Ted DiBiase on Junkyard Dog Leaving for the WWF

'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase looks back at his Hall of Fame career, from Mid-South, to Japan, to WCW, to WWF, and everywhere in-between! Join Ted and Marcus every Friday at 6am ET on all podcast platforms or if you want early access, get it commercial free on Premier+ with Premier Streaming Network!

[@stevep4574]

Everybody's got a price, including JYD🤣🤣🤣

[@jbmmm4028]

I hate to burn bridges, but it was definitely a business decision.

[@tomh1593]

Ted is right. He was in Georgia when JYD bolted to the WWF.

[@Desertson67]

Vince's idea. Hogan also left the AWA with no notice.

[@randymiller7524]

DiBiase seems like a very good dude

[@dazzle1933]

Watts treated most wrestlers like dirt. Only Ted Dibiase of major stars praises Watts

[@robonthetubes]

One wonders if Ted would have stayed in the south if he were elected to NWA champ.

[@dachronicalalittlebitofeve6630]

What separates the hood pods from the bad is the ability of the interviewer to stay quite. Ask a question without waffling on and shit up, it’s a pretty simple formula, sadly so many think it’s a conversation and we all want to listen to them instead of the guest…. Stop getting yourself over and shit up, know your place and know you can’t add anything we do not already know…especially when your info is “ off” to say the least….. talk about asking stupid questions…. So how did you feel when JYD left?….. “I wasn’t even there so what are you talking about dummy?!”….😂😂😂

[@mcwhorter141mcwhorter8]

Jyd had a short wwf run and his time being relevant was basically over after that.

[@chrischar9428]

Longer in WWF then MS

[@shawnhensley4884]

@@chrischar9428 and that awful run in WCW with Sting, so sad.

[@AceGoodheart]

My first introduction to JYD was the cartoon Hogan's Rockin Wrestling. I liked JYD but yeah he didn't last very long in the WWF. Him, Hillbilly Jim, and Big John Studd from what i can recall as a kid seemed to have left WWF around the same time frame.

[@ricg.4435]

Most of the talent that left for the WWE, didn't wrestle the same as they did in the territories. It was more for show up there.

[@mattyjay5163]

everybody's got a pod is such a good podcast! thank you

[@GoldenEraNetwork]

Thank you for listening!

[@robertmoore8821]

JYD basically burned a bridge that was going down anyway.I would love to see a what if video about JYD staying with Midsouth Wrestling and where it would be today had he stayed,but at the end of the day,JYD made the right decision.Nothing could have saved that territory in 1987!

[@shawnhensley4884]

UWF (Mid-South) must have made those big boys nervous though. I'm from Tulsa and watched Ted, JYD and Duggan, Freebirds, etc. every week live second row. I guess they just came in and did a roster raid. We had people leaving in droves, either to WWE, or WCCW(Rock aka Dingo Warrior), or to WCW/NWA Sting, Steiner, and the rest. Bill sold to WCW and we started getting some of those boys and that was great but nothing could touch what it used to be. So good and so many big names. I also remember a lot of Memphis workers coming thru.

[@robertg316]

Plus JYD was under a substance namely cocaine, his ex-wife got into some psychiatric institution, and his daughter LaToya lived with his sister. All that wrecked his financial situation.

[@suicidality2744]

Vince first offered to buy out the other promoters. Some, like Stu Hart in Calgary and Paul Boesch in Houston were happy to accept. They were in their 70s and were ready to retire. Others like Verne Gagne and Bill Watts were not. Verne was in his 50s and Watts was only in his 40s. They were not ready to go. The first promotion that Vince really went after was the AWA. He wanted those major TV markets that the AWA had. Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco and especially Chicago. Also, certain promoters like Verne and Watts were not so beloved by the guys who worked for them. A lot of the talent have said in shoot interviews that they were stingy with payoffs and would sometimes cheat talent out of money even when business was great. Vince McMahon Sr. Paul Boesch and Don Owen in Portland were the promoters with the best reputations.

[@rachet0708]

I have watched shoot video's from pretty much every superstar of the MidSouth era and I have never heard one of them say Watts was funny with the money. In fact most of them stated that was the only good thing about working for him, was that he paid very well and the money was always there. They call him a asshole, a bully, a racist and any other name you can think up but said he always paid. He had to, the travel for that territory was brutal, that was the only way he could keep top talent. Watch some of Jim Cornette's shoot video's about the Mid South days. He kept records of how much they made each week and how many miles they traveled. They averaged a couple of thousand miles a week.