WWE Hall of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase recently appeared on an episode of his “Everybody’s Got a Pod” podcast, where he discussed a number of topics including the Papa Shango character.
DiBiase said, “Yeah, I mean he [Charles Wright] did it well. I thought, you know — and it’s kind of like, by this time in my career, you got to understand I grew up in a generation where you know, my father was a wrestler, and you protect the business. Even though — it’s almost like if you were a magician, okay? Well anybody with half a brain knows, you really can’t make a rabbit disappear. But they did it somehow. So how’d they do it? And the same thing with wrestling was, you know most people who were wrestling long enough, especially if you’ve ever been in a real fight, figure it out and say, ‘Wait, wait a minute here.’ But you know, it’s the story that draws you in. And my thing was, the better you can protect the story. It’s kind of like, if I had done an angle with — and think I did an angle with Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream. But while we were doing that, you know, I would not be seen in public anywhere with him or even close to it. And that’s just, protect the business. Because it’s kind of like, if you or I watch watching a movie, okay? And there’s this really bad fight that happens. And then you walk out on the street and the two guys that put on that great fight in the movie or sitting by the pool having a drink together. It just takes you out of it.”
On wrestling companies cross-promoting with movies:
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I mean, it’s kind of like who it is and what they’re being brought in for.“
On Robocop appearing in WCW:
“Wow. How did I miss that? … that’s — you know, I don’t know. To me that’s going a little bit too far…. Oh my gosh, you know — I don’t know who’s idea that was. I guess I don’t need to know.”
On the character destroying any sense of realism and having no place in WCW:
“Put the damn robot back in the movie he came out of. Because you know, that was a movie. This is wrestling not a — it’s not a movie. It doesn’t work if — that would be like bringing the guy that played Superman in a movie. Bring him in, it’s like, what are you gonna do. Have him stand in the in middle of the ring and let bullets bounce off his chest or something?”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
