Ted DiBiase

by Ted DiBiase

  The product had changed in many ways since he was last earning a living in wrestling and it was far from being a good old boys’ club any longer. The corporate world presents many challenges to old-school guys such as Ted DiBiase and so many others I could name, including me. Ted has a wealth of knowledge regarding the business but the job simply wasn’t for him. If one isn’t able to make the all-important emotional investment in any role within sports entertainment, the chances of long-term success are fleeting.

  Ted had all the right intentions when he first started the job with WWE. But one could tell after several weeks that his heart just wasn’t in it, even after he left the creative team and returned to his roots on the road as a producer. Although Ted’s stay on the road was relatively short, I would still bet a barbecue dinner that many WWE competitors learned a great deal from him. His calming demeanor was a breath of fresh air in the somewhat manic world of sports entertainment.

  For that year, I neglected my health. I didn’t exercise, nor watch what I was eating. My weight ballooned to over three hundred pounds. The more nervous and stressed-out I got, the more I ate. I was living four days a week at a hotel and eating out three or four times a day, sometimes very late at night.

  One morning as I was getting dressed at the hotel, I started feeling very light-headed. I broke out in a cold sweat. I looked into the bathroom mirror and saw that my face was pale. I started to take deep breaths. The next thing I recall was lying on the bathroom floor with my head jacked up against the wall. I had passed out. I was really scared. The first thing I did was grab ahold of my left arm and then my chest to see if I had had a heart attack. Nothing hurt and everything seemed to be fine. I shrugged it off and sat down on the bed to gather my faculties. Everything seemed to be all right.

  After getting dressed, I telephoned Dusty Rhodes. “Dream, I just passed out.”

  He said, “What? Do you want me to come to your room?”

  “No, I’m okay now. I’ll meet you down in the restaurant in about ten minutes.”

  Dusty replied, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, don’t worry. I’ll be right down.”

  Dusty was waiting for me at the restaurant and he was very concerned. I told him that everything was okay and we went ahead and ordered breakfast. I wasn’t too hungry so I only ordered coffee. From what I’ve been told, after taking a sip of the coffee, I looked straight up at Dusty, my eyes rolled into the back of my head, and I fell right off the chair, landing on the floor. I had passed out again.

  When I came to that time, my head was in Dusty’s lap. He was on the floor with me. I was very afraid and concerned. Dusty was encouraging me and said, “Don’t worry about anything, brother, you are going to be okay. We are going to get you out of here and take you to the hospital.” With Dusty by my side, I was transported by the hotel van to the local hospital in Stamford.

  Once I got to the emergency room, they quickly admitted me and checked my vitals. Everything appeared to be fine. I spent the rest of the day undergoing a series of tests. I was poked and prodded for what seemed like an eternity. They ran blood tests and a stress test, scanned my brain, and took X-rays. The good news was that after spending all day in the hospital, they couldn’t find anything wrong. My heart and brain were fine. The doctor did have one concern: my weight. I weighed in at a whopping 326 pounds. They decided to keep me overnight. I took a fasting blood-sugar test. The results showed that my blood sugar was fluctuating, and that was why I passed out.

  I was relieved they were able to diagnose the problem. But I was also afraid: the doctor said that if I didn’t get my weight down I could become a diabetic. Before being released, I was given some medicine and put on a strict diet that cut out concentrated sugars. I was also advised to get back into the gym and exercise. So I did. Since then, I haven’t had any other health problems.

  After taking a few weeks off, I continued working exclusively as a producer. I began to like the producer position. Although I would miss working with Dusty Rhodes and Michael Hayes in the office, it felt good to have less responsibility. I also was working with some great guys like Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, Steve Keirn, and Dave Finlay.

  There were many times when Vince would get upset at the shows. He is so passionate for the business and puts all his energy and time into making the show the best it can be. I will never forget the night when Ricky and I were in charge of planning the Undertaker and Muhammad Hassan match. It was a supershoot—two live hours of Raw, two taped hours of SmackDown! in one night. It was total madness with nonstop action. While going over the match, Undertaker decided that he didn’t want to chokeslam Hassan’s manager, Daivari. He felt that the two were going to be beaten up so much that the chokeslam wasn’t needed. It was my job to report back to Vince and tell him about the match. To the best of my recollection, I told Vince that Undertaker did not want to do a chokeslam and Vince said that it was all right.

  As the match concluded, I was standing next to Vince in the gorilla position. All of a sudden Vince went nuts and started screaming, “Where is my chokeslam? Where in the fuck is my damn chokeslam!?” The match ended in front of a live crowd without a chokeslam. Vince was losing it and screaming into the microphone at the referee, “Tell Undertaker to get his ass back in the ring and give Daivari a chokeslam.” The message was relayed and he did it. Although the ending seemed awkward to the live audience, the mishap was easily edited, like nothing had happened, for the taped SmackDown! national television viewing audience.

  Ricky and I had left the gorilla position to go critique the match with Undertaker and Hassan/Daivari. But Vince was still steaming. He screamed from the gorilla position, “Where is the producer of that match?” He looked over at me and Ricky and motioned for us to come over to him. “Ricky, where was my damn chokeslam?”

  Ricky replied, “Well, Undertaker didn’t want to do it. He didn’t think it was needed nor made sense.”

  Vince replied in a coy manner, “Undertaker didn’t want to do it? This is my fucking company and you tell Undertaker he had better do what I say! I am the only one that makes changes to the script!” He continued, giving Ricky a major butt chewing. The entire time I just stood there, doing and saying nothing. I was almost certain that Vince knew of and approved of the change. I felt bad for Ricky and asked him if he wanted me to talk to Vince. Ricky wisely said, “Teddy, let’s just go ahead and let this one go. There is no need to bring it back up.”

  At production meetings, Vince was a stickler about people having their cell phones turned off. Invariably, guys would forget to turn them off or put them on vibrate. While Vince was leading a meeting, someone would telephone the producers to see if their cell phones would ring. Like clockwork, someone’s phone would ring and Vince would give them this stare.

  On October 25, 2006, one day after doing TV in St. Louis, I was released from WWE. John Laurinaitis called me up at home and said, “Ted, I’m sorry but things aren’t working out. I know you’ve struggled with the position. We are also making some changes so we are going to have to release you.”

  “I fully understand and have appreciated the opportunity.”

  There were no hard feelings and I have nothing negative to say about anyone in WWE Corporate. They gave me ample opportunities to improve and learn the two positions. It just didn’t work out. In a way, I was actually relieved. I knew that I wasn’t doing a good job for the company. The business that I knew and loved wasn’t the same business that I was trying to produce. Although the basic fundamentals are still there, the bottom line was entertainment. I am and will always be a wrestler who entertained, not an entertainer who wrestled.

  16

  MINISTER TED

  I am often asked how someone goes from an athlete and professional wrestler to a minister. I can categorically say that I just didn’t wake up one morning and think I had this great idea to preach. Growing up, I had always believed in God. My faith had always been strong and helped carry me through many adversities in
my life, such as the untimely death of my father and my mother’s alcoholism. My belief in God gives me the strength to continue with life despite all the tragedies in it. Also, my transformation from the ring to the pulpit started when I was still a part of World Wrestling Federation.

  In 1992, I was at the top my game. I had money and fame and was climbing the ladder of success. I had a loving wife and a great family. But deep down, there was a void in my life. I had been consumed with ego and pride. Like some rock ’n’ roll stars, professional athletes, movie stars, and politicians, I engaged in many immature and youthful indiscretions, such as infidelity. On the outside, it looked like I had everything. But deep down, there was something missing.

  At WrestleMania VIII in Indianapolis, the Natural Disasters (Tugboat & Earthquake) beat I.R.S. and me (Money Inc.) via disqualification. We intentionally got ourselves counted out and thus retained the tag-team titles. I had stayed out all night with the boys, enjoying myself. When I arrived at the hotel in the wee hours of the morning, I called Melanie to check in. The conversation was less than cordial. Melanie was crying. She confronted me about my infidelity. I couldn’t believe it. I swallowed hard and apologized. “Melanie, I’m so sorry. I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. I’ll cancel my trip and immediately come home.”

  “No, Ted, you won’t. You don’t live here anymore!” Then she hung up the phone.

  For days, I was overwhelmed with the thought that I had lost everything. I wasn’t concerned about my material possessions. Rather, I was scared about losing my wife and family. Due to my immaturity, I had disgraced the most important person in my life. Melanie is the woman that I love. She is the mother of my two children. She even accepted my son from a previous marriage, Michael, as her own. I also put at risk the stability and well-being of my children. For what? To pretty much be a self-serving jerk. All I was doing was being unfaithful to my wife while serving my ego.

  For days I agonized over what to do. I left the tour early and sought guidance from my pastor and best friend to this day, Hal Santos. He had helped comfort Melanie and even worked to get us back together. I confessed and accepted Jesus in my heart. I asked the Lord to guide me and I promised to change.

  With Hal’s help, I realized that for Melanie to take me back, I had to be truly sorry and willing to change. I had to prove to her that my days of drinking, experimenting with drugs, and chasing women were over. I had to regain my wife’s respect and love. It was time to become a man of integrity and a man of my word. After a good two years of counseling, communication, and reconciliation, Melanie and I worked it out.

  I stayed on with World Wrestling Federation until 1993. I left because I knew I had to get out of the after-hours environment. My leaving had nothing to do with the wrestling business. Rather, it had everything to do with what was going on outside the squared circle.

  As I tried to regain my wife’s love and respect, my move to WCW allowed me to stay in wrestling and get my life in order. During my stint in WCW—1996–1999—my faith in and reliance on God had grown. I found great comfort in the Bible. Since WCW was using me sparingly, I became more and more absorbed by the word of God. I became very vocal about my salvation and told everyone about my faith.

  One day, Hal called me. “Hey, Ted, there is a church in the area that would like for you to come and share your story. What do you think?”

  “Hal, I don’t know. What do you think?”

  “Ted, I think you are ready.” So I went to the little church in Kentucky and shared my testimony. I explained to the congregation that I thought I had lost it all, but God restored everything. After giving my testimony, there was a snowball effect. By word of mouth, pastors from other churches contacted Hal and wanted me to come to their church and share my testimony. So I did. I also started to speak at elementary and secondary schools to children, teenagers, and young adults about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse.

  HAL SANTOS:

  Teddy is growing as a person, so whatever he does is going to grow. He is very healthy mentally and spiritually. His marriage is very healthy and his family respects him. As his spiritual mentor, I have seen Teddy evolve and the Lord is using him. When he speaks, people are very attentive to what he is saying. He does a great job and he is bringing people to the Lord.

  He also walks with integrity and he is challenging men to not just grow old, but to be men of integrity as they grow older. I can see the real fruit of his effort—the more he gets the chance to express, share, or challenge men to help their families. And when you get the man right, the rest of the family will be at peace.

  The more churches and schools I witnessed at, the more I was called to attend and preach elsewhere. I began to get more versed in the Bible and I kept praying for God to use me as he deemed necessary. I asked God if this was the role that he wanted me to take. The more I preached, the larger the response and turnout. I knew then that my calling was to be a minister. I went to the elders and leaders of my church and shared with them my calling. I began to take classes at the Morrison Heights Baptist Church to satisfy the requirements to attain the necessary credentials to become a minister. On February 27, 2000, I received my certificate of ordination and was ordained as a Baptist minister.

  Ministering has become my vocation in life. Since I was a wrestler and part of the wrestling business my entire life, being a minister was the last thing I thought I would be called to do. Nobody was more shocked than me. But now that I have the calling, God is directing my life.

  I had and still have some friends and people in the wrestling industry that are skeptics. They have that wrestling attitude that everything is an angle. Some said that I was just using my ministry to make a living and it was all a work. They are wrong; I don’t have to justify my ministering to anyone. We are all sinners and I would never pontificate that I am better than anyone else. Actions speak louder than words. Per the King James Bible, Jesus said in Matthew 7:16–20, “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

  There isn’t a whole lot of money in being a genuine minister. Regardless of the Million Dollar Man gimmick, I didn’t go into the business rich nor am I independently wealthy today. I may be rich in Jesus, but I still have a mortgage, car payments, and bills to pay like anyone else.

  STEVE KEIRN:

  Our relationship with each other means so much to me. He is one of my closest friends and we have an unconditional friendship. He is always there for me, and I am always there for him.

  At the same time, he has to be one of my top-ten friends that I have ever had as far as a companion and someone that I could lean on or talk to. Our spiritual enlightenment is the same with our walk with the Lord. It was like we were both brought through this education of wrestling and then into our spiritual awakening through the wrestling business.

  In this business, you make friends and bond or you are just passing acquaintances. Ted and I bonded. After thirty-five years in the business, I can count my closest friends on my hands, and Teddy is one of them.

  Part of what I do as a minister is evangelism. I go to churches, schools, organizations, and even wrestling events proclaiming the gospel. At wrestling shows, I never wrestle. I only make appearances and sign autographs.

  At schools, I like talking to the youth about their choices and habits. I stress the dangers of alcohol, drugs, and sex. I warn them of unwanted teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. I try to use my own personal experiences as a way to illustrate these points.

  One of the main reasons I am able to go out and minister is because of my notoriety and success as a professional wrestler. Once again, I have to say thank you to Vince McMahon and WWE, and especially to those who have followed my
career. No matter what, all of the pastors and schools who have asked me to speak and address their body know that I am real. They see in me a guy who has been out in the world and has been very successful. I had fame, money, and recognition. But none of it mattered. I was still miserable because I didn’t have salvation. Regardless of the material possessions and fame, there was an emptiness that needed to be filled. The only thing that brought me true inner peace and contentment was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

  Upon my release by WWE in 2006, I went back to work full-time in my Heart of David Ministries. I created the ministry and I chose the name based on the biblical character of David. There is a story where the young David slays the giant Goliath. As David approached Goliath, the giant cursed and insulted him. But he didn’t run in fear. David stood strong and said, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied … it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his sack and slung one of his stones at Goliath’s head. He hit a hole in the armor and struck Goliath’s forehead. The big man hit the ground. David quickly took Goliath’s own sword, killing him, then cutting off his head.

  David later became king of Israel, but he also sinfully committed adultery with Bathsheba. When he was confronted about it, he repented and confessed his sin. David took full responsibility for his failings and asked God for forgiveness. He was restored and God said that “he is a man after my own heart.”

  I personally identify with David and it is my desire to be like him. When I was young, I had a very strong faith in God. But I fell away from it while in the wrestling business. When Melanie confronted me about my adultery, I begged for her forgiveness. I also repented and asked the Lord to forgive me. I was soon restored. I want God to say to me, “Ted DiBiase, you are a man after my own heart.”