Mick Foley Comments On The UWF & Herb Abrams

The most recent edition of the Dark Side of the Ring focussed on the UWF and its charismatic and eccentric owner, Herb Abrams. Mick Foley wrestled in the short-lived promotion in the early 90s. Foley was interviewed in the documentary and talked about his time with the promotion.

The UWF had a television deal in the early 90s but after struggling, live events became more sporadic. Abrams would later die of a heart attack brought on by cocaine use in 1996, though accounts of the exact circumstances surrounding his death vary.

“I see him so clearly in my mind like it was yesterday and I cannot talk about Herb without smiling,” Foley said on the show. “Herb was the little guy with a big personality. His enthusiasm was contagious.”

Foley wrestled as Cactus Jack in the promotion. He wrestled “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka to a double-DQ on the last UWF event in 1996. The event drew a sparse crowd inside Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

“He had the enthusiasm and I think the courage to try and live out his dream,” Foley said about Herb Abrams. “I have to believe this is the way Herb would want it. Maybe he got in death what he didn’t have in life and that is he became a legend.”

Foley was then asked what Abrams would be doing if he was still alive today.

“Time,” Foley responded with a laugh. “Yeah, there’s no way Herb is going to keep his taxes. I just think he’d be behind bars. He would have hurt no one except himself. I’d be visiting him and we’d be toasting with a glass of milk and Herbie cookies.”

Foley later posted more comments about the episode through social media:

“I was smiling the whole time and then at the end I really got very sentimental, a little teary-eyed,” Foley said about watching the episode. “Thank you to the Dark Side of the Ring for closing on my line. My wife adored Herb. I think the most surprising thing to me was how choked up people were. That he really didn’t just make people laugh and smile and tell crazy stories but he did touch people’s lives.”

Foley then began talking about how when he was reading his wife the details of Herb’s death, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I started reading the details of his death and I couldn’t make it through without laughing. The cocaine, the call-girls, the baby oil and I don’t think it was disrespectful. I theorized in that book (Have A Nice Day), that’s the way he would have wanted it. He’s above us now, got to be, he was a good guy, he didn’t hurt anybody except himself.”

“I think he would be very happy to be immortalized on Dark Side of the Ring.”