Ted DiBiase On His History With Bob Armstrong, Armstrong’s Weightlifting Accident

On the latest episode of the Everybody’s Got a Pod, WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase talked about his history with Bob Armstong. Armstrong famously had a weightlifting accident where he had his nose torn entirely off his face and had to have plastic surgery to reconstruct it, and DiBiase talked about that incident as well. The story used for the ring was that DiBiase was involved in it and caused him to have to get the plastic surgery. You can check out some highlights below:

On his history with Bob Armstrong: “Well, you know, I had met Bob Armstrong through actually meeting the boys, and the sons who came up. And by the way, the sons did well. [laughs] They took their father’s name and lived up to the legacy. But yeah, you know, I knew of Bullet Bob Armstrong before I met him, because you know, he’s just one of those, for that generation was one of the icons.”

On whether he was involved in Armstrong’s nose incident: “No no, I was nowhere near that. [laughs] That accident. You know, the accident happened, it was a weightlifting accident where the bar slipped out of his hand and it fell on his face. And that’s what happened. And I was, you know wasn’t — no, I wasn’t there.”

On whether he had to adjust his style to work with Armstrong: “I mean, gosh, it’s kind of like — we call it doing the dance. And you know, when Dick Murdock was not much older than me — again, a tremendous wrestler. It was Murdoch who actually got me booked with Bill Watts. When Murdoch said, ‘I’m going to work for Bill Watts in Mid-South Wrestling.’ And he says, ‘Hey kid. If you want, maybe this would be a good time to get your feet wet and see if you really want to do this. And if you do,’ he says, ‘I can get you booked.’ And he did it with Bill.

“And so the summer of ’75 is when I started. And you know, opening match every night. But the guy across the ring was a veteran. And of course me, loving the business the way I do, I didn’t just wrestle and get a car and go on; I watched all the matches. I especially watched the guys in the main event. Those are the guys who drawing the money. And guys like Bob would be there to talk you through it. You know, a lot of people don’t know that but we talk to each other out there all the time. A lot of times — it’s funny some of the things you do. Like, I might be laying on my back, and the guy’s got my arm. And he’s looking at the referee who’s right there, but he’s talking to me.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Everybody’s Got a Pod with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.