by Ted DiBiase
The following Thursday night, Jaynet and I went to the wrestling matches. The night was special because the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Brisco, was in town. Jack was a babyface in Florida, but when he came to Texas he wrestled as the heel. That night he was going to defend his title against former world champion Dory Funk Jr. Some of the best wrestling matches I ever witnessed were between Dory Funk Jr. and Jack Brisco.
After the show, Jaynet and I met Terry and Vickie at some honky-tonk bar on Amarillo Boulevard. Dory Jr. was also with us. Back then, we had to kayfabe—protect the business. So Terry and Dory stayed in character when Jack Brisco came into the same bar. He sat with some other heels on the other side. Though he couldn’t sit with us, out of courtesy Terry and Dory sent him complimentary beers.
As the evening wound down, some drunk cowboy asked Jaynet to dance. I stepped in and said, “Sorry, fella. She isn’t going to dance with you. She is my wife.”
The drunk didn’t care much for my intervention and said, “I’m not talking to you. I am talking to her.”
I was pissed. “Well, I’m talking to you. I just told you to take a hike, pal. She is not going to dance with you, she is my wife!”
The liquored-up cowboy reached over and grabbed a chair. As he swung it at me, I blocked it and decked him right between the eyes. The punch sent him across the room. He fell on his back right between Jack Brisco’s legs. To make sure he didn’t get up, I jumped on top of the guy and started pounding his face in. In between punches, I said to Jack, “Hello, Mr. Brisco. I am Ted DiBiase. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
9
REFEREEING AND WRESTLING
A few weeks after spring football practice ended, I started working as a lifeguard at the city pool. I quit my job roofing because I needed both the energy and the time to work out. I also had to make some more money. Now that I was married, it was important that I help Jaynet with the bills. That year, the NCAA changed one of their rules, which now allowed me to earn some extra cash.
The NCAA had a policy that restricted college athletes from participating in professional sports. If you violated the rule, the NCAA would strip you of your scholarship. Fortunately for me, the NCAA adjusted their policy so that someone could now work in a sport other than the one for which they were on scholarship. The ruling allowed me to take another job: as a professional wrestling referee.
One day I was at home studying when the phone rang. It was Terry Funk. He said, “Hey, Teddy. What are you doing?”
“Nothing much, just hanging out and studying.”
“We need a referee in Lubbock tonight. Bring a pair of white pants. I’ll have a referee shirt for you. I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.”
To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I knew how to bump and the basics, but I had never refereed before or even been in front of a live crowd. On the way to the fairgrounds in Lubbock, I had a thousand questions for Terry. Dick Murdoch was also in the vehicle.
I was asking Terry and Dick question after question. And they weren’t answering. I was getting frustrated, but back then that was the way you learned the business. They simply threw you out there. Finally, Terry said, “Teddy, you know the rules, don’t you?”
I said, “Yeah.”
“Ten-count on the floor, ten-count on the apron, five-count to break on the ropes, et cetera. Just go out there and do it.”
TERRY FUNK:
I was Teddy’s mentor. When he got into the business, we would put him in the backseat and ride with the front seat pushed all the way back. Before he was accepted in the business, he had to pay a price. I always got on him regarding what to do and what not to do. He always listened and respected what I and others said. Teddy had a respect and understanding of the business.
I was still nervous when we got to the arena. I was told that the first match I would referee was the opening match between Mike Paducis and one of Ricky Romero’s sons, who was under a mask. As I walked to the ring and climbed through the ropes, it dawned on me: this was where my dad died. His last match was in this building, in this ring. For that entire day, up until I climbed into that ring, I didn’t think anything about my father’s death. But when I stepped into the ring, it was like Dad had passed me the torch.
When the matches concluded, everyone in the back told me I had done a good job. I loved it and had a great time. Terry paid me fifty dollars, which was a whole lot more than the $2.30 an hour I was making as a lifeguard. Terry dropped me off home later that night.
Let me tell you about Dick Murdoch. In the late 1960s, Dick had formed a tag team with Dusty Rhodes called the Texas Outlaws. They had a very successful run, but Dick was now making a name for himself in the Amarillo territory. Dick went on to wrestle around the world for some thirty years. In 1996, he died of a heart attack at forty-nine.
I had gotten to know Dick from hanging out with the guys after the matches on Thursday nights. I was in college and didn’t have lots of spending money, so Dick would always take me out and buy me a beer. He would say, “Don’t worry, kid, I got you covered.” He treated me like a younger brother. Over time, I developed an admiration for Dick Murdoch, and he served as one of my mentors in the business.
One night in January of my sophomore year, Jaynet and I were sound asleep. About two-thirty, we heard banging on the front door. I got up to see who it was, and it was none other than Dick Murdoch. “It’s me, kid, open the door.” As I opened the door, I noticed Dick had his pickup truck backed up to the front door. “I got you a wedding present, kid.” He and his buddy unloaded a thirty-inch color television.
I was at a loss for words. Back then, a television set that size must have cost five hundred dollars. I thanked Dick. As he headed out the front door he said, “Kid, I wouldn’t be showing that TV off to too many people. It’s a little warm.”
“You didn’t steal it, did you?”
He coyly replied, “I didn’t. But the guy I bought it from did. I got it for fifty dollars.”
As my sophomore academic year came to a close, I learned a little more each night about the wrestling business. I refereed more and more. Refereeing
Dick Murdoch.
became my second summer job, after lifeguarding. I was learning so much from being in the ring. I learned a lot about the psychology of wrestling before I ever actually wrestled a match. I appreciated the opportunity to be the only other person in the ring as two wrestlers went at it. Not only was I learning, I had the best seat in the house.
Although I was doing a good job refereeing, I was still very green. One Saturday morning in Amarillo, Andre the Giant was scheduled to wrestle on television against the top heel in the territory, Cyclone Negro. I was the special referee for the match. Prior to the match, I was confused about the ending. They kept changing the finish and I was still unclear about the outcome. Before I knew it, the match was under way.
Near the end of the match, Andre did something and covered Cyclone Negro. His shoulders were down and I counted one-two-three. On live television, Andre had just pinned the top heel in the territory. I had just screwed up the angle they were shooting. To cover my error, Terry Funk ran into the ring and immediately attacked Cyclone Negro. They then started fighting outside the ring. To get Cyclone’s heat back, Terry was slammed through a table. Terry saved the top heel in the territory. When I got to the back, they lit into me pretty good. I tried to explain and in the end we all had a good laugh about it—thanks to Terry Funk.
In June of 1974, I was refereeing a match that featured Jim (J.J.) Dillon. Dillon was one of the most hated heels in the territory. When he lost the match, he felt that it was my fault. Out of the blue, he punched me and knocked me out. This set up my first ever wrestling match. In a six-man tag match, Terry Funk, Dick Murdoch, and I beat J.J. and the Patriots (Robert Griffin & Bobby Hart). J.J. and I later met in a few singles matches.
Though most people remember J.J. for being the manager of the legendary Four Horsemen, he was a very good professional
wrestler. Like me, he started in the business as a referee. He was also a heck of a nice guy and I learned a lot from being in the ring with him. I enjoyed watching the many classic battles in the territory between him and Dick Murdoch. When I worked in World Wrestling Federation, I ran into J.J. He worked in the front office and was part of the creative team. J.J. is now retired from professional wrestling. In 2007, I had the honor of being inducted by J.J. into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Amsterdam, New York.
J.J. DILLON:
I first met Teddy when I was wrestling in the Amarillo territory. Since he was the son of the legendary “Iron” Mike DiBiase, I immediately respected him. But Teddy wasn’t a full-fledged wrestler at that time. He was still a junior at West Texas State University on a football scholarship. But he was very interested in the business, so Terry Funk got him started as a referee.
After a while, Teddy decided to start wrestling. As one of the top heels in the territory, I helped launch Teddy’s wrestling career. After I lost a match that Teddy was refereeing, I beat him up. Terry Funk came down to his rescue. This led to Teddy’s first match, which was actually a tag match between me and someone, against Teddy and Terry. After that tag match, I wrestled against Teddy in his second-ever match.
Even at that point, he was a natural. He was a great athlete and, because of his father, had a tremendous amount of respect for the business.
Later that summer, Terry told me that they needed someone to fill in for one of the wrestlers. He had got hurt and they needed a quick replacement. I rode with Terry to El Paso. I didn’t wrestle that night as Ted DiBiase. They put me under a mask and I went against Japanese wrestler Akio Sato. He led me through it. During the course of the match, Sato went to do a specific move. Well, he went the right way and I went the wrong way. In the end, I separated my shoulder.
I don’t know what hurt more, my shoulder or the fact that I was looking at two-a-day football practices that were about to begin in two weeks. When Terry found out about my injury, he was beside himself. “Teddy, do not tell your coaches you were wrestling. They will be mad at you, and even madder at me!” I told the coaches I had fallen off a trampoline while working out.
TERRY FUNK:
When Teddy first started in the business, he didn’t do it for the money. He loved it and it was in his blood. He learned from his mother and father. When he first got in the business, the Million Dollar Man could have been bought very cheap: he worked for five dollars a night. In fact, he would have even paid to be in the wrestling profession.
I quit refereeing and wrestling. I focused all of my energy on rehabilitating my shoulder. When football season started, I pulled a hamstring. I was trying so hard to practice at a high level with the shoulder injury. At the same time, I started having pain in the big toe of my right foot, and I didn’t know what was causing it. My buddies on the team started busting my chops because of all the tape I required before leaving the locker room. Between my shoulder, hamstring, and toe, they started calling me the mummy.
The pain in my big toe wasn’t going away, and the team doctors were stumped as to why the toe was not healing. I was sent to a specialist. After numerous tests, it was revealed that I had gout. Gout is when there is an excess of a particular acid in the body that settles into the joints. The foot is a common resting place, which explained why my toe was always hurting.
BILL WATTS:
I met Teddy when he was playing football at West Texas State. It was the last year that the University of Tampa had a football team. He didn’t play in that game because he had gout. I remember teasing him about how in the world could a twenty-year-old already have gout!
Due to my injuries, I played on and off throughout the season. I played the entire season hurt. I was very disappointed: I had been all excited about being the starting tackle, but it didn’t happen.
The season ended and I put even greater pressure on myself to get ready for spring football practice. I knew that I had to have a great spring practice to attain a starting position for my senior year. I worked out hard and overcame all my injuries.
Unfortunately, right at the start, I suffered another injury. As I planted my feet to block a defender, the offensive guard to my left was blocked into me in such a way that he fell onto me. As we both fell to the ground, I could feel his weight come down on my left knee. A sharp pain ran through my left ankle and knee. The doctors said that I had stretched the ligaments in the knee and severely sprained my ankle. It was unstable and loose, and I had to go to rehab to make sure my bones stayed in alignment and regained their normal range of motion. I started rehabilitation but never finished spring football practice.
One night after the matches, I had a conversation with Dick Murdoch. “Teddy, I have a great idea. Instead of you staying here refereeing, how about you find out if you really want to be in the professional wrestling business? Come to Louisiana this summer and wrestle.” I liked the idea, and because of the new NCAA rule, I was eligible to do it.
Dick was leaving the Amarillo territory and was headed to Bill Watts’s Mid-South promotion. “Teddy, I’ll talk to Bill Watts and get you in there. Wrestle this summer and see how it goes. You will make better money than anything else you can do.” I had met Bill Watts and was impressed, so I accepted Dick’s offer. The plan was to wrestle all summer in the Mid-South territory and return to West Texas State to finish my senior year.
The next day, Dick Murdoch picked me up and took me to meet Bill Watts. On a handshake, I was working for Bill. Wanting to be like my dad, I wrestled as a heel that summer. I was the opening match every night.
My first match in the Mid-South was a televised match against Danny Hodge. I don’t remember much, only that I was scared to death. Danny sensed it and said, “Just listen to me, kid, and you will do fine.”
Danny was one of the greatest amateur wrestlers our country has ever known. While at the University of Oklahoma, he won the NCAA title three times and went undefeated. He had a 46–0 record, with 36 pins.
At the end of the summer, I called Coach Mayfield and told him I wasn’t coming back. I quit the football team.
When I returned to Amarillo, many of my friends urged me to return to school for my senior year. Even Terry and Dory Funk Jr. told me to stay in school. But I had a good feeling about being in the wrestling business. I felt very comfortable in the ring and I was making a decent living. I had no interest in going back for my senior year and riding the bench the entire football season. Jaynet supported my decision. In September of 1975, we headed to Baton Rouge.
In hindsight, dropping out of college was one of the worst decisions I ever made. I regret it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the wrestling business. But college was something that I started, and never finished. I failed to follow through on my goal.
TERRY FUNK:
I was against Teddy going into the business at that time. He had a full scholarship and I wanted him to finish his education. I saw the advantages of getting a degree. Teddy could have something to fall back on.
I always felt that Teddy leaving early had a lot to do with Dick Murdoch. Dick didn’t see why it was necessary to have an education. He came out of the school of hard knocks and only wanted to be a professional wrestler. Dick was a great guy, teacher, and wrestler, yet he couldn’t see anything beyond wrestling. Even though Teddy wanted to wrestle full-time, I suggested that he go back to West Texas for his final year.
Bill Watts was a very big and burly man and I was initially intimidated by him. He was very savvy and in full control of the task at hand. Bill reminded me of great football coaches—like Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells—he would yell and scream, wanting the task to be done right. But he never challenged you out of hate or spite. He had high expectations and wanted everyone to improve and learn.
BILL WATTS:
I knew Teddy’s father very well. Mike was incredibly classy and I had the utmost respect for him. Because of our relationship, I already had a soft place in my heart for
Teddy. Since Teddy came from a wrestling family, I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he respected the business. And he did. He was a credit to the business.
The Mid-South wrestling territory was owned by Bill Watts and Leroy McGuirk. It encompassed the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The major cities included Shreveport, Jackson, New Orleans, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City. Some of the smaller cities were Lafayette, Greenville, Fort Smith, Monroe, and Alexandria.
Bill was the promoter and booker. He had one of the greatest minds and understood the psychology of the business. Leroy was a former wrestler, but Bill pretty much ran the company. Mid-South had some of the biggest and toughest wrestlers in the business: Bill, Dick Murdoch, the Masked Assassin, the Spoiler, Stan Hansen, and Bob Sweetan. Eventually, Bill bought out Leroy.
In 1975, I was grossing roughly $350 week. It was just enough to pay my bills. There was no insurance, retirement, or health benefits. I was even responsible for all my expenses, including transportation, gas, and lodging. I easily put sixty thousand miles on my car that year. Some guys put on a whole lot more than that.
I was also responsible for my own meals. Back then, healthy eating was not a major concern. There was no emphasis on having a great body in professional wrestling. If you had a chiseled body, fine. You were a wrestler. You were supposed to be athletic and look the part. Everybody was different and it was important that you looked like your character. You were supposed to mirror society, so the fans could relate to you.
It was all about bulk eating and eating cheap. Chicken breast and a baked potato was not part of my diet. There was no time for fine dining. The boys and I would look for the cheapest and best buffets, as well as the local supermarkets to load up on bread and lunch meats. I remember many a night eating bologna sandwiches (bologna blowouts).