Ted Dibiase recently talked about a wide range of topics on his Everybody’s Got a Pod including dealing with Eric Bischoff as his boss when he jumped ship from WCW to WWE in 1996. Here are the highlights:
On dealing with Eric Bischoff:
“I said it from the get-go. I said there is no way that Eric Bischoff will ever top Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon has been in this business most of his life. I’m not even sure how Eric, you know, and, and I don’t know. I’ve never listened to any stories, and Yeah, I know. I had no problem with Eric. I knew here’s a guy that somehow got thrust into this position, you know, whether that was thought of by TBS or whatever, or, or decided to take the position. But here’s a guy who had never promoted wrestling of any kind or been a part of wrestling in any way, you know, you know, taken over this job.”
On his first impression of Bischoff:
“Well, I mean, I, you know, initially I had no, I had no problem with him, but I mean, he, you know, the other thing was that the, the, my hire, my, my bishop was initially to be the mouthpieces of the new World order. And, you know, but you gotta realize the thing with, here’s the difference. Eric Bischoff is looking for all the help he can get in terms of putting together a show. And what’s the storyline? He’s, so what? But what, who’s he counting on? He’s counting on Paul Nash and Hogan. These are all the top guys. Right? Right. You know, and now, and they’re still in the ring, I’m no longer in the ring. I’m a letter, I’m a commentator, you know, and, and then up turn, turning, turning manager’s thing. This is where, somewhere along the way, Eric starts. I said, Eric, you’re doing what you hired me to do. I said, so, hey, look, he said, you want the spot? Take it. You just, you know, you know, send me home, and I’ll just collect a check. And that’s what I did. You know, I mean, I was like, After, after the whole, Well, yeah, I let him know. I said, I don’t know, I said, you hired me to be this guy, but you become this guy. And I said, if you think I’m just gonna walk out there every week and stand in the corner and be Hulk Hogan’s belt bearer, you know, I’m not Virgil. You know, that’s what, basically, I told him. But then they hired him too.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.
