Mick Foley Endorses Bray Wyatt Using His Mandible Claw Finisher

With a new, horrifying persona at his disposal, Bray Wyatt made quick work of Finn Balor as "The Fiend" at SummerSlam on Sunday. He pinned the former Universal Champion in just over three minutes with the Mandible Claw, his new submission hold he first broke out on Mick Foley back in mid-July at the Raw Reunion special.

The hold was synonymous with Foley during his career, particularly during his WWF run as Mankind, which led fans to wonder how the WWE Hall of Famer feels about somebody else using his move. Foley opened up about it in a recent interview with Wrestling Inc., giving Wyatt a wholehearted endorsement.

"I think it's nice to look at the show and see your fingerprints here and there," Foley said. "Where, as ten years ago when I left, there were a lot of people who had grown up idolizing Ric [Flair], and Shawn [Michaels], and Bret [Hart], and you could see that in the work. So now you have guys like Bray, who told me years ago, 'Look, I'm doing something in a rocking chair,' because he had gotten a rocking chair from an interview that I did for Randy Orton. You see it a little bit with Aleister Black and the rocking, and Su Yung, and Rosemary, and I love it; Sami Callihan doing the cactus driver.

"And so, I feel for Bray because you want a finishing move that you can do to anyone at any time. The mandible claw... is something that is all [Bray's] now," he added.

Wyatt first returned from his hiatus in late April, showing off a new character in "Firefly Fun House" segment where he played a children's television host with hints of dark undertones. He'd go on to reveal that his alter-ego to the smiling, friendly host was a sinister masked demon called "The Fiend." Along with Foley, Wyatt also attacked WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle prior to his match with Balor.

Neither Balor nor Wyatt have appeared on WWE television since. Balor is reportedly starting a two-month break from the company, while Wyatt is currently being advertised for the next two live episodes of Raw.