Bruce Prichard reveals how Mick Foley’s Dude Love character came to be
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley is known for creating some of the most memorable characters in the history of pro wrestling. On a recent episode of his Something To Wrestlepodcast, former WWE producer Bruce Prichard explained the origin of one of Foley’s most likeable characters, Dude Love.
Foley had established himself as the odd, risk-taking Mankind. He later introduced the hardcore psychopath Cactus Jack. Fans loved both characters, and it was especially impressive how Foley was able to create two entities that were completely different from each other. Prichard said Foley had an idea for a third character that would be similar to a wrestler like Shawn Michaels and he started discussing it backstage.
“I was one of the few people to hear about Dude Love as far as I know in that dressing room. We were in Toronto, Canada, and it was myself, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Pat Patterson, and I don’t know if Undertaker was there, but it was after the matches and Mick Foley was talking to Shawn Michaels saying something along the lines of Cactus Jack, Mankind and that type of character,” Prichard recalled. “Mick made a comment along the lines of talking about, ‘always wanting to be somebody like you, being the hot babyface that all the girls love, as a matter of fact I did promos with my friend, and my name was Dude Love. I saw myself, in my eyes, I was you.’ And we all got a good laugh out of it.”
Even though it was funny at the time, Prichard thought there was an opportunity to do something with the character, so he made a pitch to Vince McMahon. Prichard said it was great for younger kids to see Foley play three different characters because it would inspire them to possibly create their own personas.
“I went back to share the story with Vince McMahon. I said, can you imagine this deal? Mick Foley, as a human being had such an interesting story, and that is where the Three Faces of Foley came about,” Prichard said. “We started going into the Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, and eventually Dude Love, that it was so damn rich where every kid can imagine being in their basement cutting promos and being some character they create.”
The idea for Dude Love was so unique that when Foley heard it was approved, he didn’t believe it at first. Prichard said adding the character was great for Foley’s career and helped him develop a stronger connection with the WWE Universe.
I was like, yeah, we are going to do Dude Love. He thought I was ribbing him. At first, I think Mick Foley thought it was a rib, but once you saw how he played it and how over the top it was, it was like, damn, it was like, you are getting two characters for the price of one, four characters if you include Mick Foley,” Prichard said. “It was interesting storytelling and it was something people can identify with Mick Foley because I think everybody can relate to wanting to be somebody else growing up and now he is realizing his dream.
(Pro Wrestling & MMA World)
