WWE Hall Of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase recently did an interview with The Mirror and offered his thoughts on fellow Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin. DiBiase talked about working with Austin during his early days, making him the Million Dollar Champion on an episode of Monday Night RAW:
“I did make ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin the Million Dollar Champion on Raw. You know I saw the talent in Steve and I remember telling him – because a lot of people were telling him ‘You need to do more’ – I remember telling him, ‘Don’t do anything different, because what you do is believable, it’s real.’ And I said ‘That’s what I’ve always tried to sell is real.’ I said ‘It will take you a little longer, but once you’re over, you’re over.’ Well nobody knew just how over he would get! It was unbelievable.”
DiBiase then discussed his role in helping cultivate Austin into the mega-star he’s known as today in the professional wrestling industry. He compared it to the film industry when an up-and-comer is paired with an A-list guy to help elevate his stock:
“Yeah, well, I was just that rub. It’s kind of like in the movies, they see a potential great young actor and they put him in a movie as a co-star to an A-list guy and that helps elevate them. That’s what they did with Steve and I happened to be an A-list guy at the time. So I was just the right guy at the right place, at the right time.”
Austin’s career of course began to take off after the innovation of his “Stone Cold” gimmick. DiBiase explained how “The Texas Rattlesnake” really exceeded everyone in WWE’s expectations with the character:
“I think he exceeded everybody’s expectations, I really do. What’s funny is you know everybody is talking about how we’re now a PG program. I think that’s great, because I’m a minister now and I have been for a long time, so I was not a big fan of the Attitude Era. There were some things they did that were very funny and that was great, but I was never a fan of the sleazy stuff. What’s funny is, I was part of a panel, Steve and I, and they said ‘Ted, you have been quoted as saying that you would never allow your son’s hero to be a beer guzzling, swearing, finger-flipping wrestler’. I said ‘exactly, I still believe that today’. Steve was sitting by me and he looked at me and said ‘That’s the same thing my mother said!'”
You can read DiBiase’s full interview with The Mirror by clicking this link here.
