On a recent edition of his “Everybody’s Got A Pod” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase Sr. discussed Will Ospreay’s reputation for being the best wrestler in the world, Rey Mysterio’s high-flying style, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On hearing talent be called best in the world such as Will Ospreay: “Okay well, here’s what I would say. And you know, this guy may be very good. But if he’s not a good storyteller, he’s not the best in the world. If he is the guy who has got the great body, and he takes a lot of really great bumps, and all that flying around, that doesn’t make a wrestler. And this is something I’ve talked about here before, and I will continue to beat the drum. Wrestling as I knew it and as I grew up in it — and I know everything changes, but what changed in — it’s kind of like, when you go to a movie, you know, what’s a movie when you walk in. You know it’s not real. But the actors in the movie, if they play their parts well, they draw you into the story they’re telling. They can make you laugh, they can make you cry and they can — and what I don’t see anymore is great stories, a great match. Just flying around the ring and taking pretty bumps — no matter how good they are, a triple somersault off the top rope and you’ll land on your feet and everybody goes, ‘Whoo!’ Okay, big deal. Tell me a story.
“In every story and every movie you watch, there’s — it’s it’s wrestling. There’s a good guy and a bad guy. There’s a good entity and a bad entity. And the movie is, the basic story is the bad guys screw up do whatever they’re going to do. And the rest of the story is about the good guys trying to come up and gradually get to a place where they can lower the hammer on the bad guys. I don’t see that anymore. You heard it right here, and I’ll go my grave [saying it]. And these conversations I’ve had with guys. I mean, Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr. who’s still alive. You know, several guys that, you know — and I asked them, I said, ‘Am I missing something? Or am I right?’ And they all said, ‘You’re right.’ Wrestling wasn’t meant to be a tumbling act.”
On Rey Mysterio doing it the right way: “That’s an excellent example. Because here’s a guy who could fly all over the ring. And man, he was great at it. But when he had his matches, he told the story. And the story that Rey Mysterio told was that most of the time, whoever his opponent was was much bigger than him. And the story was about, ‘How is this little guy is going to overcome this big guy?’ And that was the story. And Rey would sell for a good portion of the match. And then when it’s time for him to make that come back and start doing all that stuff that he does, then the people just pop and go crazy until he lowers the boom, 1-2-3. That’s a good example.”
On Ospreay needing to learn to tell a story: “That was the advice that you would give to a young performer like an Osprey. ‘Hey look, keep doing you, keep all your athletic, incredible moves. But maybe let’s just start to look to hone in on storytelling and selling.’”
