Ted DiBiase On How Wrestling In Japan Is A ‘Whole Different World’

On the latest episode of the Everybody’s Got a Pod, WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase talked about working in Japan, having heels not always be serious, and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On whether he came up with the idea for “Mr. R” for Tommy Rich: “No, no. It wasn’t me. The original, I had already done this with Junkyard Dog and Stagger Lee. And so, I know that — I’m trying to think if it was during that time. I don’t think it was during that time because I mean Bill came over, and he was going to try to book, but that was that it was much later. And he didn’t last very long anyway.”

On it being okay for heels to have moments where they look like a fool: “I mean ultimately, yeah. Ultimately, you want to please the fans. Being a heel, I mean, you do things obviously to make them hate you. But now that they genuinely hate you, when you do slip on the banana peel and some of the stuff starts backfiring on you. Well, the more that you as the heel put that over, the bigger the laughs for the good guys.”

On the differences in working in Japan vs. the US: “The thing about Japan, it’s kind of like a different world. It’s almost like — for example, Stan Hansen and I, we were the, I guess you would call us world champions in Japan, tag team world champions. But that was in Japan. That was never broadcast or mentioned in the United States.”

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.