Latest news on Mick Foley's current status with WWE, his options - info
On Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 7:46 PM EST According to a report by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the latest on the Mick Foley/WWE front and his future as a Smackdown commentator is said to be up a question on the minds of many within the company.
Foley was not used as a commentator at last night's Smackdown/ECW tapings in Atlanta. Matt Striker replaced Tazz on commentary for ECW joining Todd Grisham, while Tazz filled in for Foley with Jim Ross on Smackdown commentary. They kept Foley off the show to sell the angle from last week involving Edge. It is interesting to note that on last night's ECW, they didn't explain Striker's appearance as a one-time deal and gave the impression that he was now going to be joining Grisham from that point on. This could indicate Foley may not be coming back and the situation at TV yesterday was described as tenuous.
All indications going into last week's Smackdown taping was that using Foley in the segment with Edge was planned out and that he was scheduled to return soon afterwards. As reported on earlier, Foley's contract with WWE is believed to be expiring at the end of August and it isn't known by many if he will be leaving or staying. It should be noted that while Foley has said he enjoys working with Jim Ross, he hasn't responded well to being yelled at for his commentary by Vince McMahon, which is something all WWE announcers have to deal with and something Foley wasn't used to as a performer.
What Foley's plans would be post-WWE are interesting. If his contract expires with WWE and they don't reach a new deal, he would be available for TNA. While there is said to be zero talk on the TNA side of bringing in Foley, it should be noted that Foley's current deal with WWE was a result of Foley accepting a deal from TNA a few years ago and informing Vince that he was leaving. As a result, Vince offered him a bigger deal to stay. The relationship between McMahon and Foley reportedly hasn't been the same since this went down. Foley does have some projects in development including a pilot for a reality show that he dropped when he took the announcing gig with WWE. We will continue to follow this story as it develops.