In a recent installment of his “Everybody’s Got a Pod” show, Ted DiBiase Sr. delved into his transition from WWE to WCW in 1996, where he played a prominent role as a spokesperson for the nWo, his insights on the success of Hulk Hogan’s heel turn, the dynamics of adding The Giant to the nWo, and his impressions of working with Steve McMichael.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Hulk Hogan’s heel turn and its potential success: “Oh no. You know, here’s the thing about wrestling. If you’re a huge — regardless of whether you’re a heel or you’re a babyface, whatever you were when you turn. The hotter the babyface you are, and then you turn? Then it just adds fuel to the fire. It just makes you hotter. Now you turn bad, it’s like — well, I did it in mid-South. I had been a babyface in Mid-South since I started. Everybody in Mid-South. I started in the summer of ’75. And I kept going back to work for Bill Watts. But when I turned heel, that’s like insulting the people, right? ‘You’re gonna turn heel on us?’ Then they hated me that much more. And the same thing happened to Hulk.”
On the inclusion of The Giant in the nWo: “It’s like, to have additions [to the group] is one thing. But to just one week after the next, and after the next is kinda like, you need to spread ’em out. But then, how big are you gonna let it get, you know?… Eric, the guy running the show — I mean, legitimately running the show, joins the nWo. And what he did was, he basically, in my opinion he came in and took the spot that I would’ve been, So, like all these additions did not [work].”
On his interactions with Steve McMichael: “I did [spend a lot of time with him]. He was a great guy. Obviously he didn’t know a whole lot about wrestling, but he was…I found him to be a really nice guy.”
