Ted DiBiase Jr. had a great run with Legacy and he remains grateful for the opportunity to this day.
Ted DiBiase Jr. recently spoke with WrestleZone and touched on some of his career highlights, many of which came during his time in the Legacy stable with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Legacy was WWE’s stable featuring multi-generational wrestlers (DiBiase, Rhodes, Orton and for a time, Afa Anoa’i Jr.), and DiBiase was asked if being introduced that way helped or hurt him in the long run. Ted explained that Legacy definitely made things easier for him and talked about the bond he shared with the group, calling it a great situation to be in.
“It totally made it easier. It’s a lonely road growing up in the spotlight and being the son of a celebrity, it’s not easy. Everyone’s always like, ‘That must’ve been so cool!’ Nope. There are parts of it that are cool, but I would say more of it is not because, yeah I got to watch my dad wrestle Hulk Hogan in Madison Square Garden and [I remember] Andre The Giant picking me up by the head when he’s sitting in a chair, the locker rooms—that sounds fun, but you go through life being ‘the wrestler’s kid’ or ‘the son of the Million Dollar Man’ and people know you,” DiBiase said, “but they don’t know you.”
“And so to be there [in WWE], Cody was amazing. That was such a blessing, we got to ride together and we instantly had a common bond and that dude, he showed me the ropes. It was like having a brother, and I already have two brothers and we had dreams of wrestling together, being tag team champions. That never happened because they both suffered injuries,” he explained, “but Cody was like having a brother on the road. And with Randy [Orton] joining him, that was—it just felt right. That Legacy run was so much fun and that—you couldn’t put your finger on it, but it was just good and it worked.”
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DiBiase explained that it was a nice feeling to share a sense of belonging in the business and the group only spent a little bit of time together, but he learned a lot and said it was a great experience.
“It made me realize the importance of camaraderie and brotherhood, being able to surround yourself with like-minded people, people that get you. We each understood what the other went through. We had different lives and different places, parents, but we had a lot of similarities and the same pressures to live up to a name, to carry on that torch or a legacy. There’s a magnifying glass on you when you come from a lineage, there’s that built-in expectation whether it’s other people putting it on you or you’re putting it on yourself, it’s just there. You can’t help it,” DiBiase said, “but there’s the expectation to be as good or better than the one before you, and there’s a lot of scrutiny that comes with that. So yeah, that was really awesome, to be able to step into that and have those guys giving me comfort.”
DiBiase questioned whether it almost made him too comfortable, noting that he felt like Legacy would last for a long time. He said there was no real plan for the group’s implosion and follow-up, recalling a conversation he had after their triple threat match at WrestleMania XXVI, but no matter what he is still grateful for everything he learned from it.
“[I thought] we were going to have this magical separation and they had this plan for me, and surely you’re not going to put all of this time into me and build us up and put us in these great angles and then not have a plan—but there was no plan. WrestleMania was where we imploded, we had our match,” he noted, “and I remember sitting out by the ring with Michael Hayes and he’s like, ‘So Teddy, what do you want to do next?’ and I’m like, ‘Huh? What are y’all going to do with me next?’ I was so used to getting there, somebody’s handing me a script, ‘You’re in two segments, three segments’ or ‘you’ve got a match, here’s your promo’ and I thought that’s how it worked.
“And that could have been a test to really show me that’s how that’s not normal and it doesn’t happen all of the time, but I don’t know. It’s funny reflecting on that. It’s interesting, but I don’t know and maybe it hurt me, but I’m grateful for it because personally,” DiBiase said, “I did learn a lot from it, and those guys are killing it and crushing it. Man, I love ‘em and miss those guys.”
Ted DiBiase Jr. also shared his side of the story in regards to the infamous Cody Rhodes ‘referee’ story told at Starrcast 2019; check out his response and the full interview below:
Read More: Ted DiBiase Jr. Shares His Side Of The Infamous Cody Rhodes ‘Referee’ Story From Starrcast
