Ted DiBiase On His History With Jake Roberts, Roberts’ WWE Feud With Rick Rude

On the latest episode of Everybody’s Got a Pod, WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase talked about the feud in 1988 between Jake Roberts and Rick Rude leading up to WWE Survivor Series. You can check out some highlights below:

On his history with Jake Roberts’ wife: “In Georgia, that’s where he met her. He met her in Atlanta. That’s where she’s from. When they first started dating, I was right there. So I’ve known Cheryl from the beginning. And, of course, they also parted ways for a while, and it just tickles me that they’re back together. I think it’s great.”

On his history with Roberts: “I think Jake has done incredibly well for having to overcome a lot of the personal issues he had in his life. We’ve been friends for a long time, and it’s like a lot of people say, ‘Well, who is your greatest match with?’ Or ‘Who did you like to wrestle with the most?’ And I guess, like I can tell everybody this. I said there, it’s almost an impossible question to answer when you realize how many times we wrestled. It’s just like, we didn’t have a football game once a week. We wrestled every night and all these people. But at the top of the list, or near the top of the list anyway, is Jake. Because in terms of the psychology of pro wrestling, we come from the same background. And so it was easy for us to gel.”

On WWE using Jake Roberts’ wife for his storyline with Rick Rude: “If there was ever a time where you say, ‘Okay, we can allow it under those circumstances.’ Because if she’s part of the show, I get it.”

On whether he would let his wife be part of a storyline with WWE: “Probably not. I don’t think that I would, but I say that because I know she wouldn’t. She had no interest. She watched me and she told me, she goes, ‘I know why. I know why you’re one of the top guys after watching you.’ And she appreciated that, but never had any desire to be a part of the show.”

On whether Rude took it too far by having Roberts’ wife’s face painted on his tights for the feud: “Well you know, it depends if everybody’s — it’s kind of like this. If Rick Rude just did that and on his own and never asked Jake about it, then I would say that’s out of line. But if he does, if they discuss it and Jake gives approval to him doing that as part of the ongoing show, then okay. If I saw my wife’s face on somebody’s tights, I’d knock them out.”