As noted, longtime Pro Wrestling Illustrated editor and Sportskeeda Wrestling editor Bill Apter recently spoke with WWE Hall of Fame legend "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase Sr. for an in-depth interview.
During the discussion, the son of "Iron" Mike DiBiase and father of former Legacy member Ted DiBiase Jr. spoke about his first-ever meeting with former longtime WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, how Terry Funk played a pivotal role in him listening to McMahon, as well as his thoughts on the "Million Dollar Man" persona he portrayed throughout his career in WWE.
Featured below are some of the additional highlights from the new interview with the second-generation wrestling legend where he touches on these topics and others at length.
On his initial meeting with Vince McMahon: “I got that call from Vince and I went up there. It’s funny, that first trip up there, he just told me, he says, look Ted, your mic skills are great, you’re great in the ring, you’re the total package, and I have an idea, and he says, it’s my idea, it’s fresh, it’s new, he says, there’s a lot of things in wrestling that have been done over and over and over, but this is fresh and new, but here’s the deal, I can’t tell you what it is unless you agree to come on board because I don’t want to give away a great idea and then you go somewhere else and do it. So I played kind of, I don’t know why I was hesitant, I said, I need to think about that, talk it over with my wife, he says OK great.”
On how Terry Funk being the one who told him to listen to Vince McMahon: "I called Terry, I told him about my conversation with Vince, and he said, Teddy, if Vince McMahon has an idea, and says it’s tailor-made for you, pack your bag and don’t look back, go. So I called Vince and said, I’m your guy.”
On the Million Dollar Man character that he portrayed throughout his WWE tenure: “So I said, what is it. He said no, I’m not gonna tell you on the phone. I want to fly you and your wife both up here, so he flies us both to New York, limousine, Stanford, they entertained my wife, so Vince kind of laid it out there. The one thing that everybody hates is someone who bullies with their wealth. They just flaunt their wealth. And like most bullies, they talk real big but in reality, most of them are cowards. I said yeah, my dad always told me that. He said, that’s the essence of this character.”
Check out the complete interview with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase Sr. from Sportskeeda Wrestling via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes from the interview.
