two really easy, very high paying jobs at WrestleMania week for WWE, that I had to work 24 hours on my own to make what I could have been paid in six. And I’m okay with that.”
His reason for going public came down to his family. “I just didn’t want to be in a position where my grandchildren are asking what their grandfather was doing when things were really tough, and I want my children to be able to say this is what Grandpa did.”
Foley said he did not close the door on WWE permanently. His original announcement specified the decision applied as long as Trump is in office. “I love that company. I’m not going to disparage them. It just didn’t seem like a fit that would allow me to look at myself in the mirror before I went to bed.”
Foley’s WWE Legends deal expires at the end of June 2026. He is now signed with AEW.
