Hulk Hogan hates Mick Foley. You’ve probably read about it or heard whispers about it on social media over the years. Hulk Hogan made it clear over 20 years ago what he thinks about Foley and his style of wrestling. In this video, we discuss what led to them having heat for decades and what happened when they finally met face to face.
By now, everyone knows that Hulk Hogan came up wrestling in the territory era. During that time, you didn’t see much of the barbed wire spots that you would tend to see in the late 1990’s. Hogan became a mega star due to his charisma and his way of connecting with the fans, especially the kids during the Hulkamania era in the 80’s. While Hogan could work a solid technical wrestling match if he wanted, his mantra was to work smarter, not harder because you had to go out there and do the same match night after night over 300 days a year.
Hogan personified the ‘Rock N’ Wrestling’ phenomenon of the 1980s. His sculpted physique, infectious charisma, and catchphrases like “brother” and “whatcha gonna do?” turned him into a pop culture icon. Children idolized him, parents saw a wholesome hero, and promoters saw dollar signs. Hogan’s battles with Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, and countless others followed a predictable formula: the monster heel would inflict punishment, Hogan would undergo his seemingly miraculous comeback fueled by “Hulkamania”, and the patriotic finale would leave audiences cheering. These were less contests of athleticism and more morality plays set within the squared circle. Wrestlers like Hogan would look down on guys who would do Death Matches or guys who would light themselves on fire to get over. One of the guys that Hogan wasn’t a fan of was the Hardcore Legend Mick Foley.
Foley got his start in 1986 and was mostly doing jobs until around 1989 when he wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance. At the time, Foley was doing things in matches that fans had never seen before. Foley continued to put his body through insane bumps as a way to get noticed and make himself more valuable to the company and potentially other promotions in the future.
Foley was the anti-Hogan in almost every way. He wasn’t blessed with Hogan’s chiseled physique. Instead, he had missing teeth, an unassuming build, and an uncanny ability to endure staggering levels of punishment. As Mankind, the tortured schizophrenic, Cactus Jack, the wild-eyed brawler, or Dude Love, the carefree hippie – Foley’s characters were outlandish, vulnerable, and strangely captivating.
His rise to fame went hand in hand with the emergence of hardcore wrestling. In promotions like ECW, the gloves came off – barbed wire replaced ropes, flaming tables and chairs became weapons, and bloodshed became a common sight. While horrifying to many, this grittier, more chaotic brand of wrestling tapped into a deep undercurrent of fans craving something beyond the carefully choreographed matches that had become the norm.
The mid-1990s saw the comfortable dominance of Vince McMahon’s WWF challenged for the first time by Ted Turner’s WCW. This ‘Monday Night War’ ignited a fierce competition for ratings and talent. Hogan, sensing a change in the winds, shocked the wrestling world by abandoning his good-guy persona. In WCW, he became ‘Hollywood’ Hogan, leader of the rebellious New World Order. The nWo storyline, with its emphasis on edgy backstage politics, shattered the illusion of Hogan’s wholesome image and hinted at a darker side to the wrestling industry.
Meanwhile, Foley’s star shone brightest during the WWF’s ‘Attitude Era’. This period, spurred by the WCW rivalry, was defined by more adult-oriented content and storylines, shocking audiences as frequently as it entertained them. Foley’s hardcore matches, filled with blood, fire, and seemingly genuine danger, were highlights of this era. His infamous Hell in a Cell match against the Undertaker in 1998, where he was thrown from the cell’s roof, became one of the defining visuals of this turbulent time in wrestling history.
The Hogan/Foley rivalry was a symbolic conflict between the ‘old guard’ and this emerging, more dangerous style of wrestling. Hogan publicly questioned Foley’s self-destruction, arguing that hardcore matches lacked genuine wrestling skill and pandered to bloodlust.
During a 2002 appearance on TSN’s Off The Record, Hogan didn’t hold back on how he felt about Foley and his style of wrestling. Hogan said, “I would say I’ve trained more in the last week than Mick Foley’s trained in the last 30 years.” Hogan continued, “Nothing against Mick Foley. I didn’t have to prostitute my body and throw myself over the coals and into the fire and glass to make a dollar. I decided to train and go another way. I went ahead and while Mick Foley was sleeping and eating cheeseburgers and M&M’s, I was in the gym. The early bird ain’t no worm.”
The comments from Hogan did not sit will with Foley, who admitted that it was painful to hear what Hogan had to say. Foley was given a chance to give his rebuttal on “Off The Record.” He said, “That bothers me more than I imagined it would. I had heard what he said but I mean, the tone in which he said it was very painful. [He’s] arguably the biggest star that’s ever been in our business. To hear that come out of his mouth is the most damaging thing that I’ve heard.” Foley continued, “At the time, his book had been out a few weeks and it was not doing a lot of damage on the charts. My book hit number 1 and it stayed on the list for 26 weeks. I am hoping that he was taking out some of that frustration on me. I would like to think he thinks higher of me than that in reality. I think he’s a guy who’s always been complimentary towards me in the past. I don’t know him very well. But for him to say that he’s trained more in a week than I have in 30 years is insulting and it’s a lie. He’s never wrestled with me. I think if you ask guys like The Rock, Stone Cold if I was in shape when I wrestled them…I think they’d say I was in deceptively good shape.” Foley also said, “For Hulk Hogan to say that I think it’s a lie. I think it’s kind of cruel. I think if Hulk Hogan were to wrestle me in his career that he would sound more or less like a whiny girl in a porno film saying not so fast and not so hard because he didn’t like the contact. The reason I’m out early and he’s around when he’s 49 years old is because I put out and I gave people their money’s worth. He did in a different way. Great entertainer but at the same time you didn’t have to apologize to your friends for watching a Mick Foley match. I know when I was on the Larry King Show and they were watching Hulk in action, it was embarrassing for me to be considered to be in the same profession as he was because his stuff was so obviously weak. That’s pretty brutal stuff for a guy of his magnitude to come down on me in that way is pretty damaging.”
Over 2 decades later, Hogan and Foley buried the hatchet when they met on an episode of A&E’s “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures.” Hogan told Foley, “People judge people in their ignorance and to say that you were a cheap Terry Funk knockoff is almost as insulting as ignorant as I was when I said that you were a glorified stuntman.”
“The fact was I was ignorant and I didn’t understand what you were doing at the time and then as the years went by and I did understand what you were doing, I wished I got to work with you. I want to apologize for that. I don’t know if I just had malice or being mean or jealous but I want to apologize because that was one of the worst things and it’s not true. It was just me being stupid and really ignorant. We think we’re smart but we’re not.” Hogan added, “Sometimes we do stuff when we’re kind of stupid and you regret it years later and I never really had a chance to say that to him so it made my day today to be able to see him.”
Foley accepted the apology and told A&E’s cameras, “Hulk apologizing to me was a huge deal. I would have not thought it was necessary but it was very much appreciated.”
Hogan’s influence on wrestling’s popularity is undeniable, proving that superhero narratives still hold significant appeal. His feud with Foley highlighted the enduring power of clearly defined personalities, even when they clashed outside the realm of traditional good and evil.
The physical costs of Foley’s style are undeniable. Countless concussions, broken bones, and injuries have permanently altered his life outside of the ring. Foley’s dedication pushed boundaries in an undeniable way and forced audiences to reconsider what storytelling within the ring could achieve.
