Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com reported yesterday and Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net confirmed today that Mick Foley is leaving TNA imminently. According to Meltzer, Foley asked for his release because of "creative differences," and while he hasn't received it yet, it's expected imminently. Powell noted that Foley's contract expires in September, but that it was a "mutual decision" between him and TNA to take him off TV.
Foley had noted in an interview several months ago that he didn't plan on re-signing with TNA when his contract was up and gave some reasons why:
That will expire in eight or nine months. The chances of that relationship continuing are probably not that good. Once you have Hulk Hogan as the face of your company, there's no need for me. And one of the challenges they have on their show, and I understand completely, is there's only so much room for the non-wrestling talker every week, and I had a lot of time to do that for a year and a half.
I don't know if wrestling is going to play a role at all. Who knows? Part of my life will always be involved in wrestling. I don't see myself at the Motor City Comic Con or doing many indys.
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I've been beating myself up and it's frustrating because I can't seem to get the decision makers in TNA to realize that it is a big deal to show me in front of 250,000 fans at the Jon Stewart rally and to show the reaction of the crowd.
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What I'm getting when I ask these questions is a lot of what WCW was. With WWE, we knew that's who you talk to, and so it's very frustrating. I will eventually throw up my hands and just say, 'Okay, I'll walk to the mailbox every two weeks.' I'll do that or I'll go on the show and do something I don't believe in, but you saw the difference [during his match with Ric Flair because he was emotionally invested].
Obviously, now the big thing to speculate about is whether or not Foley signs with WWE some capacity once he's officially released from TNA. Ever since WWE plugged his latest book on Raw after he defended the company to reporters during Linda McMahon's campaign for Chris Dodd's former US Senate seat in Connecticut, it's been considered inevitable. He even went as far as to say that he would vote for her, the Republican candidate, if he could, which was more than a bit odd coming from the most vocal liberal democrat in wrestling.
I'm sure he'll work out *something* with them, I'm just not sure what. He's not going to be wrestling more than another one or two matches. I guess he could start announcing again if there was a spot. but only if Triple H is producing the announcers instead of Vince McMahon, as Foley quit WWE last time because he was sick of Vince screaming in his headset. There's always the Raw GM spot since it's been close to a decade since we've seen Commissioner Foley. We shall see...