With the sheer reach of the wide world of wrestling, there is no shortage of odd and surprising connections between stars of the squared circle and Hollywood celebrities. A friendship that has flown fairly under the radar is the connection between two men known for their comedic chops and their regal monickers. One man went on to become the King of the Deathmatch, whilst the other went on to become the King of Queens; Mick Foley and Kevin James.
At first appearances, it might not seem that Foley and James would be an obvious pairing, aside from their bodies of work that have provided plenty of laughs over the years. However, the friendship sparked long before either man had earned any ounce of fame or had ever appeared on television. But, not only would Foley and James become good friends, but they also became each other's competitors.
RELATED: A Look Back At Mick Foley’s Forgotten TNA Run
Mick Foley And Kevin James Competed In Ward Melville High School's Wrestling Team
Though he is known best as 'The Hardcore Legend', a man who endured an incredible amount of punishment across WCW, ECW, WWF, and in Japan, Mick Foley possessed an athletic background before breaking into the professional wrestling business. Reflecting upon this in his first book Have a Nice Day!, Foley recounts his sporting days in high school. Foley was a keen lacrosse player, to the extent that he had applied to colleges with the intentions of playing as a goalie. Under the recommendation of his brother, Foley enrolled in the wrestling team purely as a method to get in better shape.
Elsewhere at Ward Melville High, a young Kevin Knipfing, later known as Kevin James, was finding success on the school's football team. Proving himself as a stellar athlete, coaches came to James with a proposition. The school needed another student to compete in their wrestling team's heavyweight division because their new member needed someone to compete and practice with. Taking on the challenge, James signed up and became Mick Foley's first wrestling opponent.
RELATED: That Time Mick Foley Interviewed Cactus Jack In TNA... And It Was Perfect
Kevin James Recognized Foley's Wrestling Mind From A Young Age
The two reunited on Katie Couric's talk show, Katie, in 2013, where the two reminisced on their high school wrestling days, with the embers of friendly competition still glowing. In typical Foley luck, they recalled how James held the team's number one spot for much of the season until a back injury led to Foley taking his place at the top. When speaking on Foley in appearances since, most recently in his interview on Hot Ones in 2021, James has always highlighted the sweet nature of Foley, calling him 'the nicest guy ever.'
James has also spoken of how clear it was that Foley's mind was so firmly geared towards the world of professional wrestling. He points to the various stunts that Foley loved to perform in his youth, most notably jumping off of his house onto piles of cardboard boxes, which fans will know as the embryonic days of the Dude Love character. The two would also end up going to the State University of New York at Cortland, where James would continue to pursue football, and where Foley would start training for a professional wrestling career at Dominic DeNucci's school.
RELATED: He's Not Just Hardcore: Why Mick Foley Was An Underrated In-Ring Worker
Though James' football career would never get off of the ground after further back injuries, pivoting towards comedy shortly thereafter, James would dip a toe in the world of combat sports. A close friend of Joe Rogan, having started on the stand-up circuit together, the two would often watch MMA events together, including Pancrase, the promotion founded by Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. James' love for MMA materialized in a number of ways over the years, from fighters making cameos in The King of Queens to his 2012 film Here Comes the Boom that saw James get into the cage himself.
Though amateur wrestling might not have lasted for either, they both certainly found great success in their respective fields. As Foley was winning the WWF Championship on Monday Night RAW in one of the highest viewed segments of the war with Nitro, James was hard at work on the first season of The King of Queens. Clearly, Ward Melville High's wrestling program breeds champions.
