Randy Orton has told talkSPORT he wants Mick Foley to return to WWE to help him plot a future hardcore match.
Orton met Foley in one of the most brutal and memorable hardcore matches 20 years ago at Backlash.
Still in his formative years as part of the Evolution group in WWE, Orton saw his career take to new heights as he successfully defended his Intercontinental title against the veteran performer.
The two pummelled each other with various implements wrapped in barbed wire, trash cans, tables and thousands of thumb tacks, the finale leaving them both a bloodied mess.
Despite the gruesome nature of the bout, Orton said in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT that it was actually the presence of Foley, now 59, who made the occasion what it was.
“I don’t think I realised at the time how big that match was for me,” he said.
“I knew I needed to show out and do some risky s*** and it wasn’t the type of match I was used to having, but also that I was in good hands.
“Mick kind of came out of retirement so to speak, and it had been a while since he had wrestled and he wasn’t in the best shape, just like me when I came back – when you haven’t been doing this for a while, it’s not exactly like riding a bike.
“Having Mick Foley as part of that match is what made that match, it was nothing to do with thumb tacks, it had nothing to do with a barbed wire bat or mattress.
“That match was what it was because Mick was in it.”
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Foley held a long-established reputation for inflicting imaginable pain on himself for the betterment of others in WWE and in the name of entertaining fans.
Orton went on to recall one particularly unsavoury thing the man who played Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love during a storied career did for him that left a lasting impression.
“I don’t think I realised how big what Mick was doing for me was,” The Viper continued.
“We started the angle off months prior. It started off in late November of 2003 when Mick allowed me to spit in his face when we were going off the air.
“I had a nice loogie for him as well, the poor guy. Any man that’s willing, in the name of getting some kid over, to go to that extreme… he really risked everything in so far as me getting my career jump started and getting people to take me seriously.”
Former WWE champ Foley hasn’t wrestled a meaningful singles match in the company since 2006, though has featured in multi-man bouts and turned out for other companies since.
Though Foley recently shelved plans for one final retirement match of his own, Orton insists he wants to bring the legend back into the fold to help him plan a hardcore match for him.
The former Legend Killer is enjoying a career renaissance of sorts, having spent 18 months out with injury, and is keen to take things to the extreme one more time.
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He went on to say: “I don’t know about the thumb tacks, but I’d love to have another hardcore match with somebody like Mick.
“It would be awesome if Mick could be here to help us kind of put it together and think about new, crazy s*** to do because when it comes to matches of that nature, there’s nobody better than Mick Foley.
“I’ve said it a number of times, I’ve had better technical wrestling matches… but that hardcore match is at the top of the list in terms of matches that I really hold dear.”
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