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WWE Hall Of Famer Says Financial Reasons Are A Big Factor Behind Many Wrestlers Not Retiring

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• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (June 20, 1994) – WWF Monday Night RAW

On this day in 1994, the World Wrestling Federation aired another episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Monday Night RAW’.

It was broadcasted from the Westchester County Civic Center in White Plains, New York and featured matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWF SummerSlam 1994’ PPV.

Here’s the card:

1. Diesel vs. Mark Thomas

2. The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff

3. Yokozuna vs. Nick Barbarry

4. Typhoon vs. The Black Phantom

5. The Heavenly Bodies vs. Jim Powers & Russ Greenberg

• WWE Hall Of Famer Says Financial Reasons Are A Big Factor Behind Many Wrestlers Not Retiring

While speaking to talkSPORT, WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley discussed wrestlers trying to find the perfect ending for their careers. He also discussed the reasons why many wrestlers struggle to retire.

Below is what Foley said:

“Yeah, I was [chasing the perfect last match], and I had it. I had the perfect goodbye in 2000 at WrestleMania. I had it again with Randy Orton at Backlash in 2004.

I think people take the financials out of the equation.

It’s one thing to say I had the perfect exit, but then you’re like ‘I’m 34, what do I do?’ In my case, I realised ‘wow, I’ve written two best-selling novels’.

That’s hundreds of hours in solitude, months away from your family on the road promoting the book where you don’t get paid, and then it’s like I could make the same amount of money for a match against Carlito?

With the economy falling apart a couple of times and you have half of what you think you have, you owe it to your family sometimes to come back and make a living.

So I think the romance is in having the perfect match and the storybook ending, but the reality is we have this skillset that allows us to make a good living, but we can’t make that living without employing that skillset.

Undertaker got a 15 year contract with the company from what I understand and I haven’t seen the end of The Last Ride, but I assume having that amazing match with AJ Styles would be a perfect way to ride off into the sunset.

I don’t know how the story ends or if he has written his ending, but as far as I’m concerned he’s had that storybook ending and now has a 15 year deal.

Alls well that ends well and without a couple of those bumps along the way – like the Goldberg match, coming up short against Roman Reigns – then we certainly wouldn’t have this compelling documentary.

Ah man. I don’t want to make it sound like it’s all about the money because it’s not. But between 2005-2008, WWE gave me an opportunity to have a really limited schedule.

I had four children, two of them very small at the time and that really allowed me to have a really good life. I said that I really connected with the Bob Seger song ‘Beautiful loser’ where it says ‘he wants his home and his family, he wants to live like a sailor at sea.’ And it’s ‘beautiful loser, when are you going to realise you just can’t have it all’ – I wrote in one of my books that thanks to Vince McMahon, I could have it all.

I did for a few years. So I did enjoy that limited schedule. I’ll tell you, I did not enjoy being on the road as often when I came back as RAW GM [in 2016] just because of the travel.

My hip and knee were in great need of a replacement. I really was in great pain almost every moment. I’m not exaggerating, it wasn’t fun.

I think it would have been easier if I had actually been out there on the road. I don’t mean wrestling, but flying in, I almost always had a bottle of water underneath my hamstring on an airplane so I could roll it out and try and touch on the nerves. So that was a tough time.

If someone is able to get that kind of contract where they can work that limited schedule, especially if there’s the feeling that they deserved it, that can allow people to have the best of both worlds.”

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