The Ross Report
Release Date: October 18, 2017
Recap By: Dylan Bowker; Recovering Smark
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Top Stories:
-JR seeing Will Ospreay as one of the best workers of 2017
-Ted DiBiase Jr. playing a pivotal role in The Price of Fame coming to fruition
-Ted’s rider having his tires slashed when he worked heel against JYD in New Orleans
-DiBiase’s conversation with Ernie Ladd in a hotel room that lead to his profitable heel turn
-The Million Dollar Man’s dream opponent being Jack Briscoe
-Ted’s experiences working with an overzealous Steve Williams at the beginning of Dr. Death’s career
-DiBiase having to stop a wild fan from interfering in a match during his first year as a worker
Recap:
JR started the show with a copy read advertising WWE 2K18.
(1:50) The intro plays for this episode and we get into the latest bit of slobberknocker audio. Jim begins to tee up his guest, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.
(3:48) At this point, Jim transitions to his segment “What’s on JR’s Mind.” He gets into some football talk and offers his thoughts on the TLC show. Jim highlights the intrigue factor surrounding Asuka’s unbeaten streak and her overall package as a performer. He offers feedback on the ROH Global Wars show which he watched on Fite TV.
Jim spoke highly of Flip Gordon’s work despite not being as familiar with him going into the show. He also heaped tremendous praise on Will Ospreay, who he sees as being one of the top workers of 2017. Jim then does some housekeeping announcements for future appearances he’s making. JR offered condolences for Burrhead Jones’ family as he passed away recently. He spoke about how much of a groundbreaking talent Burrhead was at a time when wrestling was steadfastly racist/not the most conducive to African Americans being pushed.
(19:20) Sound of Success podcast ad
(19:54) JR does a copy read for Pro Wrestling Tees
(21:38) Jim gets into his conversation with Ted DiBiase at this juncture. JR begins talking about The Price of Fame, which is a documentary on Ted. Ted said his son played a huge role in this documentary beginning to take shape. Jim brought up the DiBiase documentary coming out around the same time as Ric Flair’s 30 for 30 special. This gets the two talking about older territory stories.
DiBiase mentions a story of a fan entering the ring during a match in Greenwood, Mississippi. It was Ted’s first year in the business and he had to intervene in someone else’s match to knock the interfering fan out of the ring. DiBiase mentioned how scared he was during this but recalled his father’s advice of never showing fear to the fans. JR and Ted riff on old territory stories while mentioning the seedy perceptions blue collar entertainment viewpoint of wrestling back then. Jim is glad that the business has evolved from the territory days and Ted agrees.
JR mentioned the racial dynamics at play back then and brought up how Ernie Ladd gamed the system by being a black heel. Ted mentioned the successes of the Junkyard Dog and working with him years ago. He then brought up a story of talking to Ladd in a hotel and he proposed that a DiBiase heel turn would be money.
The two riff on the rigours of the territory schedule and how days off didn’t really exist. JR asks Ted about being a born again Christian and if he looks back on some Million Dollar Man exploits with regret. DiBiase brings up the segment where he knocked away a basketball from a child and made him cry. He brought it up to articulate how he feels no regret for what he has done. Wrestling is show business and for every deplorable thing he did while in character, the Million Dollar Man would always receive that eventual comeuppance.
Ted mentions getting caught up in everything. The wine, women, and song (as he put it) jeopardized the most important things he held dear in life. Addressing that was a healing thing for Ted though. The two talk about the toll the business can take with Ted mentioning the litany of surgeries and residual effect from injuries.
(52:01) JR does a copy read advertising True Car
(53:10) Podcast ad for The Raven Effect
(53:59) Jim mentions how you can subscribe to his podcast and resumes the conversation with Ted DiBiase. Ted Jr. narrates the documentary on his dad and Jim questions about what other pro wrestling personalities were involved with the project. Ted spoke about Harley Race, Terry Funk, Roddy Piper, and Jake Roberts being some of the individuals spoken to for the film. This lead to both speaking about the influence of Bill Watts and also Dick Murdoch.
JR told a story about Dick Murdoch being docked a large amount of his pay by the promoter with Murdoch getting quite heated at Watts. Reminiscing on that time lead to Jim talking about parental regrets tied to being on the road constantly and not being around. Ted echoed the same sentiments with both endeavouring to repair relationships with their children.
Jim asks Ted if he has any negative feelings about never having been a WWF or NWA champion. Ted mentions a time when Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and himself were all being considered for the role of NWA champion. Ted discusses some of the NWA politics back then and how he was told that Ric was made champion due to a sizable outstanding debt the NWA had to pay Crockett. JR and Ted mention how Bill wasn’t part of the Alliance at the time, which also hindered Ted’s ability to be given that shot.
Ted mentions Wrestlemania IV and how there was talk around him winning the title there. The idea was that Ted’s push as the top heel would have made that an expected outcome. The idea of Ted creating his own title in an arrogant display after losing was the move that was decided on. Ted says one of his defining moments was a St. Louis main event opposite Harley Race. Even though DiBiase lost that match, Harley put over Ted huge. JR asks Ted about who his dream opponent would be and Ted mentioned Jack Briscoe. He got to wrestle his brother but Ted spoke highly of Jack and the amazing matches he had with Dory Funk Jr.
Ted mentioned working with Danny Hodge and this lead to both men sharing stories about the legend. JR shares a story about how Hodge wanted a milkshake while they were running late to an event. Danny squeezed JR’s wrist so hard that he almost passed out. Jim relented, got a milkshake for Danny, and showed up late to the show.
Jim brings up DiBiase’s involvement with introducing The Undertaker’s character into WWF. Ted spoke highly of Taker’s athleticism and longevity in the business. Jim segues to talking about Roman Reigns and asks Ted what he would do with that character. Ted mentions how tough guy heels invariably end up getting cheered from the crowd and espoused the benefits of being a cowardly heel. JR brings up Dr. Death and this prompts Ted to share a story on Steve Williams. He worked with Steve early in his career, with Steve tackling DiBiase a lot harder than he expected.
Ted and Jim begin to talk about the benefits of the traveling champion. Comparisons are drawn to Harley Race but the way Brock Lesnar is presented nowadays also gets brought up. Both men see the benefit in having a champion come through on special occasions as opposed to always being around. JR brought up Flair/Murdoch and DiBiase’s involvement with the angle. Ted mentioned how incredible it was that Bill Watts was able to turn him in one night. He discussed how badly he was busted open and JR spoke to how gruesome the visual was. Ted wrestling JYD in New Orleans was a heated environment back in the day. Junkyard Dog’s status as a babyface coupled with DiBiase’s heel heat made for a volatile environment in the territory days.
As JR wraps up, he asks Ted about what he hopes the fans take away from The Price of Fame. Dibiase mentions how things like fame and money can be great but at the end of the day, it’s about legacy. Things like family, friends, love, and respect take precedence over all else.
(1:32:57) Crime in Sports podcast ad
(1:33:41) Jim begins his show wrap by mentioning his YouTube channel. Jim talks about how overwhelmed he is at the feedback for his recent book release. Jim also tees up next week’s podcast guest Rory Karpf, director of Ric Flair’s ESPN 30 for 30.
Review (9 out of 10): Quite the enjoyable listen, especially for fans of the territory days of wrestling. Fascinating to hear DiBiase’s experiences as a babyface and the intense vitriol fans gave him during his times as a heel. The segment about why DiBiase never held an NWA or WWF title was also quite telling. It touched on the machinations at play with the NWA board and all the moving parts associated with being an NWA titlist. Also, DiBiase’s adherence to getting heat and his business savvy shone through. By opting to let Randy Savage win the title at ‘Mania so he can create the Million Dollar Title, showed a bigger picture mentality with how the business can reap the most benefit. Great rapport between the two and a lot of laughs were exchanged when reminiscing about Watts, Murdoch, and the like. Highly recommend this episode.
Timestamps:
(1:50) The intro plays
(3:48) “What’s on JR’s Mind”
(19:20) Sound of Success podcast ad
(19:54) JR does a copy read for Pro Wrestling Tees
(21:38) Jim gets into his conversation with Ted Dibiase
(52:01) JR does a copy read advertising True Car
(53:10) Podcast ad for The Raven Effect
(53:59) Jim resumes the talk with Ted
(1:32:57) Crime in Sports podcast ad
(1:33:41) Jim begins his show wrap
About the Author: Along with being a pro wrestling lover, Dylan James Bowker is also a professional broadcaster and a combat sports personality. A passionate, professional music writer for libertymultimedia.com who has played guitar, bass, banjo, and ukulele for the better part of a decade. Pro Wrestling has been a passion from a young age but there was a brief hiatus from it. A promotion he was affiliated with put on a show that devolved into Iron Sheik being taken to the drunk tank. Over the last few years, he’s been back at it with a renewed vigor and is excited to be a part of the Torch family.
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