Mick Foley talks about the “What?” chants that have now existed in wrestling for two decades.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is credited with a lot of wrestling’s most popular moments. Much of what “The Texas Rattlesnake” accomplished in wrestling is looked on very fondly as some of the most exciting times to be a wrestling fan.
However, for all of that, there are also the persistent chants of “What?” that have existed in wrestling for the last 20 years because of Austin turning it into his catchphrase.
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Birthed from an inside joke between Steve Austin and Christian Cage, “Captain Charisma” gave Austin the idea to turn Austin’s hearing issues into a gimmick. now, after twenty years of wrestling fans chanting “What?” every chance they get, Mick Foley is speaking about why he wishes the chants would go away and tells wrestling fans there are better ways to honor “The Bionic Redneck.”
“I started to write an article called ‘What’s What With ‘What?’,’ and I was going to say like, yeah, theoretically, a really good promo guy should be able to dig himself out of that hole, but you shouldn’t have to start in a hole, right? You shouldn’t have to start the count at 0-2,” Foley explained on a recent episode of his podcast, Foley is Pod.
Discussing whether or not he believes he could have had fun with the catchphrase given the fact that he lost an ear while wrestling Vader in Germany in 1994, Mick says he believes he could have, but ultimately, he wishes people would let go of the ‘What?’ chants.
“I just think that is not the best way to remember Steve’s career is by echoing that. I think we could have made something out of it. But it’s thrown a lot of people off to the point where I’ll argue when Mark Henry came, did his Raw promo on the heels of that great angle where he laid his shoes down and then he turned on John Cena, that he had a really nice heel run ahead of him that was somewhat diminished by not getting out of the batter’s box on the following the week’s promo because of the ‘What?’ stuff. So I was not a fan of it, and I think for everything great that Steve has done, that’s the one I wish people would just let go of,” Foley concluded.
Mick Foley hasn’t shared a ring with Stone Cold Steve Austin while both were active competitors since WWE SummerSlam 1999 where “The Hardcore Legend” would capture his final WWE Championship by defeating Steve Austin and Triple H in a Triple Threat match.
Foley would go on to wrestle sporadically for a number of years until officially retiring in 2012. Stone Cold Steve Austin would retire in 2003 and stay away from the ring for nearly twenty years until he defeated Kevin Owens in the main event of WrestleMania 38 Saturday earlier this year.
SEE MORE: ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Reflects On His In-Ring Return At WrestleMania 38
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