"I was in tears" - Mick Foley shares his reaction when he got "devastating" news that WWE legend passed away

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley recently shared his reaction when he discovered that wrestling legend Brian Pillman had passed away.

Pillman's wrestling career was one of the most impressive of his time. He was highly innovative in his character work following his car accident, walking the thin edge of the kayfabe razor. Unfortunately, ahead of the In Your House: Badd Blood pay-per-view, he passed away in his hotel room due to a heart attack.

During his recent Foley is Pod podcast, Mick Foley talked about how he discovered that Pillman had passed away. He mentioned that when Jim Cornette first said it, he thought the WWE manager meant it figuratively that Pillman was in trouble. The news would only sink in later, and when it finally did, it was "devastating."

“Jim Cornette comes in and he says, ‘Pillman’s dead.’ in a way that made me think like he’s in big trouble, right? Someday he’s messed up somehow, Pillman’s dead. And then whether it was, Jimmy did let us know he was not, you know, maybe not speaking figuratively, you know, literally, Brian passed away," Foley said. [H/T Inside the Ropes]

Mick Foley said that he called his wife in tears and broke down. He was also glad he was not one of the superstars wrestling that day.

“And I remember calling my wife and I was in tears, and really broken down. It was the fact that Undertaker and Shawn went out there and had that match for the ages, some testament to those guys, I was really relieved that I wasn’t, you know, put into a match that night, you know, it was just devastating,” he added. [H/T Inside the Ropes]

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Mick Foley on how he tried to have Brian Pillman make positive changes in his life

Mick Foley also talked about how he tried to bring Pillman to a healthier path in his life.

He said he felt glad to be a part of the process and was happy that Pillman was breaking the ceiling with his WWE character.

“Because you seen Brian, you know, when he had that meeting with the doctor about the longevity of his life, and he made that change, conscious change and I felt like I was part of that. And that he was not just the work friend, but that he would come to see me and we shared phone calls, and I may have been part of his recuperation, that made me feel really good. And you see a guy excel in a way that’s organic, you know, and he surpasses any ceiling that his character supposedly had." [H/T Inside the Ropes]

The WWE star's tragic passing devastated the entire wrestling world at the time. He was only 35 and was one of the many wrestlers of the time who passed away at a very young age.