You've got to have new stars and you need people to pass the torch to build those stars.
Ted DiBiase Sr.
You look at all the athletes who come out of high school and college into professional sports. And they hit it big, they make money, and instead of saving their money, instead of doing the right thing, they go out and buy the biggest house, and the finest car, and then they get hurt, and it's gone.
My first WrestleMania, which was WrestleMania 4, was a milestone.
I was supposed to be the mouthpiece and financial backer of the NWO but what really happened as this thing got hotter, Eric Bischoff saw where he could slip himself into the role that he hired me for. And that's what he did.
The Million Dollar Man was to professional wrestling what Ebenezer Scrooge is to Christmas. He was like a rich bully. He bullied everybody with his money, and his motto was 'Everybody's got a price.'
I was fortunate. 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.
I really spent the better part of the first 12 years of my career wrestling for Mid South. Fond memories, but a grueling territory.
It's just one of those things. When you're a wrestler you're thinking about one guy, yourself, your character and whatever guy it is you're working with. When you're a writer and you're kind of in a booking type role, you're thinking about the entire roster so you're thinking about wrestling 24 hours a day.
I have wrestled in front of 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium, and that is a pretty big thrill.
I think with a lot of comics, their gift is improv. They don't have a script. They'll have a couple of good ideas they start with, and go from there. And it's the same in wrestling.
The Million Dollar Man the character is actually a Vince McMahon original. It was presented to me and Vince kind of started laying it out.
I was smarter when I was 15, 16 than when I was 18 to 26, because instead of caving in to being cool, I stuck close to my convictions and I was rewarded.
We have all said things in anger in a moment that we don't mean.
I remember when I was in Mid-South and they used to tape interviews every Wednesday morning, and I wasn't required to go to the interviews because I was a rookie and I wasn't cutting any interviews - I was a curtain jerker. But I went every Wednesday anyway because I was going to watch those guys and I was going to glean from them.
No matter how many times you get beat, you don't mind seeing them get beat again. That's what a good heel is in our business. I think JBL did it just as good as anybody.
Some of the top grossing movies now are children's animated features, they're making more money than action movies. And you'd never find a Hollywood A-lister years ago doing voice-overs for those films and they do now. You know why? Because everybody's got a price.
I travel all over the United States basically in evangelism, speaking in churches, speaking in prisons, speaking in rehab centers wherever I can basically sharing my story of redemption and the turnaround in my life.
I feel like my era was an era in which guys learned their trade the old school way.
I did make 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin the Million Dollar Champion on Raw. You know I saw the talent in Steve and I remember telling him - because a lot of people were telling him 'You need to do more' - I remember telling him, 'Don't do anything different, because what you do is believable, it's real.'
Being a good worker in WWE is the worst curse that you can have. Instead of being given the title for being a great worker, they give it to someone who isn't and have that person work with the good worker, so they look good in the ring.
The road can become a very lonely place. It's not what it's cracked up to be. Of course, it's what you make it.
My son wanted to become a wrestler because I was a wrestler. I was his hero. I didn't want them to wrestle. It was the same reason my dad didn't want me to wrestle. It's not the wrestling. It's the lifestyle that goes with it and the demands it puts on you. It's not so bad for single guy.
When I first went to Georgia Championship Wrestling, the promoter at the time Jim Barnett brought in Robert Fuller, who later became Colonel Rob Parker in WCW, as the booker. Everybody has their own style and way of doing things, and I was just not impressed with Robert Fuller. As a booker. As a talent he was fine.
I tell young guys, you need to build accountability into your life to avoid the pitfalls.
My father died when I was 15, and my dad was a professional wrestler but as well as a national amateur champion at the University of Nebraska.
Reality is, I could have made Japan a career. I could have just gone to Japan and I'd have been great.
I taught my boys it is easy to follow a crowd. Anybody can do that. It takes a man to stand up for your principles. You cut your own path in life. Chase after whatever your heart's desire is, and instead of following the crowd, let somebody else follow you. That takes a little guts.
The owner of Mid-South Wrestling, 'Cowboy' Bill Watts was and is extremely intelligent and unbelievable at understanding the psychology of our industry and I probably learned more from him then just about anybody.
I am a minister and I preach forgiveness all time.
I have the love and respect of my wife and my kids. I could look in the mirror and I'm happy with that guy now. He's okay. He's not a schmuck.
Mid-South is what started my whole career.
I was ordained into the ministry through my local church in February of 2000. I had already been doing a lot of speaking. So basically, my vocation in life changed and I went from a professional wrestler to a itinerate preacher.
I was not a big fan of the Attitude Era. Some of the things they did were very good and very funny but I was never a fan of the sleazy stuff.
Dusty Rhodes was a great athlete. Actually, he was a baseball player as well. He played football but he played baseball. That was his number one sport. He wasn't always heavyset like he is. But Dusty Rhodes, The American Dream he just gets charisma.
I always looked like an athlete but I didn't look like Charles Atlas.
Wrestling is sports entertainment for sure. But to be really good at what we do you have to be both an athlete and an entertainer. And actually, if you're going to be lacking in one, then be more of an entertainer and less of an athlete.
I didn't understand Warrior. When you come into my business, but you join the family, and that's something that Jim never did. It didn't seem to me that he was grateful for the things that people did for him.
To be in this business and be a star, not just be on the card, to be a star puts a demand on your time.
Usually a manager is put with someone who has got good rings skills, but is not necessarily good on the mic. So I have no idea why they put me with Steve Austin, he didn't need any help!
By the time Vince McMahon called upon me to become this character, the Million Dollar Man, I had already been wrestling for 12 years.
The real art of what we do, at least back in the old-school days, was improv. If you were a great worker, you were able to adapt and that skill developed over time because of all the traveling and working in different areas. You learned how to read a crowd.
If there was a regret, the one thing I didn't get to do before he died, was bury the hatchet with Ultimate Warrior.
There's people that have labored and labored and it takes them a long time before they get that break and then they get it. Then sometimes, I've seen guys with a lot of talent never get it. It's the nature of the beast.
Well, you know, I was a top heel in the company for a long time and whether I was moved over to a tag team with Mike Rotunda, you know, we were a top heel team.
Well, the mission statement of Heart of David is that we're a ministry of evangelism and encouragement. Evangelism meaning that I evangelize I travel on a weekly basis to churches not only churches but I find myself doing a lot more men's events, I talk to a lot more men and I go to a lot of prisons.
Wrestling is an art form.
Well, I think everyone would agree that Vince McMahon, although he doesn't get it right every time, he gets it right most of the time, and he is a marketing genius.
I walked away from a lot, I could have stayed in the industry in some capacity and had a fairly cushy income, and I chose to follow God. If it happened all over again, I would do that same thing.
So I went to WCW for three years and quite frankly, it was the most miserable three years of my life in terms of business.
Bobby Heenan to me, he was the best. Of all the guys that have been managers that can pick up a microphone and talk, he was a natural and so good. His character like mine was so hated, it was like a little weasel.
