Ted DiBiase [RF Video Shoot Interview]
The Good
I have heard Ted DiBiase interviewed so many times and that I'm almost uninterested in him, not to mention his two autobiographies and WWE documentary. He is well-spoken and thoughtful as you'd hope an ordained minister and public speaker to be. This is an early RF Video shoot, conducting in a bank where Mrs. DiBiase works and it is full of crops and cuts (unlike many RF shoots). While I balk at Feinstein's lack of knowledge of history, he followed Mid-South/UWF as a child as well as the WWF, so he has a good grasp of the personalities that DiBiase came into contact with. Never one to be overly political or reserved in his comments, DiBiase is very honest and that boosts the quality of this. He can say that Bill Watts was a "bully," that Robert Fuller was a poor booker or that Michael Hayes was "stiff" and he does not come across as angry or bitter. I often find RF Video shoots with nice guys who like everybody or non-storytellers to be boring, but Ted DiBiase can talk and talk. If you've never heard him before, this is definitely a must-see and if you've seen/heard him a few times or even a bazillion times, I'd still highly recommend this one. A major reason being that since he and his sons began working for the WWE, he's never been as objective and opinionated about the company…go figure.
The Bad
Ted DiBiase had such a full and successful career that he could literally spend hour after hour talking about his career and never run out of fresh stories, recollections and insight. Unfortunately, his faith (which spreading the Gospel is central tenant) often cuts into any interview he does. While it is important to him now and where he is in his life, few (if any) pursue his shoot interviews for religious purposes. That is often a factor in the shoots of Born-Agains and sometimes it is a bit much and I would say it is about what I expected here. The other factor that colored his two shoots with 57Talk was his time spent as an agent and his sons' employment in the WWE, which led him to really put over the company and prevented him from spending too much time looking back at his early career in Mid-South and Georgia. That was not an issue here, so this shoot was really better than many interviews he has given as of the past few years. What jumped out at me was hearing Ted DiBiase (the conservative Christian) railing against the WWF and the Attitude Era and later hearing Ted DiBiase (the fiscal conservative) railing against regulations on businesses and what he perceives as socialism. I'd rather not get into the inconsistencies I found because if I picked apart political, social and economic statements by pro-wrestlers in their shoots, I'd waste too much time.
The Rating: ****1/2
Showing posts with label dibiase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dibiase. Show all posts
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Ted Dibiase [x2 57Talk Shoot Interviews]
The Good
Gary Cubeta is really good at asking pointed questions and conducting straightforward interviews and he had several direct themes to this one. He wanted to talk about Mid-South, he wanted to talk about the birth of the "Million Dollar Man" and he wanted to get some perspective on the business, the world and faith from DiBiase. I would say he accomplished his goals. I think Cubeta definitely intended to have DiBiase on more, but as with some guests it didn't happen and as of February 2011, they are out-of-commission (again.) Anyway, this was decidedly different than other interviews that I've heard with DiBiase. He certainly talked a lot about fresh events (he had just pre-taped a segment with his son) and was wanting to talk about mostly the modern situation. There was a fair amount of defending the current product, the current situation (ie WWE dominance and lack of companies) and even Vince McMahon himself. I think these were genuine sentiments, although I can imagine some might interpret them otherwise. This had a lot of non-wrestling content that I found interesting.
The Bad
I can imagine many people finding shoot interviews that put over Jesus, Glenn Beck and Vince McMahon while burying Barack Obama, John McCain and Eric Bischoff to be off-putting. I have read that this was a rambling interview that was really hard to listen to, but that is largely up to your own taste. Yes, DiBiase went on some odd tangents. Yes, he seemed to have done a 360 from his staunch anti-WWF stance due to the "sex and violence" of the Attitude Era. Yes, he put his son over again and again. I generally like listening to Ted DiBiase and I enjoyed a good portion of this, but a lot of it was take-it-or-leave-it level content.
The Rating: ***
The Good
Gary Cubeta is really good at asking pointed questions and conducting straightforward interviews and he had several direct themes to this one. He wanted to talk about Mid-South, he wanted to talk about the birth of the "Million Dollar Man" and he wanted to get some perspective on the business, the world and faith from DiBiase. I would say he accomplished his goals. I think Cubeta definitely intended to have DiBiase on more, but as with some guests it didn't happen and as of February 2011, they are out-of-commission (again.) Anyway, this was decidedly different than other interviews that I've heard with DiBiase. He certainly talked a lot about fresh events (he had just pre-taped a segment with his son) and was wanting to talk about mostly the modern situation. There was a fair amount of defending the current product, the current situation (ie WWE dominance and lack of companies) and even Vince McMahon himself. I think these were genuine sentiments, although I can imagine some might interpret them otherwise. This had a lot of non-wrestling content that I found interesting.
The Bad
I can imagine many people finding shoot interviews that put over Jesus, Glenn Beck and Vince McMahon while burying Barack Obama, John McCain and Eric Bischoff to be off-putting. I have read that this was a rambling interview that was really hard to listen to, but that is largely up to your own taste. Yes, DiBiase went on some odd tangents. Yes, he seemed to have done a 360 from his staunch anti-WWF stance due to the "sex and violence" of the Attitude Era. Yes, he put his son over again and again. I generally like listening to Ted DiBiase and I enjoyed a good portion of this, but a lot of it was take-it-or-leave-it level content.
The Rating: ***
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wrestling Universe - Virgil
The Good
If you've ever seen the picture of Virgil waiting at an autography session with "WWF Superstar Virgil" above his head and not a soul in sight…this shoot is the audio equivalent of that. If you like shoot interview that are serious, informative and straightforward, you might want to avoid this. Now I do not want to totally mock the accomplishments and career of Mike Jones, but I have to scratch my head at a great number of things he says here. Perhaps I should be writing about these things as negatives, but they made this interview hilarious. Comments like "why are you massaging his feet like a prick?," "I hate the hell out of snakes" and "you ain't jackshit unless you sellout that Garden" are just a few morsels of this buffet of ridiculousness. Jones, who alludes to a past as a collegiate standout at the University of Virginia as well as a past as a Golden Gloves boxer, which probably explains why he did not back down from Dan Severn when the two alleged went at it and it goes on from there. He was, at best, a peripheral talent, who got hooked up with Ted Dibiase, the nWo and such and was able to reach a level of success that he never could have achieved on his pure talents alone. It is interesting (and that is an understatement) to hear him talk about his career, but take everything with a grain of salt.
The Bad
I could easily pull out a few statements that Mike Jones made and quickly refute them. I could easily point out some erroneous facts and figures. I could easily paint Mike Jones as a self-important asshole. But none of those things need to be done by me. The interview does it all simply in listening to it. He makes so many lofty claims that anyone with a little knowledge about his tenure in the WWF could see the BS. There are a number of things he mentions that jump out as false. He dresses the interviewer down on camera for lacking ability and confidence and although he's no Sean Oliver, the Wrestling Universe do a good job by my estimation.
The Rating: ***
The Good
If you've ever seen the picture of Virgil waiting at an autography session with "WWF Superstar Virgil" above his head and not a soul in sight…this shoot is the audio equivalent of that. If you like shoot interview that are serious, informative and straightforward, you might want to avoid this. Now I do not want to totally mock the accomplishments and career of Mike Jones, but I have to scratch my head at a great number of things he says here. Perhaps I should be writing about these things as negatives, but they made this interview hilarious. Comments like "why are you massaging his feet like a prick?," "I hate the hell out of snakes" and "you ain't jackshit unless you sellout that Garden" are just a few morsels of this buffet of ridiculousness. Jones, who alludes to a past as a collegiate standout at the University of Virginia as well as a past as a Golden Gloves boxer, which probably explains why he did not back down from Dan Severn when the two alleged went at it and it goes on from there. He was, at best, a peripheral talent, who got hooked up with Ted Dibiase, the nWo and such and was able to reach a level of success that he never could have achieved on his pure talents alone. It is interesting (and that is an understatement) to hear him talk about his career, but take everything with a grain of salt.
The Bad
I could easily pull out a few statements that Mike Jones made and quickly refute them. I could easily point out some erroneous facts and figures. I could easily paint Mike Jones as a self-important asshole. But none of those things need to be done by me. The interview does it all simply in listening to it. He makes so many lofty claims that anyone with a little knowledge about his tenure in the WWF could see the BS. There are a number of things he mentions that jump out as false. He dresses the interviewer down on camera for lacking ability and confidence and although he's no Sean Oliver, the Wrestling Universe do a good job by my estimation.
The Rating: ***
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Every Man Has His Price: The True Story of Wrestling's Million Dollar Man
Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: Ted DiBiase
Publisher: Multnomah Publishers, Inc.
Released: 10/97
The Good
Nice overview of the man's life. He talks plainly about the good things in his life and is very upbeat and yes, very Christian. He goes into the details of breaking in and Mid-South pretty well, which people always want because that's the stuff that's hard-to-get usually.
The Bad
This comes across as very fluffy with not a whole lot of content and a disturbing lack of bitterness. While it's uplifting in a sense, DiBiase never really gets into his demons, so it seems to lack that punch. There's kind of a lot of calms with no real storms. He does sort of an overview of his WWF and WCW years, which will bug some, but not others.
The Rating: **1/2
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