WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase has spoken of his relationship with The Undertaker and marveled at his remarkable longevity.
During a virtual signing appearance for 80’s Wrestling Con, The Million Dollar Man spoke with WrestleZone’sBill Pritchard on his time with The Deadman:
Mark’s a wonderful guy and when everyone says that [I] introduced him, I did, but the people need to understand that Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, didn’t ‘bring’ The Undertaker into the WWE. My introducing him was all part of the character and his character, and so at the time, I recognized his skill,” DiBiase said, “but I don’t think that anybody realized just how long he would go. It’s funny because in the last couple of years, the only time I would see him would be at WrestleMania since it’s the one time we all get together, and every year I go, ‘Well, Mark, when are you going to retire?’[laughs] That kept being the question, ‘when are you really going to hang it up?’
Taker, real name Mark Calaway, debuted at Survivor Series 1990 as the mystery member of DiBiase’s ‘Million Dollar Team’, sparking a legendary run that would span over three decades.
Taker’s official retirement came in 2020, which was announced as part of the well received career retrospective series, ‘The Last Ride‘.
He later made an emotional appearance at Survivor Series, commemorating the thirty year anniversary of his debut and laying the groundbreaking character to rest for good.
DiBiase later touched upon The Deadman’s extraordinary tenure as the top of the wrestling industry:
It’s to his credit that he’s gone so long, and the thing that always amazed me was for him to be The Undertaker and his movement, the motion, he’s like this ‘monster’ guy, and he’s moving around but he’s not moving around at the same pace as the other wrestlers. He’s getting over, he’s doing what he can do and he’s doing it basically at half the speed of everybody else. That was always remarkable to me, how he could always pull that off. The character is great, and not only that, but the individual is a wonderful guy and I wish him all of the best.
With thanks to Wrestle Zone for the transcript.