Mick Foley on Shane McMahon, Reasons for Hard Bumps, and WWE PG Era

Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Mick Foley discussing his thoughts on Shane McMahon’s bumps at Hell in a Cell, the reasons for doing hard bumps during his career, and one of the biggest benefits of WWE’s PG Era.

On the topic of Shane McMahon, Foley stated he wished Shane would not have done the cage falling spot at Hell in a Cell and implied at his own career being a cautionary tale to those who don’t take care of their bodies.

“He didn’t seek my counsel. I give him all the credit in the world, he’s probably the bravest guy I know, he’s absolutely fearless. I wish he wouldn’t do it, I hope he doesn’t do it again, I really do… A lot of impact, on landing. He’s got children, I just hope he doesn’t do it again.”

While discussing more about the hard bumps done during his career, Foley mentioned the reasoning for those spots were to compensate for his lack of athletic skills as a wrestler. Those hard bumps were also meant to play a role in the storytelling of his character and to keep crowds invested in his work.

“I wanted to give people what I wanted to see out of matches. I knew what I wanted to see. I was not a naturally-gifted athlete, so I had to think outside the box and I may have raised the bar to an unrealistic level. But then it all comes back to storytelling, it all comes back to getting people caught up in your character so they care about the plight of a character they care about.”

On the topic of WWE’s current PG Era, Foley stated one of the biggest benefits of the era has been WWE shifting away from the amount of dangerous and hard bumps being performed. Besides improving the overall well-being of their stars, it has also led to their stars finding new ways to connect with crowds as a result.

“WWE did decide at a certain point, the Attitude Era is over, we’re bringing in a new era and they went in a more PG-direction and worldwide they’ve never been bigger. So it was no-doubt the right move and guys have found new ways to connect with the audiences.”