Why did Ted DiBiase leave the NWO?

[koreycaskets]

In my mind one day he's in the NWO, next he's managing the Steiners. I'm drawing a blank of what happened in-between there.

Was there any sort of a storyline involved with this? Or just a random move with hi mention why?

[y4j1981]

Wasn't this about the time he found God in real life? Might had something to do with it

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2020 23:59:43 GMT -5 koreycaskets said:

In my mind one day he's in the NWO, next he's managing the Steiners. I'm drawing a blank of what happened in-between there.

Was there any sort of a storyline involved with this? Or just a random move with hi mention why?

Once Bischoff joined Ted served no real purpose.This is how I remember it:

Ted started to act like he didn’t agree with the NWO’s actions in the spring of 97.
He disappears for a few months.
Then in august the announcers claim there’s a rumor that The Steiner’s have a surprise that will rock the NWO.
Ted debuts as The Steiner’s manager and vocalizes his displeasure with the NWO and promises the steiner’s he will lead them to beating the outsiders for the tag titles.

[y4j1981]

From Wiki:

DiBiase quit the nWo shortly after Spring Stampede. Less than a few months later, on the August 4, 1997, episode of Nitro, he made a face turn and began managing The Steiner Brothers. DiBiase managed The Steiners until Scott turned heel and joined the nWo. DiBiase also managed one-time WWF rival Ray Traylor for a while until he stopped managing altogether. DiBiase then became a road agent for the company and left entirely when his contract expired in late 1999.

In 2013, DiBiase said about his time in WCW: "Eric Bischoff doesn't know that much about wrestling", "Eric took credit for the NWO but that wasn't his idea, the NWO had already been done in Japan, so they had copied something that had already been done. It was a good idea, but originally I was supposed to be the mouthpiece of the NWO and reality is I think Eric saw how it was getting over and he saw how he could put himself in the role that he had hired me for. As each week went by pretty soon Eric isn't the announcer anymore, he becomes part of the NWO and I just went to him one day and told him I'm not just going to walk out there and be Hulk Hogan's Virgil, you hired me to be the spokesperson for this, so if that's not what I'm going to do you can send me home. The reason I said that was because they had to pay me one way or the other because I had a contract where they had to pay me for three years".

[johnnyk9]

He was on The 700 club and he said to Bischoff the fans wouldn’t by him as a heel anymore now that he’s a minister

[Mozenrath]

Jan 5, 2020 0:18:44 GMT -5 y4j1981 said:

From Wiki:

DiBiase quit the nWo shortly after Spring Stampede. Less than a few months later, on the August 4, 1997, episode of Nitro, he made a face turn and began managing The Steiner Brothers. DiBiase managed The Steiners until Scott turned heel and joined the nWo. DiBiase also managed one-time WWF rival Ray Traylor for a while until he stopped managing altogether. DiBiase then became a road agent for the company and left entirely when his contract expired in late 1999.

In 2013, DiBiase said about his time in WCW: "Eric Bischoff doesn't know that much about wrestling", "Eric took credit for the NWO but that wasn't his idea, the NWO had already been done in Japan, so they had copied something that had already been done. It was a good idea, but originally I was supposed to be the mouthpiece of the NWO and reality is I think Eric saw how it was getting over and he saw how he could put himself in the role that he had hired me for. As each week went by pretty soon Eric isn't the announcer anymore, he becomes part of the NWO and I just went to him one day and told him I'm not just going to walk out there and be Hulk Hogan's Virgil, you hired me to be the spokesperson for this, so if that's not what I'm going to do you can send me home. The reason I said that was because they had to pay me one way or the other because I had a contract where they had to pay me for three years".

As much as Eric's smug attitude really suited nWo, Ted's not wrong. Eric did seemingly jump in for his own benefit, same as how we got stuff like Hog Wild due to Eric's motorcycle interests first, not because it was a good business decision.

[willywonka666]

Here’s a question: would it have been better if Ted remained the mouthpiece and Eric stayed on as an announcer?

Eric’s turn was a shock at the time, that unfortunately continues to this day with authority figures. But it was great at the time.

[BorneAgain]

Jan 5, 2020 9:08:13 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

Here’s a question: would it have been better if Ted remained the mouthpiece and Eric stayed on as an announcer?

Eric’s turn was a shock at the time, that unfortunately continues to this day with authority figures. But it was great at the time.

They probably could have made both work in the nWo if Eric's role was more limited and it was implied he was wreaking havoc behind the scenes with his power while DiBiase was speaking for him week to week.

Barring that the only real option other than one of them turning face was to have Bischoff associated with the more major figures (Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage) while DiBiase was the manager for the B Teamers/nWo Japan (Syxx, Norton, Bagwell, Wallstreet, Chono, Muta).

[Hobby Drifter]

Jan 5, 2020 7:22:52 GMT -5 johnnyk9 said:

He was on The 700 club and he said to Bischoff the fans wouldn’t by him as a heel anymore now that he’s a minister

LoL

[sportatorium]

Eric saw himself as the guy to get heat rather than letting DiBiase do it. There wasn’t much chance for Ted to do any talking with Hogan, Hall & Nash all getting their stuff in on the mic. It worked out fine, Bischoff was a great heel, but DiBiase could have done it just as well.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Jan 5, 2020 0:18:44 GMT -5 y4j1981 said:

From Wiki:

DiBiase quit the nWo shortly after Spring Stampede. Less than a few months later, on the August 4, 1997, episode of Nitro, he made a face turn and began managing The Steiner Brothers. DiBiase managed The Steiners until Scott turned heel and joined the nWo. DiBiase also managed one-time WWF rival Ray Traylor for a while until he stopped managing altogether. DiBiase then became a road agent for the company and left entirely when his contract expired in late 1999.

In 2013, DiBiase said about his time in WCW: "Eric Bischoff doesn't know that much about wrestling", "Eric took credit for the NWO but that wasn't his idea, the NWO had already been done in Japan, so they had copied something that had already been done. It was a good idea, but originally I was supposed to be the mouthpiece of the NWO and reality is I think Eric saw how it was getting over and he saw how he could put himself in the role that he had hired me for. As each week went by pretty soon Eric isn't the announcer anymore, he becomes part of the NWO and I just went to him one day and told him I'm not just going to walk out there and be Hulk Hogan's Virgil, you hired me to be the spokesperson for this, so if that's not what I'm going to do you can send me home. The reason I said that was because they had to pay me one way or the other because I had a contract where they had to pay me for three years".

He's not wrong

I have been listening to 20 years of Nitro and they are at the point after Eric turned on Piper and instantly as soon as Eric joined NWO he was talking all the time. DiBiase purpose for the whole build so far is to stand next to Hogan and listen to him ramble until Ted gets the mic back to tell Hulk to give the people what they want (Hogan posing) 

[cjh]

Jan 5, 2020 0:10:22 GMT -5 @mrbonezone said:

Jan 4, 2020 23:59:43 GMT -5 koreycaskets said:

In my mind one day he's in the NWO, next he's managing the Steiners. I'm drawing a blank of what happened in-between there.

Was there any sort of a storyline involved with this? Or just a random move with hi mention why?

Once Bischoff joined Ted served no real purpose.This is how I remember it:

Ted started to act like he didn’t agree with the NWO’s actions in the spring of 97.
He disappears for a few months.
Then in august the announcers claim there’s a rumor that The Steiner’s have a surprise that will rock the NWO.
Ted debuts as The Steiner’s manager and vocalizes his displeasure with the NWO and promises the steiner’s he will lead them to beating the outsiders for the tag titles.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.  He walked out on Kevin Nash and Syxx at Spring Stampede when Nash wouldn't stop beating on Rick Steiner.  For some reason, though, he still appeared with the NWO later that night.  I don't remember him being on TV again until August when he started managing the Steiners.

[Squirrel Master]

Ted knew the NWO was bogus-blemish by that point, so he stepped off. A man of his means cannot appear ridiculous.

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2020 23:30:32 GMT -5 Squirrel Master said:

A man of his means cannot appear ridiculous.

I read this in Jack Woltz's voice and it makes me laugh and ponder and laugh.

[Greer]

I had no problem with Bischoff in that role. Dibiase was a great mouthpiece, but he also couldn't take any bumps, which Eric could.