DiBiase On Changing His Mind About The Wrestling Business

[nightrain]

MILLION DOLLAR MAN Ted DiBiase has revealed the reasons for him going back on his pledge that his kids would only become wrestlers "over my dead body".

The legendary star will be inducted to the WWE Hall Of Fame this year, one day before the son who shares his name makes his first WrestleMania appearance.

His other boys, Mike and Brett, are also in the business and hoping for future stardom.

Turned off by the Attitude Era and haunted by his own demons, Ted had previously warned them to stay away - just like his famous father, 'Iron' Mike DiBiase, had once told him.

But WWE boss Vince McMahon and his daughter Stephanie helped change the mind of the Million Dollar Man.

Speaking to Fighting Spirit Magazine, Ted revealed: "In 2005, WWE asked me to come back to be a part of the creative team and when I went to interview with Stephanie McMahon for the job, I told Stephanie that there were things that they'd done that hadn't sat well with me.

"She understood, and said that I was entitled to my opinion. Steve Austin was the biggest star they ever had - he certainly surpassed Hogan - but I told Stephanie that I didn't want my son's hero to be a guy who comes out and flips everyone the bird, cusses like a sailor and guzzles beer.

"It wasn't even that so much as the nature of wrestling, as in all of the things that came along with wrestling.

"When I first got into wrestling, I thought I understood why my dad didn't want me involved in the business, because it's a hard lifestyle and you have to move around a lot.

"Not only that, but you're away from your family a lot and it's not like most jobs where you work towards retirement.

"I experienced all of the problems of that era of wrestling, because my first marriage failed after six years and I nearly blew the second one because of my own stupidity.

"But what I saw when I went back in 2005 was how much the business had changed."

Ted has previously admitted to cheating on his wife and talked about seeing former colleagues succumb to steroid abuse and drug addiction.

But he says wrestling today is a very different business.

He added: "When I was with WWE, I probably had six days off per month, whereas today's wrestlers have double that unless they go on a foreign tour. So that's one of the reasons the guys in my day would fall into these problems, because you were gone all the time.

"Another thing that's changed is that there's a trainer and a doctor in the locker room every night - we didn't have that.

"There's the money, too. Nowadays there are some legitimate millionaires in the company, whereas only the top guy used to be earning the really big money, someone like Hulk Hogan or Andre The Giant.

"I venture to say that in my son Ted's second year in the business, he'll make probably as much money as I made in my best year. And he's only a rising star!

"There's also a state-of-the-art drug testing policy. They have an independent company doing the testing and they test you when and where they want to.

"All WWE does is get the results, so there's no favouritism - there may have been stories going around that there was, but I was there in 2005 and it wasn't the case.

"If a guy does get hooked on something, the company even pays to put you through rehab.

"Having said all that though, there's the other thing of when your kid comes to you and says: 'Dad, you've always been my hero, I want to be just like you.'

"What are you going to say to that?"

Issue 52 of Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM) is in all good newsagents on Thursday March 25 and features the full interview with Ted and in-depth looks at NXT and HBK v Undertaker II.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2902490/Million-Dollar-Man-Ted-DiBiase-Why-I-changed-my-mind-about-the-wrestling-business.html#ixzz0ivQo0ntw

[James Lofton]

Steve Austin was the biggest star they ever had - he certainly surpassed Hogan

No he did not. Austin was not a global icon firmly entrenched in pop culture. He was on a wrestling program and sold a lot of t shirts. Hogan was much more than that.

Your great grandma talked about Hulk Hogan. Your teachers talked about Hogan when they should have been giving you a pop quiz.

These people wouldn't know who the **** Austin was unless they watched Raw.


When Hogan slammed Andre the Giant, that body slam was heard around the world. Hell, even CNN had coverage of it.

When Austin did a stone cold stunner to The Rock, nobody but the people watching cared.