Gallery Link: – View Tearaway Magazine Scans

Ted was interviewed and featured in this month’s issue of New Zealand’s “Tearaway Magazine“. Thanks to my friend Geoffery, for taking the time to write out the interview for Simply-Priceless.com which you can check out below. Or you can head over to the gallery and check out images from the magazine as well.

Where are you right now?
At home with my wife in Mississippi.

What are your plans after this interview?
I think I’ll go get some sushi, I love sushi and … usually eat it about three times a week. So sushi then a movie with my wife.

Will you try any smooth moves in the theatre like the fake yawn arm around her?
I don’t even try, she gets all embarrassed. She is is opposite to me, obviously as a wrestler I’m an entertainer, I love the spotlight.

So you are a third generation wrestler – Granddad was ‘Iron’ Mike DiBiase and of course your dad was the million-dollar man Ted Dibiase. Was there pressure for you to get into wrestling?
My grandma was a wrestler too, Helen Hilt. Actually there was more pressure not to wrestle. I always respected my fathers wishes – we have a very, very good relationship, but i went to college, graduated and got a degree and then he said, “Well if you want to do it, have a shot,” so I did and here I am now.

Who was your wrestling hero?
As cliched as it might sound I’ve always looked up to my dad… he’s my hero. I did have other favorite wrestlers, I actually really like Shawn Michaels, and I was also a big Bret Hart fan.

As a kid what was your favorite finishing move?
Being a Shawn Michaels fan I would have said the sweet chin music until I actually took it, so I think I’m changing my mind. I think I’d rather take Hulk Hogan’s leg drop than the sweet chin music. I definitely like Stone Cold’s stunner.

You have a pretty damaging finisher yourself, the dream street. If you could give the dream street to any three people alive or dead who would they be?
Haha that’s a good one, only three? My older brother Mike DiBiase for beatin’ up on me all those years. Arnold Schwarzenegger the ‘Governator’, that would be cool. Brad Pitt because my wife just loves him and thinks he is so hot and sexy and all the girls think that. I’d just love to be shaking hands with Brad Pitt then throw him in it real quick and BAM right in front of everybody. All the girls would hate me but every dude in this world would just respect me, I’d walk down the street and people would say “Oh there’s the guy who got Brad Pitt”.

What is your view on smoking?
I hate smoking, man. Don’t smoke – look what it’s doing to your body, your life, your family; i mean you’re wasting your money and killing yourself, If you’re an athlete it’s terrible. I hate the way it smells and I hate girls smoking – you see girls smoking and they’re not that pretty anymore.

I once wanted to be a wrestler but never quite felt right being in my undies, Have you ever caught another stuffing his package?
Haha, yeah just the other day we caught The Miz, he had just switched from wearing shorts to trunks and we found The Miz stuffing himself with toilet paper.

Tell me something you know about NZ?
I know that Temuera Morrison lived in NZ, he starred alongside me in The Marine 2. It’s a straight-to-DVD (says laughing). Other than that I hear NZ’s beautiful; I have been once but didn’t get to see much. I definitely want to come back and visit.

Now, The Marine 2, that’s your first move? Do you have plans to get into acting in the future?
Yeah that was my first movie. I had a blast doing it and I would love to do movies again, but first and foremost I’m a WWE superstar. I’ll forever be loyal to Vince McMahon because without him I would have never had that opportunity to begin with.

Being in movies and wrestling you must have people coming up to you on the streets all the time. What is the weirdest thing a fan has ever said or done to you?
I’m looking at it right now. Here in the states there is a place in the mall called Build a Bear, and you can go in and actually build your own bear. And this fan built a bear and had sewn on these tights that said ‘priceless’ exactly like mine and she gave it to me in an airport. You squeeze it in it’s paw and it say’s ‘Oh Teddy, I’m your number one fan, i ove you so much’. It was kinda creepy, a bit flattering but it definitely weirded me out.

What does it feel like working with Shawn Michaels now? He was a hero of yours as a kid and now you’re wrestling him and taking the sweet chin music from him…
Ah, I’ll tell you, it’s an honor… it’s a very humbling experience.. You gotta take a bow to this man. Look at the matches he’s had with Bret [Hart] – in many WrestleMania moments, moments that have made wrestling what it is. It was evolving into this beast that it is and now just being in the ring with him, creating more moments for the fans to enjoy and remember and talk about the next day and years to some. there is nothing like it.

Three things you couldn’t live without?
My wife, my own bed, and my ostrich-skin boots.

Rock or Hip Hop?
Rock.

Simpsons or Family Guy?
Family Guy.

Guns N’ Roses or Metallica?
Gunners.

Facebook, Bebo, Myspace or Twitter?
Haha, I don’t do any but i have all of them. Let’s say facebook.

Apple or PC?
Apple.

Whats in your stereo right now?
Country, Tim McGraw.