WWE Hall of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase recently took to an episode of his “Everybody’s Got a Pod” podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including how the incident at WCW Slamboree 1997 came about.
DiBiase said, “Sean’s a good friend of mine. But at that time, you know, he wasn’t a big name for any organization. And so it’s kind of like, if you want to make him a big name, well then you make him a big name. And the only way you can make him a big name is by letting him have a match where he gets featured and he wins, and he wins, and he wins, and is elevated to that position. And I don’t remember a whole lot about it. But I mean, me looking at it from where I am now, would have said, ‘Yeah, it’s kind of like, I can see where the those guys would have had an argument’… and again, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, they were relative newcomers themselves. You know what I’m saying?”
On Ric Flair and Roddy Piper wrestling at an older age:
“Wrestling being what wrestling is, it’s kind of like, if you’ve still got it and can go for it, go for it. There’s the battle you see in the ring, and then there’s the battle that you don’t see backstage. That was just — I mean, I thought about that later. I thought, ‘Man, I wonder if I can.’ I probably could have gone a couple more years. I was in as good shape as any of those guys. But again, it was just a personal thing. And to be honest, I am very happy today that I did that. I mean, because I look at guys who kept going, maybe even to 45. But you know, you go back to, 50, 53, 54, 55 year-old guys still climbing in the ring and wrestling? Now, I mean, I have had both my knees replaced. But other than that, I mean, I just had a checkup with my heart doctor. He said, ‘Ted, I doubt you’ll ever die of a heart attack.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘You have the arteries of a much younger man.’”
On not minding older veterans taking up TV time:
“Well, for me, I grew up in the business. There are a couple of guys that have told me stories about having had the opportunity of wrestling my dad, obviously before he was gone. But that he had helped them considerably. In other words — I mean, where did I learn to wrestle? I didn’t learn it in the gym; I learned to win the ring in front of a live crowd. That’s the old school. And so any guy that comes along that’s got that savvy, that gets it? You know? I’d say ‘Hey, come on, I can learn from you.’”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
