Mick Foley Walks Away From WWE Over Trump
Foley says he can no longer represent a company aligned with Trump.
Mick Foley has decided he’s done.
The WWE Hall of Famer announced that he is stepping away from World Wrestling Entertainment, saying he will no longer make appearances for the company and will not sign a new Legends deal when his current contract expires in June.
Foley said he has informed WWE talent relations that he will not represent the company as long as former President Donald Trump remains in office. It is a decision he said had been weighing on him for months, but one he said recent events finally forced him to make.
“While I have been concerned about WWE’s close relationship with Donald Trump for several months — especially in light of his administration’s ongoing cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants,” Foley wrote, “reading the President’s incredibly cruel comments in the wake of Rob Reiner’s death is the final straw for me.”
That moment, Foley said, drew a line he could no longer avoid.
“I no longer wish to represent a company that coddles a man so seemingly void of compassion as he marches our country towards autocracy,” Foley wrote. He said he has already notified WWE that he will not make future appearances and confirmed he will allow his Legends deal to expire rather than renew it.
The timing of Foley’s announcement came as WWE’s ties to Trump’s political orbit were again on display. Over the weekend, Trump Cabinet members including Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attended John Cena’s final WWE match. Separate reporting indicated WWE hoped Trump himself would attend.
For longtime observers, the relationship is familiar. Trump has been part of WWE’s public identity for decades, from WrestleMania promotions in Atlantic City to his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame as a celebrity entrant. Linda McMahon, once a WWE executive, now serves in Trump’s Cabinet. Paul “Triple H” Levesque sits on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.
Earlier this year, The Quinton Retort detailed how Trump’s return to office reopened speculation about the company’s political insulation. In Brian Griffiths’ “Trump Wins, Makes McMahon Pardon Likely,” that history was laid out plainly, including why a presidential pardon for Vince McMahon no longer felt hypothetical in wrestling circles.
Foley, however, kept his focus narrow.
“I love WWE,” he wrote. “I will always treasure my time with them, and I am deeply appreciative for all the opportunities they afforded me.” He closed his statement by echoing Popeye the Sailor. “I stands all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.”
There is no angle here, and no negotiation. Foley did not posture, and he did not ask anyone else to follow him.
He stepped away rather than continue to be associated with it.
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Sources