WWE Hall Of Famer Explains Why They Retired Young

One WWE Hall of Famer was never destined to wrestle past 40.

Ted DiBiase was one of the biggest wrestling stars of the eighties, making his name in Mid-South Wrestling before he became The Million Dollar Man in WWE. DiBiase headlined WrestleMania 4 with Randy Savage and is often considered among the very best of wrestling’s stars never to claim a world title during his career.

DiBiase ended his full-time wrestling career in 1993 as part of All Japan Pro Wrestling while the likes of Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan, and his own tag team partner Mike Rotunda continued competing for years beyond DiBiase.

Speaking on his Everybody’s Got A Pod podcast, Ted DiBiase explained why he hung up his boots a lot earlier than many of his contemporaries:

“I always promised myself that by the time I turned 40, I would be out of the ring. I might be part of the show, but it wasn’t going to be a physical part. I was going to be an active wrestler anymore, and you know what? As I’m looking at 70 here in just a few months, I’m so glad I made that decision because there’s a lot of other guys that are right about my same age that didn’t make that decision and physically they’re in much worse condition than I am.”

Ted DiBiase returned to WWE after hanging up his boots

After ending his in-ring career on his terms, DiBiase returned to WWE where he formed the Million Dollar Corporation and acted as the group’s manager. Stars such as Bam Bam Bigelow, Nikolai Volkoff, Irwin R. Schyster, Tatanka, Sid, The 123-Kid, and even a man known as The Ringmaster were all part of the group at one time or another before DiBiase moved to WCW where he joined the NWO.