Ted DiBiase Told He Risked Getting Paralyzed Before In-Ring Retirement

WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase is certainly one of the most popular and hated heels during the late 80s and early 90s. DiBiase’s character work continues to be iconic and is the blueprint for many pro wrestlers even now. Now it appears that DiBiase disclosed being told he risked getting paralyzed before retiring.

The Million Dollar Man excelled in his heel work and made sure to become one of the most memorable villains during his time in pro wrestling. He had numerous iconic feuds throughout his career.

While speaking on his Everybody’s Got a Pod podcast, Ted DiBiase talked about the injury that caused his in-ring retirement. It turned out to be two cervical discs in his neck, which almost paralyzed him.

“This is something that was, it wasn’t just, you know, it was kinda like this, you know, I was worried about this anyway. started having this numbness in my left arm. And I didn’t know where it was coming from. And I go and see a doctor and, he tells me, he says, you’ve got a disc issue. And he says, what we need to do, he says, the way we fix this is we take it back. Then they would take a bone chip from your hip, put that in there, and then fuse it. And I hadn’t had this before I had any surgery.

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And, but I, you know, I felt obligated to go back to Japan because, you know, giant Bob had been so good to me. And, you know, the whole tag team tournament thing and everything. I told my wife, and I said, this will be it. And so, but it was I only got through a couple of days of that tour and realized I can’t keep going. And that’s what I told Giant Baba. And, you know, I said, I apologize.

I said, you guys have been so good to me. And I said I just had to come back and try. And he understood. And the other thing that amazed me is this was like a three-week tour, and I was only like four or five days into it. Yeah. And, he says, I’ll be at the hotel and pay you tomorrow. He paid me for the whole tour. He understood. Because he had had the same thing, the deal with the disc in his neck.

I didn’t, you know, it’s kind of like, I know that after I had the surgery. The doctors told me, they said, now he says, here’s the thing. He says, you know, the odds of it happening, or a thousand to one, he says, but now that you’ve had this, this thing is done, you know, if you ever get hit or something, just the right way, it could leave you paralyzed, Not worth it. And I said that’s it. I’m done. So that was it.”

Ted DiBiase also revealed the actual value of his Million Dollar Championship previously as well. We will have to wait and see whether DiBiase will return to WWE television eventually.

What’s your view on this story? Do you wish Ted DiBiase still wrestled for a longer time? Sound off in the comments!