Sports website Fan Buzz held a recent interview with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase discussing his favorite moment of his career, his signature laugh, the difficulties of traveling during his career, and more.
On the topic of his favorite moment from his career, DiBiase stated it was participating in the WWF Heavyweight Championship tournament at Wrestlemania IV. Besides getting to face off against Randy Savage in the finals, DiBiase also loved being able to wrestle three times at the event.
“I had been in the wrestling industry for 12 years. It was one thing to have one match (at WrestleMania IV), but I had three. The tournament had culminated with me wrestling Randy Savage. The other unique thing about it, it was the first time we had ever been in the ring together. We had never had a match before that night. It set the stage.”
On the topic of his signature laugh, DiBiase stated it originated from a spontaneous laugh he had during the end of an interview one time. He mentioned when Vince McMahon heard the laugh for the first time, Vince loved it soo much he wanted it to be part of DiBiase’s character.
“I’m doing an interview and I just happened to have ended the interview with a laugh like that. It’s an exaggeration, an extreme exaggeration of the way I really laugh.”
“That’s it. ‘That’s the Million Dollar Man and I want to hear that laugh on every interview [McMahon said].'”
On the topic of travel woes during his wrestling career, DiBiase stated the hardest part of being a professional wrestler was the long amount of time he was not able to spend with his family. While he loved the thrill of crowds during shows, not being able to enjoy it with his family and feeling lonely on the road were among the toughest parts of his career.
“That’s what the documentary is about. The ‘Price of Fame.’ You know what you’re getting into when you get in. You hear stories and you realize you’re going to be spending a lot of time away from home. The reality of it doesn’t set in until you’re in it. I’ve told people, on the outside, you watch guys walk into an arena and the crowd is cheering and yelling your name. What a thrill. But the game is over, show is over and you go back to the hotel and have dinner and go to your hotel room.
“You have a TV and four walls. Your wife and children are not there — whether they’re 20 miles away or 2,000 miles away. 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. I tell young guys, you need to build accountability into your life to avoid the pitfalls.”
Other topics discussed during the interview included DiBiase revealing he was not a fan of his sons wanting to become professional wrestlers and seeing the future potential of Steve Austin as a huge star while being his manager in the WWE.