Ted Dibiase Shoot Interview: Untold Stories of the Million Dollar Man

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yeah, that's fine. I mean mits Mid South is really
it's well, that's where I started. I mean Mid South was. Uh.
I guess I would say that my career started about
the same time that Mid South was was was starting,
because I know that I had completed my junior year

(00:22):
of college and Dick Murdoch, who I had known since
I was very young, his father and my father were friends,
and he had come to, uh to Mid South, and
uh had said to me, he said, look, you know, uh,
he said, if you want to find out, if you

(00:44):
really want to do this, you know, why don't you
come down here and work for the summer. I had
spent the previous summer in and around the Amarillo Wrestling
Territory as a referee, and so I thought it was
a great idea. And uh so I Dick talked to
Bill Watts and at the time Bill Watts and Leroy

(01:07):
McGirk were partners. Bill had come in and had I
had taken like part ownership in in Uh. I guess
Lee Roy's original territory and I'm not I think if
I'm not mistaken, and you may know this better than
I do. With the LeRoy's original territory was basically Oklahoma

(01:30):
and like Arkansas, and then you know, Bill came in
and and expanded it, you know, and then it included
Louisiana and Mississippi, you know. And then by the time
that I left here, by the time that Bill sold
the sold Mit South to uh to Crockett, you know,

(01:50):
even encompassed part of East Texas, you know. I mean,
they they had bought the they had bought out Paul
Bosh and we're running Houston. So it had become a
very big territory. But again, I came to Mid South
in the summer of nineteen seventy five, late I think,
I believe it was late May or very early June.

(02:12):
I got off a plane in Shreveport, and I had
my first televised, my first television match with Danny Hodge.
And I'll never forget it because I was scared to death.
I mean, I knew Danny Hodge by reputation, you know
that he was a great shooter and and everything. And
of course I'm here, you know, even though I was
a big guy, you know, and Danny never was a

(02:33):
very big guy. I know that, you know, he could
do whatever he wanted to do with me out there.
But it was it was easy. It was you know,
it was like he was very kind. It was just
one of those one of those guys, Hey kid, just
listen to me and we'll be okay. And so I
have my first TV match with Danny Hodge and I
think I made my first my first appearance in a

(02:56):
what we would call a live event today in the
Row Civic Center, Monroe, Louisiana. That's where I got started.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
What was it like working with Danny because he he
would be very different than what modern day wrestling became.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, yeah, I mean working with Danny it was well again,
you know, wrestling men and modern ing wrestling are they
are different? You know, so much more attention today has
been put on on on on the big moves. And
it's like I used to say, you know, we we
called the high spot a high spot. That that's why

(03:35):
we call it a high spot because it was a
place in the match where you know, you got off
the mat and you did something exciting, you know, and
then you went back to back to a hold wrestling. Uh,
you know, old school if you want to call it
old school pro wrestling. Old school was just that it was.
It was more about the wrestling contest, and so it

(03:59):
was more on the mat. It was more about that
story and and and engaging people and getting them to
be to get into what you were doing. And uh
and so yeah, you wouldn't you wouldn't you know, you
wouldn't get in the match with Danny Hodge or any
of those old school guys and be just flying all
over the ring all the time. And uh, you know,

(04:20):
I think one of the guys that I know that
I've talked to him about it, and he he kind
of takes credit for it a little bit. He said, was, oh, gosh,
brain dead this morning, Harley Race. You know, Harley said that,
you know, he was one of the first guys that

(04:42):
started doing more in other words, you know, using the
ropes more. And you know, we're you know, like you know,
back in the early days, gush. And when I when
I go back and I find somebody actually sent me
an old tape of my dad. And when I watched
that tape, it was like I couldn't believe it because

(05:03):
it was just you know, to me, it was so slow.
It was like, oh my gosh, they're not doing anything.
But that's the way it was back then. And yeah,
by contrast, you know, today it's you know, the day
as I try to influence my boys and all of
these other young guys that are getting in the business.

(05:24):
And so are the guys at the training facility in Tampa,
Florida for the WWE. You know, they keep telling these kids, Look,
it's not about all that stuff you're doing. It's about
when you do it. It's about telling. It's about telling
the story. It's not about It's kind of like they think, well,
to have a great match, you've got to go out
and you know, do all this high flying stuff. And
that's what impresses everybody. I said, No, what engages people

(05:48):
in your match and gets you over as a personality
is how you tell the story, make them believe in you,
you know. And it's like I always use Ray Mysterio said,
here's a guy who you know, I mean, the WWE
has always been known as being the big Man's territory.
You know, he got to be a you know, Vince

(06:08):
has always loved big, big, more bigger than life guys,
you know, and you know, here's Ray Mysterio making phenomenal
money and he's one of the top talent. And how
is that, Well, because Ray took what he could do
and he has has learned how to do it in
such a way that people believe it. In other words,

(06:28):
they they the way he doesn't match and incorporates the
things that he can do. It's not that he you know,
like I told Ray, well, you know, I met Ray.
Actually I met him at WCW in I don't know.
It was ninety somewhere between ninety six and ninety nine,
and he was with the loots what they called the
Lucca Doors. And between you and me, I hated the Luchadors.

(06:51):
I mean it's like it was like to me, it
was like the flying circus. Okay, those guys are going
to go out there and they're going to fly around
the ring like a such a a trapeze artists, and
none of it, none of it makes any sense at all.
It's just an aerial show. And then and at the end,

(07:12):
then somebody covers somebody one two three. Ray learned how
to work. Ray learned how to go out there and
tell the story and build a story and show here's
how a guy at the size of somebody else can
can work around and make you believe that he can
take down the big guy, and that again it gets

(07:32):
back to being able to tell the story.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
So ted in the mid nineteen seventies, your dad, of
course was in the business, but who told you that
this telling the story part of the business was so important?

Speaker 1 (07:45):
It went well from day one. I mean, you know,
I mean I grew up in the business when it
was still very well protected. I mean, I'll be honest
with you. My dad died in the ring in July
nineteen sixty nine, and my dad never told me about
the business. He knew that I knew, but he and

(08:06):
I never spoke and had a conversation. I was only
fifteen when he died, and you know, he knew that
I knew because I had gotten it from my older brother.
And my dad wasn't very happy about that, not because
you know, it was just that that's the way things
were then. They protected the business, and it was like,
you know, when you're old enough to know and you

(08:27):
need to know, then I'll fill you in on everything
other than that, he protected the business even around us.
I mean, obviously, you know he knew we weren't idiots,
but again, you just don't ask those questions. So the
business was protected, and when you got into business when
you were brought into the business, and back then there

(08:49):
were no schools. You know, if you wanted to be
a wrestler, the only way you could get into wrestling
back then was to do to be befriended by somebody
that was in the business who was willing to and
liked you well enough to bring you in and thought
you can contribute. And then uh, you know, it wasn't
like you went to some school and you spent six

(09:09):
weeks or eight weeks and and you learned all of
the stuff. Now, they took you in a gym man
and and they'd show you the basics. You know, uh, here,
here are the basic holes, Here are the basic moves, okay, kid.
And then then then when you started wrestling, you'd start
off in some podunk town. You be the you be
the guy in the first match, and you'd be in
there with somebody who could lead you around virtually by

(09:32):
your nose and tell you everything to do. Uh So,
back then, as far as I'm concerned, nobody ever told me.
It's about the story. It was understood, you know. It's
kind of like, uh, you know, I could still remember
watching matches between uh, some of the greatest matches I saw,
even to this day, wrestling contests, UH when I was

(09:56):
in college and UH in West Texas and would go
the Amerald Sports Arena on Thursday night. I can still
remember watching guys like Harley Race and Terry Funk. I
think some of the greatest matches that I ever saw
were between Dory Funk Junior and Jack Briscoe. I mean

(10:22):
in terms of telling an unbelievable wrestling contest story, you know,
I mean today, I you know, would that work? Probably not,
But if the people gave it long enough. In other words,
I do believe, you know, it's kind of like somebody says, well,
you know, you can't do an hour anymore. People wouldn't
sit there long enough. I said, yes they will. I said,

(10:44):
you might. You might have them, you know, saying in
the first fifteen minutes or so, they might be saying, hey, borring,
do something, get off your can. But once you once
you engage them long enough and they see the story
you're telling, I think they'd get into it and then
and they would follow it and they'd be right with

(11:06):
you right to the end. Because it's just like going
to It's like going to a good motion picture. What's
wrong with motion pictures today? It's the same thing. I mean,
I love to go to the movies, but the really
good movies are so few and far between anymore. Yes,
I mean it's it's like it's like, you know, I
go to movies now, and you know tomorrow, I mean

(11:27):
next week, I go what was that movie about? I
don't remember because it didn't grab me. You know, it
was a lot of action, and there's a lot of
really cool visual effects and all that stuff, But big deal,
what's the meat of the story? What story you try
to tell me? And it's the same thing with wrestling today,
and and and you know, in defense of wrestling today,

(11:52):
I would say that what what the WWE and Vince
McMahon has had to do? You know? And I mean
I've heard him. I was sitting in meetings with with
him as when I was part of the creative team saying, look,
he said, he said, he said, you know, when we
became this big, he said, you know, I didn't realize,
you know, this was going to happen, he says, but

(12:14):
it has happened, and now we have to deal with it.
You know. He understands that when all the small territories disappeared,
so did the breeding ground. So now we have to
do the best we can to develop, to develop new talent,
because the way you used to learn this business was
to go do it. It's like it's you're serving an apprenticeship,
you know. It's like somebody takes you underwing and says, okay, kid,

(12:37):
we're going I'm going to help you get into business.
And and and you know, and you know, it's just
like Dick Murdoch calls Bill Watts and says, hey, you know,
I remember Mike Debase, you know, and of course Bill
had had good memories of my dad, and yeah, I
remember he told me a story about uh, about my
dad and uh and him, you know, and what an
upright guy my dad was. And he says, yeah, I'll

(12:59):
give that kid a break. And so Bill brings me
in knowing I know nothing, you know, just right out
of college, and he starts me and uh, and that's
how you did it, And you don't. I worked every
little town I know, all the little towns between uh,
you know, Homa, Louisiana, all the way to Tulus, Oklahoma.
I did them all. But that's how you did it.

(13:20):
And each night you know, the way you learn wrestling
is to get in the ring in front of a
live crowd and do it and engage those people.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Ted, what was it like way back then after your
your your first few matches, first few months, you finish
off in the ring, you come back to the dressing room,
did you did you look for you know, somebody to
give you a grade on how you did or were
you so tired? What's it like for a new guy
in the business back then after the match?

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Uh? Well, I'll be honest with you. When you were
young in the business and here it was kind of
like you know, if you're young, especially if you're young
in the business and young and years. I mean, there
are some guys that got it business when they were older.
But but the bottom line is if you're if you're
the new kid on the block, you know, you sit
up and shut up. You you sit down and you
set up. It's like, you know, speak when you're spoken to,

(14:10):
and it's just their a no cert. And things were
a little different from me, I guess because I was
somebody who was more readily accepted because I was already
part of the family. Uh you know, my dad had
had had given had sacrificed the health of the sacrifice,
he died doing it. And uh and and the other

(14:33):
thing was that my dad had a great reputation and
and and and all the and everybody liked my dad.
They respect that he not only as a wrestler, but
as a man, and that, you know, that's what gave
me a break. Now again, I had to earn my
own respect, just like everybody does. But I got it
was more readily made available to me. And and I

(14:55):
guess if there's any break that I would have over
anybody else, that would be it. And uh so, but yeah,
it's like I've instructed my boys, you know, my son Ted,
who's now becoming a star in the WWE. I said,
you watch the guys that are the moneymakers. Watch them
every day, go to them, ask them questions, you know,

(15:18):
ask them to watch your matches, you know. And I said,
you know what those guys they want. I always wanted
to hear that. You know. It's like, uh, you know,
I want to know that you aren't here for a
free ride. I want I want to know that you're
here because you are passionate about this business and you
want to know all about it. That that you can.
And so that's what I would do. I would always

(15:39):
you know, I would always ask Dick or or Dick
Murdoch killer Carl Cox. Those were two guys that were
There was a guy named Bob Sweeten who was a
great heel in my day, in my early days, and
that I ended up working with a lot Buck Roblely,
you know, you know Buck Robally, you know when you
when you when you look at Buck Robley, I mean,

(16:00):
you know, you know Buck had that that horrible car accident,
you know, and Buck was I mean in bodily appearance,
you know, compared today, you know, like I had that
guy ever recovered. But Buck was a great psychologist in
the ring and a great booker. And so I would
watch those guys and those are the guys, and I said,
and I would go to something else that wasn't required

(16:22):
when you were rand new. You know, if you're not
if you're not one of the main guys, if you're
if you're the guy drinking the curtain, well there's no
reason for you to be at TV for television interviews,
you know, the promos what we call promos, because you're
not going to be cutting any But I went anyway,
I went every Wednesday morning to the TV station, TV

(16:42):
station in the Shreetport and I was set there and
I would watch these guys cut their promos because I
knew what the programs were, I knew who was wrestling who,
I knew what where they were in the midst of
that story, like you know, with the week, what they
had done the previous night or the previous week, and
where they were going. And I would listen to how

(17:03):
they presented the promo and how you know, and that's
how you learned. And so you know, I'm there and
then one day, hey, you know, somebody's not there or whatever.
And I remember Bill Watts said, hey, hey, you know, Daddy,
you know, go up there and cut a thirty second
or whatever it was minute promo for Da Da Da Da.
So that's how I started.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, and it's all.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
It was always a shock in the old days when
someone who had never cut a promo but had been
in the territory, finally you see them on TV.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
There they are, their first shot at a promo.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Better make it good, right, that's right, absolutely right, here's
your opportunity, you know. And so again it's it was
something that I understood, maybe instinctively from being very young,
was you know, make it real. It's kind of like
I told my boys, I said, I said, the one

(17:55):
thing because I had this respect for the business, because
I had actually know had the playground fights over wrestling,
because you know, your kid growing up, you that's wrestler. Ah,
that phony wrestling? Phony? Yeah, bang bang bang, you think
that's phony? You know. You know, I still remember some
guy that came over to my apartment when I was

(18:16):
in college, you know, and here he is in my
apartment drinking my beer, you know, and then telling me
wrestling is phony. You know, I said, really, I said, well,
for example, you know, and I said, so, I guess
you don't believe there's a sleeper hole. And you're like, yeah, right,
you can put me to sleep. I said, turn around,
and I put him in. I put him in a
real sleeper which, as I don't know, you know, anybody

(18:38):
that's really educated understands a sleeper hole. What we call
a sleeper hole is it's what police used to put
a guy down, you know, when he's struggling with him.
And what it does is cuts the blood flow off
to your brain basically long enough to just like make
you faint, and that's what I did. You know, I
put him out and I just dropped him on my

(18:59):
kitchen for or and then I woke him up. I
mean it was like, you know, I did that all
my life.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
That'll get somebody's attention, I think, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
And so so when I'm you know, when I started wrestling,
and because of my respect for my trade and you
know what we called KFE and protect the business. My my,
the the uttermost thing on my mind was protecting the business.
And so what I would say to myself each night was,

(19:32):
for sure, what I'm going to do is I'm not
going to do anything out here that anybody could see.
In other words, if I don't have the confidence to
do it right and make it look real, I'm not
going to do it. But whatever I do, they're gonna believe.
In other words, my attitude was they might think that
the two matches, the three matches before me were phony,

(19:56):
but they're gonna they're gonna walk away from my match
and they're going to go Those two guys were going
for it. And so as long as I kept that
in mind, as long as I kept that attitude, it
you know, again, it's make it real. Uh it's like selling.
And uh it's funny that my son, Brett, I shared
this with him. And my son is in the developmental

(20:18):
program down in Tampa. And I said, Brett, I said,
I said, try this on, son. I said, you make
them all believe. I said, when you're selling, I said you,
I said, I want you. I said, you sell it
to where you get. I said, here's what, here's what
I want to I want you to try to do.
I want you to be you. You you have your
match whatever, and when you walk out of the ring

(20:39):
and you walk back through the curtain in the back,
I want I want you to have fooled Dusty Rhodes
and Steve Kerrent. And he did it. He did it,
and he said, he said, I had guys coming up
to me and going, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,
you know, get the trainer over here. He's hurt, he said,
you know, and uh and I and you know that

(21:00):
that's it And he understood it. I said, he's I
get it, Dad, I get it. I said, that's just it.
I said, if you had Dusty and Steve and the
guys in the back believing that you really hurt your knee.
What do you think those people at rings? I thought,
and that's just it. It's about making it real ted.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
The fans in the seventies.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
See, I was a fan in the seventies and seventies,
and I knew that wrestling wasn't real. But do you
think they knew it was the job to make them
think it was real? Or was the job to make
them suspend belief?

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Both? I think for some it was both. It was yeah,
big Well, it's just you know, I always use the
analogy of the movies, like when you and I go
to them, we know a movie's not real, my gush,
you know it's not real. But when those when the actors,
you know, why is you know, you know why is
Sean Connery or whoever the guy is? Why he's you know,
why is Russell Crowe the lead actor in this movie?

(21:54):
It's like one of the movies I loved was Gladiator.
You know what a babyface Russell was? And Gladiator d
what a heel? What Keem Phoenix was? As as the Emperor.
You know, it's like here's a guy. I go, boy,
you know what a chicken shit prick? You know this
guy is? And excuse me, for using that vernacular. But

(22:20):
you know that's you know, that's emotion. You know, that's
the emotion you would use like oh gosh, well it's
the same thing. You know, your go you sit down
in a movie for two hours and it's suspended thisbelief.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
So in Louisiana, did you you're in the ring, do
you think to yourself that these fans believe this is real?
Because maybe the geographic part of the United States it is.
You know, we've heard that down south, the people believed
it more, let's say, than the people I lived in
Connecticut in the East Coast.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Do you think that had anything to do with it?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
I don't know, you know, I think I think people
are people wherever you go. You know, it's kind of
like that old deal. Well, you know these people down
here and it could you know, you know, and some
of those you know, it's kind of like, you know,
you get some of those back, you know, way back
in the in the Bayou. You know they you know,
they might not they you know, they might believe it.

(23:16):
And to me, there were always people I've always been
people who you know, who want to believe it. They
just want to believe it. And you can't tell them
it's not real. Uh. But then there are those who
just love it for what it is, and and but
but by the same token, you know, it's kind of like,

(23:38):
how do I say it? It's like, okay, you know
that you know, anybody that's been in a real fight
or or been in a real competitive sport and good
at it. You can watch wrestling for five or for
five minutes and go, wait a minute, now, that guy
just grabbed this guy by the hair of his head

(23:59):
and ran him all the way across the ring. I said,
nobody's gonna grab me and run me anywhere by my hair.
He might pull my hair out, you know. I mean,
so you start seeing things and going no, no, you know,
wait a minute. You know, he just punched that guy
in the face five times. Why isn't he bleeding? You know,
why isn't why why why aren't his knuckles cut up?
But by the same token, if you present it, you know,

(24:19):
there's a there's a difference in presenting it in a
believable way and then absolutely, I guess I would you say,
it's like uh, you know, uh, you know, you know,
don't don't insult my intelligence. I guess is the way
you would put it. In other words, you know, when
you do things that are so outrageous, you oh, come on,

(24:41):
you think I'm you think I'm an idiot, I'm a moron,
you know, So the more believable again, you know, it's
just like that's the analogy I always make with my boys.
Make it as real as you possibly can, because those people,
and especially today, I mean, you know, Vince announced it
the whole world. Hey like, we're sports entertainment, So what
we're good. You know, we're going to entertain you. You're

(25:03):
gonna have a lot of fun. So what you know,
you go to movies, don't you? Okay, come on, And
so the more real that you can make it out there,
the more engaged those people are going to be for
that time because it gets right down to you know people, well,
you know it's like right now, you know, we're at
a time in our country where you know, people have

(25:25):
you know, they don't want to use the word, but
I believe we're in a depression and it's you know,
people are losing their jobs and things are getting worse.
Wrestling's thriving. Motion pictures are still doing very well. You
know why because people even in their hardest of times.
They got to have an escape. They got to have

(25:45):
somewhere where they can go and blow off steam. They've
got to have somewhere that they can go and forget,
maybe forget about the troubles of the day. So even
though they have very little money, they'll save their money,
you know, and instead of I hate to say it,
instead of like you know, buy something they need, they'll
they'll they'll go to the ballgame, they'll go to the movie,

(26:06):
or they'll go to the wrestling matches and then the
the the baby face in that match. They put themselves
in that guy, you know, you know, it's the American way.
It's like they they see that guy, he's getting beat up,
he's getting beat up, but he won't give up. He
won't give up, no matter what happens to him, he
will not give up. And they are pulling for that

(26:28):
guy to fight back and to come back from from
as as far as he's gone down and fight his
way all the way back to the top. And they
put themselves in there and in their life. And that's
that's I mean, that's what we do. I mean, when
you when you go to a football game, I mean
it's like it's the American way. And it's like, I
remember what was the Super Bowl when the Giants played

(26:51):
the Patriots, A Patriots the only team, second team in
NFL history, to go undefeated. I mean, it's everybody said, no,
what knowing the New York Giants came in the back door.
They were a wild card team, and it's like, you know,
they barely won, They barely was they barely went. It
was like, man, how did these guys even get here?

(27:11):
And I watched that game, and to this day it
is the best most entertaining football game at a Super
Bowl I've ever watched because when they hung on. Man,
I still remember that that that one catch the guy
made where he caught the ball and he basically was
holding on the ball and it was stuck to the
back of his helmet. You you know, the one I'm
talking about that'll lift forever and hearing you and I

(27:34):
are talking about it, and I remember like it was
yesterday because it captivated me. It brought me in. It's like, yes,
and when they won, oh my gosh, I mean, I
mean I get goosebumpsuck thinking about it. Now. Well, that's
just it. That's what you try to do with wrestling.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Well, you were.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Talking about depression, and I think back to boxing. Joe
Louis one of the most famous heavyweight champions of all time.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
When did he fight. He fought in the nineteen thirties.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Right during the depression.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
So people, no matter how bad things are, people will
still put their dollars into things like like wrestling to.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
Escape exactly, absolutely, And uh, you know it's kind of
you know, again for for for reasons that are you know,
it's kind of like, you know, my you know, I
grew up in the business. My dad didn't really want
me to ruh. And not because he didn't love the business,

(28:27):
but because he knew what came along with the lifestyle,
because of the high divorce rate and the people that
have fallen into you know, uh, the different you know,
you know, back in his day, it wasn't so much drugs,
but it was alcohol. And uh, just you know, you
put in a lot of time, and you know, you know,
you can make a good living, kid, but you know,

(28:47):
save your money. What are you going to do when
it's over type of thing. And and of course he
died before he could stop me from doing it, and
I did it, and of course, once I had done
it long enough, even though I loved the business very much,
I said, you know what, it's good enough for me,
but this is not good enough for my kids. But
the industry has changed so much in that aspect for
the good that it's unbelievable. I mean, I went to

(29:10):
the Kaliflarer Alley Club this year for the first time,
and I really enjoyed it. I saw some guys hadn't
seen in a long time. But the one thing that
some of these guys, not all of them, but a
few of them, you know, it's like, you know, it's
like they are stuck in the old days. They are
stuck into old school and all they want to do
is knock Vince McMahon and they want to knock modern wrestling.

(29:32):
And I go, let me tell you something, Pal, I said,
my kid works four days a week and he's going
to be a millionaire. He goes home three days every week.
He has a life at home. He has a trainer
and a doctor at every event. Not only that, he's

(29:56):
doing a movie, he's going to make a commercial. Uh
and in probably five years time is going to make
more money than I made in my career. I said,
so you're knocking the ww and what it is today,
I said, you know they're feeling, you know, say what
you want to, you know, I mean, you see, here's

(30:17):
my thing everything. You know, I'm a I'm a preacher
today and I tell people this in church, I go, look,
you know, here's that's this is what happens in church.
We get stuck in it. We get stuck in a way,
we get it, we get stuck in this rut like
this is the way the things have always been done
in other words, by gosh, if those songs aren't in
the old Baptist hindle, then they're not godly. What do

(30:39):
you mean You're gonna have drums in a in a
an acoustic car the guitar church. That's not that's not
holy it boy, if it's not that old pipe organ music,
I mean, come on, everything changes, everything evolves. And because
wrestling has been able to evolve, not only evolve, but change,
I mean, yeah, do I think that there are some

(31:00):
things missing? Yes, but you know, you know, you can't
knock success. And I want to tell you something, if
if if Vince McMahon hadn't done what he's done, I
still think wrestling would be around, but I don't think that.
I think that it would be languishing like it is, like,

(31:24):
look what happened to wrestling in Japan? You follow me, absolutely,
there's nobody. I mean, I mean, wrestling was huge. Wrestling
was like, oh my gosh, when I was wrestling in Japan,
you know, I was, you know, until the WWF gave
me the big break. I had become Stan Hansen's tag
team partner, and I could have finished out my career

(31:44):
there and done fabulously. I mean, my gosh, it was huge.
Now you got all these little bitty wrestling too. You
got nobody that's got the creative genius of a Vince McMahon,
and it's dying and they're look at all the other
things like look at look at everything else that wrestling
has to compete with today that we didn't have to
compete with, you know, twenty years ago, thirty years ago.

(32:08):
You know, I'll tell you what if you think that
you could, I mean, they wouldn't. Wrestling wouldn't be on television.
Wrestling would not be on television, and even if it were,
it would be on some podunk station at two o'clock
in the morning. Because look at what it has to
compete with today. If Vince McMahon didn't, I mean, now,

(32:29):
I mean, hey, here's again, not only he is he
on television, he's number one in his times a lot
every week, so and again. But back to the difference
in the business then the business now, yeah, I'm old school.
I mean, I believe in the old It's kind of
like football. Football has changed too, but the fundamentals of

(32:51):
football are still blocking and tackling. It's all about blocking
and tackling and catching the ball and kicking the ball,
you know, And if you don't have the core fundamentals,
then you ultimately, you know, you might be a flash
in the pan, but you're not going to be great,
uh and be one that endures for a long time.
And the same is true in wrestling. Wrestling is still

(33:12):
about telling the story. And it's kind of like I
told my son Teddy when he went up, I said,
you know, you talk about all these gimmicks wrestling, every
and everybody's got to have a gimmick. You gotta you know,
what kind of what kind of character are you going
to be? I said, I said, Teddy, I said, what
is Sean Michael's gimmick, And he thought for a minute.

(33:35):
He said, well, Dad didn't really have a gimmick. I
mean they call him the heartbreak Kid. I go, okay,
what is Randy Orton's gimmick? And he thought again. He said, well, Daddy,
he didn't really have a gimmick either. I mean he's
got a tagline, you know, the legend Killer. I said,
what is Triple H's gimmick? And I just you know
the ones that you know, I said, what was what

(33:57):
was Eddie Guerrero's gimmick? I said, one guy that's doing
really good, Ray Maisteria, what's raised gimmick? Well, raise gimmicks
the mask, but you know he's not like you know,
I said, the bottom mind is all these guys aren't gimmicks.
They're not. They have a personality, yes, but what they

(34:19):
are are they're good workers. They're people who they're the
people today that can still go out in that ring
and engage you and pull you in and make you
either want to love them or hate them. And and
that's what it's all about.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Ted.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
I think from a fans point of view, what makes
it good for your son makes it not so good
for the hardcore fans I think the fans used to
enjoy all the different territories the new faces. Now because
that doesn't exist anymore. Vince has to protect the guys
that he has, and therefore it's better for your son.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Oh? Yes, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
I think that that's where you see a lot of
people complaining now. A lot of the wrestlers I've interviewed
from the sixties and seventies and even into the eighties.
You're right, they are obsessed to some extent with Vince. Yeah,
you'll be talking about something that happened in nineteen eighty
two and then they'll start complaining about Vince.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
And maybe that's just.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
A bit of a jealousy and that your sons makes
the money that they make versus what guys were paid
so many years ago.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
Right, what do you think? Well, I mean, I'll be
honest with you. It's just like you know, one of them,
you know, and I I lost a little respect for
this schedule somebody. I mean, I admire him. He's a
stand up guy. He says what he believes, but he's
one of these he's better. Bruno San Martino is bitter
and you know, and I don't know if it's because Bruno.

(35:51):
Who knows, Maybe Bruno thought there was never going to
be anybody as big as Bruno. But he's he's been
obsessed with the kid. He calls him the kid Vince
Junior for years, you know, he you know, I mean
when I went there in seventy nine or seventy nine?
Was seventy nine when I went there? Yeah, I mean yeah, yeah,
when I went there in seventy nine, you know, you know,

(36:12):
he didn't care about the kid, you know, because the
kid was going to change things. Uh, you know, I mean,
you know, I know the story. I mean, you know,
you know, Vince went to all the promoters of all
the territories when he decided to make his move. You
know that, don't you. He went to all the promoters
and said, look, I'd like you to be a part
of what I'm doing. But if you're you know, and

(36:35):
he said, I would you know, I'd like you to
I'd like you to be a part of what we're
going to do.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Are you sure about this?

Speaker 1 (36:40):
I'm pretty sure?

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Okay, you know, I mean, I different stories.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Yeah, well, it's like it's but basically my take on
it was, and the way I heard it was he
went to everybody and gave them opportunity to be a
part of what he was doing. But he said, whether
you are or not, I'm coming. Yeah, I'm coming anyway.
And of course, you know, I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Ted you were talking about.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Bruno, and I agree, he's bitter and sometimes the guys
have reason to be better. I don't know if he
necessarily does. Do you think it bothers Vince that Bruno
has this attitude of so negative towards the current product.
Wrestling has never been a perfect sport dating back to
when I first started watching nineteen seventy one. So you know,

(37:28):
sometimes I think there's a little bit of hypocrisy there,
and that he took part in a lot of things
that might not have been the most family oriented.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yeah, I mean, come on, wait a minute, wait a minute,
family oriented. I mean, okay, look, when I was growing
up in wrestling and wrestling up until the point that
Vince did what he did, you know, I mean, I
was one of the When I first sat down and
talked to Vince, I was very honest with him. I said, Vince,

(37:58):
you know, I said, I came up, you know, old
school with my dad and everything, and when I first
saw what you were doing, I was I was cussing you,
and he started laughing. I said, I thought you were
killing our business. And he said, but I figured it out.
I said, I said, I'm sorry, but I was wrong.
I said, it's a stroke of genius. I said, what
you've done is you've taken something. Because wrestling was pretty

(38:21):
pretty blue collar, man, I mean, excep. Okay, let's go
back to the the early fifties. It's one of the
first things on television. Then it had kind of a
glamorous aspect to it. Okay, when my mom was a
lady wrestler I mean, she got treated like a movie
star early early on. But then you know, you know,

(38:42):
everybody kind of figured wrestling out and and and then
that that went away, that glamorous fifties things disappeared. Okay, Well,
then all the wrestling that I remember from what I
said when I was able to remember sixty one to
sixty nine, when my dad died. In that ten year period,

(39:04):
you know, it was pretty much, in my opinion, a
blue collar crowd a form of entertainment. I saw a
lot of smoke filled arenas, and I didn't see doctors
and lawyers and and and upper middle class people sitting
in the ringside.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
You follow me, sure, because wrestling had failed on a
national basis, it had.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Been overexposed absolutely, and.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Instead of shutting down, it went back to the regional areas.
That's where the territories were formed. And there was no
national TV. And it wasn't anything fancy, and it was
like you said, it was very.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Blue collar exactly, and so it wasn't somebody you were
going to take. It wasn't a place where if you were,
you know, like you know, unless you were you know,
you know, and again blue collar in other words, rough crowd, right,
you know you weren't, you know, it was that That's
how it was looked upon. And that's and that's the
crowd you saw. And uh, that's why when we when

(39:56):
when I when my dad would ever take us to
the wrestling matches, which wasn't very often because especially when
he was a heel, and he would set us back
there somewhere close to the heel dressing room. And he
always told us, he said, if anything happens and the
people start getting up and excited, he said, you go
straight in that room right there, you know, I mean,

(40:18):
I can still remember the speech. And I said, but
what Vince did was he took something like that, he
dressed it up, he cleaned it up, Rock and Wrestling,
the cartoons, he animated the characters and targeted the family.
That's what Vince McMahon did. And that's when everybody initially

(40:39):
and I was one out of him until I realized
what he was doing. Oh, you're killing the business. But
then I said, wait a minute. I remember. I remember
because I was respected, you know, for a long time
for being a technical wrestler and Da da da da
da dah and Dave Meltzer loved me, you know. And
then I went to the WWF and he said, I
can't ted ted, why did you go to WWFSID day?

(41:02):
I said, what am I in this business to do?
I'm in this business to make money and there is
no play. I mean, I'm reading the handwriting on the wall, buddy,
I said, guess what, you know. I saw it coming
when I when I picked up the newspaper the day
after WrestleMania at three and saw a world attendance record.

(41:24):
I said, that's where I got to go, because he's
the man, and uh, and I saw it coming. You know.
I'll tell you who else I went to and spoke
to about it, Terry Funk. Terry Funk predicted. I can
remember when I was in college still I wasn't even
in the business yet, and I remember making a trip
of Terry Funk, and Terry Funk said, Teddy, he said,
you know what's going to happen one day? Uh, this

(41:46):
is going to hate. I don't know who's going to
do it. I don't know how it's going to happen,
but he says one day, he says, wrestling's gonna end
up just like the rock and roll is today. He says,
you guys who you know, guys will be doing world
tours and then we're going on We're going to be
on national television. I'll be going all over the place.
And that's exactly what happened. And when when I I
remember calling Terry and telling him when Vince approached me

(42:09):
but doing this thing, he said, And Vince McMahon has
an idea for you. He says, pack your bag and
go there and don't look back. He says, that's the
that's the that's the best place to be and uh
uh and I went uh and again it's it's again,
it's like, uh, what are you gonna do? You're gonna
even hang on to a uh? And what I did

(42:29):
with the character, I said, okay, you know, and that's
that's funny because here I am, you know, I I
think of myself as a wrestler, and you know, I'm
a guy. I said, okay, but Vince did I was
one guy. Vis gave me a character. I'm actually a
guy who he put in a costume, the the suit,
the million dollar Man. He gave me a name other

(42:49):
than just Ted Dvasse. But when I got in the ring,
it's like I cut my interviews. I did the boisterous laugh,
I did the over the top animation, which is what
it became haulko, you know, the whole deal. But when
I got in that ring and took off the uniform,
I wrestled like I always did. I continued to tell
that story and try to make him hate my guts

(43:12):
because that was my job.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Yeah, and I remember that about you, is that you
were totally gimmicked out with the million dollar Man, uh persona,
and then you'd get in the ring and it was
old Ted dbass again.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
It's good and uh and that's it That's what I'm
telling my boys. I said, you know, yeah, you got
to you know something. Charsma is something that you can't teach.
You either have it or you don't. You can develop
it more, you know, you know, you know. But if
you have it or you don't, I'll give you an example.
Did you ever know I mean, you know who gene

(43:44):
Kiniski was? Yes? Did you ever know Kelly Son? Yes,
Kelly's a great guy. He is a great guy man.
And uh, I use a friend of mine and you know,
he started in the business. And I can remember I
would watch Kelly have a match, and I've watched his
match and the the story. I could see the story

(44:09):
he was trying to tell. Uh, you know, I mean,
I guess fundamentally he didn't do anything wrong, but he
had no he had no character. He was just blah
playing and I could tell he wouldn't gonna make it.

(44:29):
Another kid who up until just recently Davy boy Smith's son, Harry, Harry,
what and what you talk about a kid? And then
this kid can he can shoot that he is a
great wrestler. But I was worried about Harry, I said,
because I don't see any personality and then they turned
him heel and all of a sudden, this kid's got

(44:51):
some character. And I said, that's it. I said, you're
a heel buddy, you know. And so I see, I
see an opportunity for him. But he know again, you know,
you look, you look through the annals of our of
our business, and uh, it's all about projecting character. It's
all about having personality and the personality that people are

(45:14):
either going to love or hate. And when you when
you can connect with him that way, you got it.
And you Junkyard Dog, when I first turned heel down here,
you know, I can remember, I said, you know, it
was my idea. You know, I remember, I remember, Gosh,
Ernie Lad God rest his soul. Ernie came to me

(45:35):
and he said ted. At the time, me and Junkyard
Dog were the two baby faces, you know. It was
salt Pepper, the black guy and the white guy, and
we were good friends, you know. And I used to
tease Dog. I'd say, I said, this ain't right, man.
I said, I'm going out there working twenty thirty forty
minutes a night. And I said, you're going out there
shaking your butt howl at the moon. Ten minutes later,
the match is over and you're making more money than me,

(45:57):
and he would laugh. And so uh, Paul Orndorf had
left and gone to New York, and the Samoans had
gone back to New York, and uh, Jake the Snake
had gone to New York, you know. And and it
was like, hey, we need a heal. And I remember
knocking on Ernie's door one night night and I said, Ernie,

(46:17):
I found your heel and he goes who I said,
you're looking at him? And his eyes got biggest saucers
and he pointed at me and starts shaving his finger
with the dick smile and his face. He said, you
rascal with you? He says. I never thought of that,
he says, but that's great. You know, nobody ever thought
that I would turn on my buddy jay D. I mean,
for as long as the people knew me in this

(46:38):
South I had been, they had watched me grow up.
They watched me from a young guy become a become
a main event guy. And now you know, and now
I was betraying them, and uh uh, but it was
the greatest move I ever made. But once I made
that move, I remember calling Terry funk and I said, Terry,
I got to work with j y D. I said,

(46:59):
he can't do anything. Terry laughed. He said, Teddy, he said,
what you're going to have to learn is how to
work around him. He says, you're going to have to
create all the excitement and basically you're going to have
to put Dog in the middle of the ring and
you bounce off of me. And that's what I learned
to do, and I learned to utilize what Dog did best.

(47:21):
But see, the thing about Jyd was he wasn't a
great wrestler, but he was great on that microphone, buddy.
He endeared the people. He had so much character, And
that's just it. That's what that's what our business is about.
It's still about it's about projecting that character. And you know,
and you know, I was there. I don't know if

(47:43):
you saw the Knight that I introduced to my son
on the show, but the first night that Teddy was
ever on Raw, you know, it's kind of like you know,
and I had told him long before he made that
first appearance. I said, you know what, Son, you never
get a second chance to make a first impression. I said,
you got to make it right, you know, and I'm
sure he was thinking about that and I introduced him,

(48:03):
and man, he had the people that first night because
he did it right. I mean, it was like the
one thing I knew about my son. I knew he
was a good athlete. I knew that he could do
what was needed to be done physically. What I didn't know,
and you don't ever know until it's tested, is does

(48:26):
he have the intangible? Does he have the charisma? And
obviously he does. I mean, my gosh. I mean, Vince
has told me since he said he said ted has
the most unbelievable future ahead of him, and many guys
that are still there have said to me, you know,

(48:46):
it's not really been said, but it's pretty much understood
that Vince's groom and Teddy to be the next guy,
the guy.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
So what's that feel like for you?

Speaker 1 (48:55):
I mean, that was phenomenal. Oh my gosh. I couldn't
be prouder. I mean, and I know to neither. Well,
but you know, Raw is normally a live show, but
because guys, because the Guys went to Australia, they did
a live one and and they taped to one. Well
I'm the guest, I'm the guest general manager tonight on

(49:18):
the show that they taped, And so I was there
last week, and uh uh, it's I can see what
Vince is doing. You know. It's kind of like now
for I don't know how this thing with the legacy
the storyline, you know, legacy is you know, it's Randy Orton,
It's Cody Road, it's ted Dy Biassi, it's you know,
they're all second and third generation wrestlers. And you know,

(49:41):
everybody says, gosh, you know, when are they gonna let
Teddy break out? All he is is Randy Orton's you know, goon,
you know, and I go, yeah, and I said, that's
probably by by design. And so when you watch the
show tonight, you know, it's it's funny how I tell
you what Vince is really good. You know. It's like
I walk out and and you know, because I've been

(50:02):
around a long time, they haven't seen me for aer.
I mean, the people will go crazy, hey, oh my gosh,
you know, and Vince has got me carrying a million
dollar belt, and you know, and then I start down
the ramp and I stop and then I turned around
and I motioned the back and I'll out come Cody
and Teddy and then they go from ya to boo.
You know, they love him to hate him, you know,
and then uh, and then we get in there and
we get to going and uh and basically uh again unexpected.

(50:27):
You know, well, you know now that I've first I
put him over, and then I end up having Cody Russell, Uh,
who's the guy Mark Henry? And then I end up
having making Teddy Russell Randy Orton and I tell him
on the show. I go, I go, uh, yeah, I
know you. I said, you called Randy out at the
bash and uh And I said, I know you guys

(50:50):
kissed the mate up, so to speak. I said, but
I saw something in your eye and awakening and what
you have awakened to the fact of what everybody else
already knows. This guy's she's holding you down. You're as
good or better than he is. And I said, you know,
he's just using you. And I said to that you're
going to wrestle him anyway. So I see where they're
going with it. But again, it's telling the story as

(51:12):
a dad.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
And seeing your son on the verge of really making
it big and you know, big money, big success movies.
Are you nervous when you see him in a major
match that he could get How does that feel from
a dad's point of view, that he could get injured?

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Well, you know, well, you know, you know because I
was there. Because I was there, I don't think about
that that much. I mean, I know it's I know,
I always know it's possible. What I have totally to do.
And here's what's funny is, you know the match that
you'll if you watch the show tonight that he has

(51:46):
with Orton, they did a spot on the floor where
you know, they do that spot now where they'll they'll
flaying a guy into the into the stairs and you know,
and you know, and he he hit it pretty good.
And so by the time he got to the back,
you know, he couldn't lift his shoulder up. Well, I
was concerned about his shoulder. And then you know, you know,

(52:09):
we iced it all the next I spent the day
with her with him on Tuesday, and we iced his
shoulder all day. And you know, he had motion but
not you know, and so because he was so concerned
by the time before they left that they had an
x ray. The x ray was okay, so there's no
major damage, but he has a severe contusion. And I
told him, I said, son, I said, look, I know,

(52:31):
I know what you were thinking. It's your first time
to ever wrestle Randy, and they're testing the waters because
I know right now, personally, I know they see big
money there down the road and they're testing the waters
and they're playing the seed. I said, but you know,

(52:53):
in the future, and I know this is not that's
not a huge spot to do that, you know, But
I mean, right now, you're concerned about your shoulder, you
fixing the goal on a on a foreign tour, and
those foreign tours or they're making they're making big money
on those foreign tours now. And I said, now, what
if you had what if you really had hurt your
shoulder and and you, you know, to where you couldn't

(53:15):
go and work. I said, you got to pick your
You got to pick your spots to do the dangerous
stuff or the questionable stuff. I said, Sean Michaels at
WrestleMania two years ago, jumped off a thirty foot ladder
on de Vince McMahon, who was in a trash can
on a table. Neither one of them got hurt. I said,

(53:40):
but Sean, you know probably made half a million dollars
for that match. You know. I said, if you're going
to do it, do it when it's for the money,
I said, And I've told him, you know. And my
youngest son is down in Tampa training Brett. He's in
he's on the developmental program, you know. And he's been
here lately the last couple week's been telling the cash

(54:01):
and dad, my dad. My back's been bothered me. And
you know, I've got this shop. I said, you have sciatica.
I said, get to the case. I said, but you
have a that's it. They have a chiropractor down there
and they go they can go see for free. I said.
If I knew I could go to a chiropractor free
of charge, I'd have gone twice a week. You know.

(54:21):
I said, you have your body is your most precious commodity,
because without it, you're not making a living. So take
care of it. I said, that's that's that's number one.
And uh so, yeah, you know you worry, but you don't.
I mean, it's it's it's kind of like you just know,

(54:43):
you know that it comes with the territory, and you
know that, Yeah, sometime and sooner or later that The
other thing I cost him about is kind of like
I told him the old Brett Farvre story. I said,
you know, Brett Farv came out of Southern miss and
h you know, ended up being this quarterback we'll all remember,
I said, But you know what his daddy told him
when he first signed in the NFL. He said, when

(55:03):
he first signed in the NFL, Brett was living in
a double wide trailer. And he said, his daddy told him,
you keep living in that trailer. And he says, she says,
stay there for the next four years. He said, what
he said, stay there for the next four years and
save your money. He said, if you do that, you
won't ever have to worry. And everything you buy, you'll
buy and pay for it when you buy it. You

(55:26):
won't pay for it a credit. And so I've tried.
You know, my son is building the house, but he's
not building the he's not building the mansion. He's building
a very resellable home. And you know, and probably in
a couple of years he can pay it off. So
he's taken that advice too. But it's amazing, it's amazing

(55:48):
that I can you know that I'm telling him, my kid,
I said, look, you know, if you play this thing right,
you know, John Cena, John my son had become buddies
and John is I tell you what, John is not
the greatest worker, but he's got a lot of character,
and he's got a lot of personal character. Something else
that Vince has awakened too. In the conversation that he

(56:12):
had with me about my son. Here's what he said
to me. He said, Teddy said you should be very
proud of Teddy because he has an unbelievable future ahead
of him. He paused for a second. He said, but
I want you to know what I admire most about
him is his character. His personal character. And I told
Randy Orton a couple of years ago when I was there,

(56:33):
I said, Randy, I said, do you know that you
are the most gifted athlete that this company has right now?
You're the best worker, but you're not in the top slot.
And I said that's because you can't keep both your
oars in the water. And I said, you get that
figured out. And I said, you know, the world's yours, buddy.

(56:56):
And now he got married, he had a kid, he
settled down, you know, and he came back and actually
told me he said, you know what, thanks for the
conversation that we had, because I get it. Well, that's
just it, you know, it's it's you know, Vince. Vince
doesn't want to worry anymore about you know, if I'm
going to invest my money in this guy, I don't

(57:17):
need to be I don't I don't want to be
afraid of getting a phone call in the middle of
the night that he's tore up a hotel room or that,
or that he's been busted for steroids or or or
whatever else. No idea. He doesn't need any more Crispin
Wall stories. And uh so you know he understands it's
not all about just talent now, it's about the quality

(57:37):
of people that he's got.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
Ted for you.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
Do you watch the pay per views at home or
do you have the opportunity because your son's involved, to
actually travel to them.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
I'll watch them at home. You do.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
A lot of excitement before.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Oh gosh, well, I mean, you know, it's you know,
it was me. I was in the business and and
and everything, and uh well yeah, I mean I I
I you know, it's like, I'll be honest with you, you know,
because I'm not there all the time now, I mean
when I when I was away from the when I
when I stopped when I got into the ministry. You know,
there was a there was a few years there where

(58:19):
I didn't watch. You know, I didn't watch because you know,
I'd gone on with my life. I was doing something else,
and I'm very passionate about what I do now. But
I always loved the business. And uh, but I didn't watch.
And I started watching again and right before I went
back to work for him. And and but now that
my son is there, I mean, I look forward every
Monday night. You know. It's like, uh, I here's what's

(58:42):
really funny. This was past weekend. My wife and I went,
I went by a Blockbuster and I rented the John
Cena's movie Twelve Rounds, And so I plugged the movie
in yesterday, you know, and and the uh, you know
how there's always previews before they actually show you. The
feature of the first preview was for Wolverine, and the
second preview was Teddy's trailer for the for the Marine Too.

(59:06):
And I went, I said, Melanie, it's our son. Oh
my god, I mean it was so I mean, my
wife and I she looked over at me, and she said,
we did that. We created we created that kid right there.
I mean, it's like it is surreal to see my
son in a movie trailer and uh yeah, I mean, yeah,

(59:29):
my proud absolutely, you know. And again I'm his dad.
So I also try to temper what's going on in
his life to and remind him on a regular basis
what's really important, you know, and not to screw.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
It up, which is so easy to do as a
young man with so much success.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
But but I'll tell you what though, if you know
my son, you know he I'll tell you how. You know.
It's like the he's been very, very very strong in
his faith in God sent from a very young age.
And then you know, if thing went down there in
Tampa and everything, and then so the one night he
goes out and and uh he gets all you know,

(01:00:10):
my younger son told me this. He said, he said, Dad,
he said, Teddy's okay. When he's drinking berr. He says,
you put him on that hard stuff and he becomes
Doctor Jekyll and mister Hide. And uh so they went
out somewhere, so you know, he I get a phone
call at seven o'clock in the morning from a reporter
from the Tampa Tribune. Oh, do you have any statement
about your son's d U I went, what, and but

(01:00:33):
I'm just letting you know how my son responded. By
the time I went to the gym, I did some
things off someome steam. I was mad. In the meantime
he called home. I get home and my wife I said, well,
what did he have to say? And he said. She said, well,
I couldn't understand him through the tears. And I said, well,

(01:00:53):
that's good. That means, you know, he feels really bad
about it. I mean, and that's that's a relationship that
we have with our son. I mean, he he is
extremely disappointed when he knows he disappointed us. And then
Steve Current, who's a very good friend of mine as well.

(01:01:13):
And I don't think that they could have anybody better
running their program, because Steve's a guy who came right
out of Florida and was trained by Eddie Graham, you know,
and Eddie Graham is respected by everybody in our business,
is one of the greatest minds the business ever had.
And Steve's a good trainer. But anyway, Steve's also like

(01:01:35):
me as a Christian. He called me and he said
Teddy said, despite the bad news, he says, I think
you'll like this. He said, he said, when Teddy got out,
you know, he had to come straight to a show,
and he said, he asked me if he could address everybody,
and he said, so, you know, he said, the first
thing he did was he went he went to everybody

(01:01:57):
and every every one of them, everybody in the dually
and apologized to them. Then he addressed the entire group
and he said this, he said, Uh, he said, I
first I want to I've apologized to you, but as
a group, I want to apologize again to the WWE
and the Steve and all of you from misrepresenting this company.

(01:02:18):
And he said, uh, but more than that, I've misrepresented
the God I serve. And he said, so, I'm just
putting everybody on notice that I haven't been living up
to the principles I've been taught. And he said that
all ends today. And uh. I was like wow, and
that I was more proud of that than.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
Anything that'll make you feel good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Huh and uh, and I said, that's that's awesome. And
so he uh, you know, once they put him on
and when once he got on the roster, you know,
he uh, you know, he's moved back here and he's
married his high school sweetheart and uh, and he's doing good,
you know. And I don't. I'm smart enough to understand

(01:03:02):
that things happen, you know. And and I you know,
it's I remember he got help. You know. It's like
it's kind of like and Teddy knows. And I said,
I said, I said, ted I said, I ap preached
to you from experience. And I said, the idea is
that that fathers pass along to their son's information to
help keep them from making some of the mistakes they made,

(01:03:25):
you know. And uh, and I know you're you know,
you're going to make your own mistakes. I said, but
here's an opportunity in your life, you know. And some opportunities,
you know, you know, they come along and they go
and and this is one. If you if you blow this,
you may never get a second opportunity at it. I said. So,
I said, if I was in your position right now

(01:03:46):
and getting ready to have the world laid at your feet,
you know, I would I would say, you know, why
do I need to drink it all? It's like, you know, uh,
you know, have a beer here and there, I said,
Other than that, forget it and uh and and again.
As as a minister, I told him, I said, you know,
here's the here's the fel you have a relationship with God,

(01:04:09):
and you've had that relationship. You know. Here's a kid
who after the tsunami hit over there in the Sri Lanka,
he went with a group of college students over there
and spent two weeks building houses for people who had nothing.
That's the kind of heart my kid has. And he

(01:04:30):
came home and told me about it. He said, Daddy,
he said, we built houses for people that we wouldn't
use for at doghouse. It really impacted him. To me,
it made him realize how much more we have than
so many people in the world. So and there's other thing.
There's other stories I could tell you about him where
that's concerned, I said, But I said, you know, it's
it's funny, I said, I said, Teddy, I said, fame

(01:04:52):
and money do weird things to people. And I said,
here's what I believe. I believe that God has given
you incredible favor. And I said, but you have to understand,
as a Christian that the purpose of the favor He's
given you is not so that you can become rich
and famous. The ultimate purpose for it is that you

(01:05:13):
would use that fame and to some degree that fortune
to make people aware of him as a Christian. And
I said, as long as you'll keep that in sight,
as long as you don't forget that, as long as
you give God what is his. And I said, there

(01:05:35):
are incredible stories about that. The one story I cited
to him was, you're familiar with chick fil A, right, well,
the guy who owns Chick fil A, who started Chick
fil A in Atlanta, is a very strong Christian. And
I don't know if you know this, but Chick fil
A is not open on Sunday. It's never been open
on Sunday. And the reason it's not open on Sunday

(01:05:58):
is this is the way this man honors God. The
Sunday is the Sabbath. But if you, if you, if
you understand how much money the guy's made, you know,
it's it's incredible that that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
Part I never knew.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
I drive by it sometimes on Sunday out here in
Arizona and it's always coming hmm.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
But you just filled me in.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
Yeah. Yeah. The reason it's not open on Sunday is
that you know, he honors the Sabbath or Sunday because
of his faith in God. But it's if you know
the whole strike. I mean, the fortune this guy's made,
and then what he does, he gives so much of
his wealth back into what we call the kingdom or

(01:06:38):
supporting Christian missionaries and what have you. It's it's like
there's a there's a verse of the Bible about there's
a lot about tithing. But basically I told my son,
I said, you cannot outgive God. And I said, it's
not it's not that you give to God because you
expect all this to come back to you. And it say,
it's not all about money either. I mean, you know

(01:07:03):
sometimes that you know it's not about money. It's about
your health, it's about the health and well being of
your children, it's about everything else in your life. You know,
God will prosper you belief, and you can't ever outgive me.
But as long as you give God what's his and
as long as you keep him number one in your life,
I said, this prosperity will continue. That's basically what I
told him. And you know, he's he's really making me proud.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
Ted I'd like to talk to you about the ministries.
Do we have time today or would you do it?

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Okay, well, can you hold for one second?

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
Yeah, let's pause for a bit. I got to do something.
Three minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Sure, I'll tell you what. My son was just trying
to call me, by my younger son, So I'm going
to hang up and call me back.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
I'll call you back, Okay, fair enough,

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