Throughout his tenure as a professional wrestler, Mick Foley (1983-2012) was known for injuries. He lost teeth, suffered a concussion, and lost sensation in his left foot. However, he believes that the most gruesome injury he ever suffered came in 1994 when his ear was literally ripped off.
“Most gruesome injury? It’s a pretty easy one. Here’s my left ear, here’s my right one,” Foley said to TMZ. “Had to give up my dream of becoming a carpenter because I couldn’t put the pencil behind it. It’s like my little magic trick! This right ear has been freaking out fans since 1994.”
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As he explained, this injury occurred during a 1994 house show in Munich, Germany. He was facing fellow professional wrestler Leon White, AKA Vader. After getting his head tangled in the ropes, Foley extracted his head, but the ear was partially torn. This was reportedly a planned maneuver, but the ropes were tighter than expected.
“I wedged my way out,” Foley said. “And, my ear did not make the journey with me.”
The partially torn ear remained attached to his head during the fight until Vader reached up and tore it off. The referee was able to pick up the ear and hand it to the ring announcer, who actually only spoke French and did not know how to explain that he was holding Foley’s ear. However, there was no saving the piece of the wrestler’s body, which is why he can no longer hold a pencil on his right side.
While Foley does recognize that he has been scaring people with his recreated ear for more than 20 years, he wants to make it very clear that there is a major difference between him and boxer Evander Holyfield.
Back in 1997, Mike Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear during a boxing match. Unlike the wrestling match in Germany, however, the officials stopped the bout so Holyfield could get treatment. Foley wants everyone to know that he and Vader finished the wrestling match prior to him heading for the hospital.
While there are many important details that Foley wanted to clarify during this conversation, one of the more surprising was that he doesn’t still have the detached ear in his possession. The last time he saw it, the ear was wrapped in tape and was described as a “piece of uncooked chicken.”
“No, no,” Foley said. “Do you know what that would be worth on eBay though?
(Photo Credit: Bobby Bank/Getty)
