The innovative thinking of Mick Foley made him one of the smartest wrestling minds during his time as a full-time worker and in the following years taking a step back. Foley was known for being a rare talent to break the mold and go against what Vince McMahon believed was needed for a wrestler to thrive. The experience of Foley led to him trying to introduce two future stars that could do the same.Foley working in Ring of Honor saw him falling in love with the work of CM Punk and Samoa Joe. The pitch was made by Foley to have the talented rising stars appear with him on WWE television. Unfortunately, things didn’t play out the way Foley wanted, and the plan was axed. Punk and Joe both eventually joined WWE, but it could have come sooner if Foley had his way.
Mick Foley Has An Eye For Discovering Future Stars
The early 2000s featured companies like Ring of Honor trying to fill the gap left by ECW when it went out of business. ROH survived a few huge negatives like a scandal with a former owner and noteworthy money losses that made fans wonder about its future. CM Punk and Samoa Joe breaking out as rising stars helped turn the company around to build a small but growing diehard fan base.
Mick Foley was impressed enough with the smaller promotion to make a handful of appearances during his time away from WWE. The in-ring career of Foley was a part-time thing for his occasional WWE returns, but he was not looking to become a competitor in ROH. Foley’s appearances talking and signing autographs brought in a lot of new fans.
ROH worked a storyline with Foley and fellow legend Ricky Steamboat clashing on the microphone. A fundamental difference in hardcore vs technical wrestling provided compelling entertainment. Punk and Joe were two of the wrestlers to have segments with the legends due to their importance to ROH. Foley saw something special in them and came up with a huge idea for them to join WWE.
Pitching His Idea To Vince
Vince McMahon was trying to find the right match for WrestleMania 22 when the card was being planned out, and Mick Foley emerged as a potential opponent. Shawn Michaels was the person who ended up facing Vince at the show, but he was originally scheduled to wrestle Eddie Guerrero before Eddie shockingly passed away in late 2005.
Foley came up with a storyline to have with CM Punk and Samoa Joe representing him as new stars. The preference of McMahon was to sign wrestlers with jacked physiques and little experience. Foley wanted to cut promos calling out Vince for his bias towards “body guys” and how he never saw anything special in Mick when signing him.
Punk and Joe were to represent the next evolution of performers who would prove McMahon's vision of wrestling wrong. Foley wanted to have Joe and Punk representing him against some of Vince’s wrestlers in the weeks leading up to the show. The promo battles and matches would create interest for McMahon vs Foley to have a hardcore match.
What Could Have Been?
Samoa Joe and CM Punk talked about how much Mick Foley believed in this plan when doing their Ring of Honor shoot interview together. Foley got far enough in the plans to have meetings in Connecticut with Vince McMahon and other members of the creative team. However, WWE witnessed changes that forced the entire card to be revamped.
Eddie Guerrero passing away and Batista suffering an injury led to changes in the planned matches. McMahon felt that a feud with Shawn Michaels was more fitting for him since WWE was inducting Bret Hart into the Hall of Fame that weekend. Michaels ended up carrying Vince to a good match and a great feud. Foley was placed in a street fight with Edge that gave him the best WrestleMania match of his career.
Both talents involved ended up having strong matches at WrestleMania 22, but it left Punk and Joe in the dark. WWE eventually signed Punk during the waiting process due to Foley and other respected names vouching him as a promising talent for the future. Joe unfortunately didn’t get his chance in WWE until many years later.
The immediate aftermath featured Punk breaking out in the WWE ECW brand and Joe becoming the hottest star for TNA. WWE backed off of Foley’s plans, but he was clearly ahead of his time by discovering such talents. Punk and Joe became legends in the business on their own terms even though WWE shut down the idea of elevating them in 2006.