Mick Foley Reflects On Hulk Hogan’s Life And Legacy

Mick Foley comments on the passing of Hulk Hogan, who passed away following a cardiac arrest at the age of 71.

On the surface, Mick Foley and Hulk Hogan showcase two completely different professional wrestling styles and eras. However, they shared many similarities. Now, following Hogan’s passing, Foley is opening up about how the death affected him. Speaking to WRAL, Foley reflected on mending fences and finding ground with Hogan before his passing.

“He was one of those guys who was larger than life. He didn’t appear to age. So you never thought that the last time you saw Hulk Hogan to be the final time you saw Hulk Hogan,” Mick said.

Regarding Foley and Hogan patching things up during the episode of WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures, Foley described the moment they shared as genuine because Hogan insisted on apologizing more than once.

“Yeah, it was a really nice moment. I mean, it was a show, but I believe he was 100% sincere, because he not only apologized to me for something that was said at least 25 years earlier, but he insisted on apologizing to me a second time. I mean, I accepted it. I considered him a friend before that, but it definitely helped bond. That was a nice bonding moment for us.”

Mick Foley would also praise the work that Hulk Hogan did with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, saying that, regardless of the blemishes on Hulk Hogan’s legacy, you can’t fake the joy that he gave those children.

“The two things I think of is that I had a really nice talk with his daughter at one of these conventions, and got to know her dad through her. Also, from reading his book, where I was like, ‘You know, we’re actually quite a bit alike.’ The second memory is not something I saw, but it’s something that a friend of mine, who worked with Hulk in WWE before I got there, saw, and I told Terry or Hulk, because this was the one thing that mattered to me, like anything else is just commentary, but that Hulk Hogan, ‘My friend said, ‘Those kids from the Make-A-Wish and other wish organizations, they’d go in there and they’d just be beaming.’ You can’t feign the type of joy that Hulk brought to those kids. Like that was real in his heart, which is why it seems so effortless. But he was great at it. He made a lot of people happy above and beyond what he did in the ring, and for wrestling in general, he was great to those children. That’s his legacy to me.”

Mick Foley was a little too old to be a little Hulkamaniac, but said that he did attend Madison Square Garden events featuring Hulk and that once Hogan’s music hit, Foley would be sucked into the experience.

“Well, I’ll be thinking about the times that I went to Madison Square Garden, not as a Hulkamaniac, per se. I was going to see a couple of the other matches, but when that music hit, I was all in. I was a Hulkamaniac for those few minutes, but he electrified a crowd like no other. The lessons that we learned from him, we’ve passed down to the next generations, and so his legacy is alive and well in wrestling and beyond.”

Vince McMahon, who helped turn Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley into household names, also paid tribute to Hogan on social media. Read his comments here.

Fans can check out more tributes to “The Hulkster” from around the wrestling world here.

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