WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley has been in the news a lot recently, from his suggestion that Raw may have finally forced him out as a WWE fan to the fact that his son Dewey — who once called WWE a “f*cking dictatorship” — would be joining WWE creative.
In a lengthy response to both of those items posted on Facebook, the Hardcore Legend revealed that Dewey was actually hired two months ago, and that his daughter Noelle is also up for a position as a backstage interviewer.
So it seems that my son Dewey’s hiring by WWE has caused some people to question the honesty, or intentions of a few of my recent Facebook posts. From what I can gather, the criticism has fallen into one of two camps.
1) I was critical of WWE’s recent creative direction in order to open up an opportunity for my son to join the creative team.
OR
2) I praised the past episode of WWE Raw as some sort of thank you gesture for hiring my son.I also received several messages on social media pointing out the perception of nepotism involved in WWE’s decision to hire my son – as if I had arranged for some type of high-paying, piece-of-cake job for him with the company.
Here is the truth. My son was hired two months ago by WWE creative, and will begin working with the company in January. He would have started earlier, but he and I both felt it was important for him to fulfill the commitment he made to the college that employed him as the director of a residence hall. He could have merely explained that this was his dream job, and possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but he chose to stay because it was the right thing – and because I told him that deep down, Mr. McMahon would respect him as a man of his word. My son was not given this job because of his last name. He earned it. He earned it by working for hundreds of hours in solitude, with no compensation, to prove his writing skills and mind for the business. There are no piece-of-cake jobs in WWE. As ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman said of his time with WWE, “you are expected to bring it every day.” My son will do his best to “bring it” every day. He will be working long hours, in a thankless, difficult job, for entry-level money – the way it should be. There has also been talk of my daughter joining WWE as a backstage interviewer. I certainly hope that turns out to be the case – but as of now, as far as I know, it’s just talk.
It’s hard to know that and believe Foley could be sincere in his criticisms of WWE, but he does his best to explain:
The hiring of my son in September by WWE has had no bearing on any of my posts about the company – be they negative or positive. I am both puzzled and insulted to think that some wrestling fans have become so jaded and cynical that they could read a few of those heartfelt Facebook posts or listen to my podcast with stone cold Steve Austin, and doubt the sincerity of my words. Not everything – in wrestling or life – is an angle, or a work.
I love WWE. I really do. I literally began a meeting with Triple H two years ago by saying, “I love this company. I love it now – and no matter what happens during the course of this meeting, I’ll love it when I walk out this door.”
So I guess, when I write something that is critical of WWE, I convince myself that I am showing them “tough love” – that the right people will read what I have to say (I I have it on good authority that the right people DO read my posts) and that my thoughts will be taken into consideration. But these past few days have made me re-examine my priorities. Maybe I should do the right thing as a parent and stop being so critical of the company in such a public way. His job will be tough enough without his dad throwing obstacles in his way. I think I will start using the text option on my phone when I feel like Mr. McMahon, Triple H or Stephanie need to hear my opinions or feedback. Maybe I’ll get fewer likes on my Facebook page. But I’ll probably sleep better at night.
As someone who runs a blog that says a lot of acerbic stuff about wrestling, I can definitely understand that point. Just because you get critical — even over-critical — doesn’t mean you love the thing you love any less. Sometimes you’re only that critical because it’s the most important thing to you in the world, and you want to do everything you can to make it better. You feel helpless sometimes, because even when you’re Mick Foley, who’s honestly listening? That leads to frustration and disappointment, and things can sound more overwhelmingly negative than intended.
If Hughie Foley gets hired on to do play-by-play at NXT, maybe we’ll revisit the situation.
