The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase recently spoke with Newsday.com, here are the highlights…
On What it Was Like When He Signed With WWE: “By the time Vince McMahon called upon me to become this character, the Million Dollar Man, I had already been wrestling for 12 years,” DiBiase explained of the pro wrestling model of different regional territories throughout the country. “I had been to New York once in ’79 for about nine months. But the way I carried myself as a heel, as a bad guy in our industry, is why Vince chose me, because he already knew as a heel character, I came across as very aloof. I always talked down to the fans and down to the people, and so this Million Dollar Man character… I was already by the very nature of the way I carried myself as a heel already, he just created in me a character.”
On Ted Jr. WWE Departure: “Almost the whole last year he was with WWE, he was there, he was working live events, but they didn’t put him back on television because they didn’t just want to throw him out there and abuse him,” DiBiase said. “They really wanted to do something significant with him, they just couldn’t find what it was. And in the meantime, my son and his wife have a child, and make the Million Dollar Man a grandfather. And he just called me one day and says, ‘Dad, you know, you were right.’ And I said, ‘About what?’ He said, ‘Regardless of how much money I make in the wrestling business, the time it’ll going to demand to be away from my wife and my son, I just don’t think it’s worth it.’ And I said, ‘I tried to tell you that.’ But some things, you just have to learn the hard way. So when his contract came up and they wanted him to re-sign, he just said, ‘Thank you for all you’ve done for me, but I just don’t think it’s what I want for me anymore.'”
On His Current Status & What He Passed Onto His Kids:
“I probably could have saved more money, too. But, it’s like, even though I’m not really the Million Dollar Man, I have a retirement account, I saved some money, and I did some right things. Could I quit [working] tomorrow? No, but am I better off than a lot of my colleagues? Yes I am, and that’s because I started making smarter choices, and I passed that along to my kids.”