Ted DiBiase said the idea of Dennis Rodman being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame “pisses me off a little bit” and questioned why celebrities who were barely involved in wrestling get the honor over career wrestlers who have not yet been inducted, speaking on Everybody’s Got a Pod.
“He wasn’t a wrestler. You’re gonna put a guy who might have been in a wrestling ring two or three times in the Hall of Fame just because of his name,” DiBiase said. “Put him in the Basketball Hall of Fame where he belongs, but not the wrestling Hall of Fame.”
DiBiase, who was in the nWo alongside Rodman in WCW, said the celebrity wing of the Hall of Fame has gone too far. He pointed to Pete Rose, Drew Carey, and Donald Trump as examples of inductees who never took a bump. DiBiase contrasted them with someone like Jimmy Hart, who was never a wrestler but spent years as a manager and earned his place in the Hall.
“Jimmy Hart was never a wrestler. He was a great mouthpiece, and I think that is deserving. Because he put in a lot of time,” DiBiase said. “But to put a guy in the wrestling Hall of Fame just because he has a celebrity name in baseball or basketball, that just irks the hell out of me. What did they really do to deserve being in a wrestling Hall of Fame? Nothing.”
DiBiase compared the situation to his own football career. “I was a pretty good football player. Why don’t they put me in the NFL Hall of Fame?” DiBiase said. “I think that’s stupid.”
DiBiase said he does not know who in WWE he is “pissing off by saying that” but that he does not care. “I’m in the WWE Hall of Fame because I was a wrestler. I grew up in wrestling. Wrestling was virtually my whole life,” DiBiase said. “You take somebody who’s a great athlete in one sport, put him in the ring one time or two times, and then make him a Hall of Famer. See ya.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Everybody’s Got a Pod with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
