During a recent interview with WrestleZone former WWE superstar Ted DiBiase Jr. spoke about his time in the Legacy group, which consisted of himself, Randy Orton, and current AEW talent Cody Rhodes. DiBiase Jr. reflects on how important it was for him to be involved with the group as he was having a hard time finding his own identity being related to his father, the Million Dollar Man. Highlights are below.
Talks the difficulties of growing up the son of a wrestling superstar and why joining the group Legacy helped make it easier:
“It totally made it easier. It’s a lonely road growing up in the spotlight and being the son of a celebrity, it’s not easy. Everyone’s always like, ‘That must’ve been so cool!’ Nope. There are parts of it that are cool, but I would say more of it is not because, yeah I got to watch my dad wrestle Hulk Hogan in Madison Square Garden and [I remember] Andre The Giant picking me up by the head when he’s sitting in a chair, the locker rooms—that sounds fun, but you go through life being ‘the wrestler’s kid’ or ‘the son of the Million Dollar Man’ and people know you. but they don’t know you.”
How great it was to be in the group with Cody Rhodes:
“And so to be there [in WWE], Cody was amazing. That was such a blessing, we got to ride together and we instantly had a common bond and that dude, he showed me the ropes. It was like having a brother, and I already have two brothers and we had dreams of wrestling together, being tag team champions. That never happened because they both suffered injuries, but Cody was like having a brother on the road. And with Randy [Orton] joining him, that was—it just felt right. That Legacy run was so much fun and that—you couldn’t put your finger on it, but it was just good and it worked.”
Says he learned a lot being in that group, and discusses the importance of his experience:
“It made me realize the importance of camaraderie and brotherhood, being able to surround yourself with like-minded people, people that get you. We each understood what the other went through. We had different lives and different places, parents, but we had a lot of similarities and the same pressures to live up to a name, to carry on that torch or a legacy. There’s a magnifying glass on you when you come from a lineage, there’s that built-in expectation whether it’s other people putting it on you or you’re putting it on yourself, it’s just there. You can’t help it,” DiBiase said, “but there’s the expectation to be as good or better than the one before you, and there’s a lot of scrutiny that comes with that. So yeah, that was really awesome, to be able to step into that and have those guys giving me comfort.”
On the group disbanding:
“[I thought] we were going to have this magical separation and they had this plan for me, and surely you’re not going to put all of this time into me and build us up and put us in these great angles and then not have a plan—but there was no plan. WrestleMania was where we imploded, we had our match,” he noted, “and I remember sitting out by the ring with Michael Hayes and he’s like, ‘So Teddy, what do you want to do next?’ and I’m like, ‘Huh? What are y’all going to do with me next?’ I was so used to getting there, somebody’s handing me a script, ‘You’re in two segments, three segments’ or ‘you’ve got a match, here’s your promo’ and I thought that’s how it worked. And that could have been a test to really show me that’s how that’s not normal and it doesn’t happen all of the time, but I don’t know. It’s funny reflecting on that. It’s interesting, but I don’t know and maybe it hurt me, but I’m grateful for it because personally. I did learn a lot from it, and those guys are killing it and crushing it. Man, I love ‘em and miss those guys.”