Ted Dibiase says he's been dealing with some health problems.
The 69-year-old revealed on his Everybody's Got A Pod podcast that doctors told him he has "severe brain trauma."
Dibiase said
I'm dealing with this, this is legit. I don't have Alzheimer's and I don't have dementia but they said, 'Ted, you have something, we just simply call it severe brain trauma.' I said, 'Really?' I only wrestled for maybe almost 20 years, so I'm not surprised that I might have a little brain trauma.
What it affects is my memory and they say it'll be easier for you to remember something you did 40 or 50 years ago but the short-term memory, some of the stuff right now, it's bits and pieces.
Dibiase continued to talk about the schedule he kept during his wrestling career and how that may have impacted his health. He said:
There were no days off, that was seven days a week we wrestled. Until I went to the WWF and even then when I first started with them, it was three straight weeks on, 21 days, 21 cities, and then you go home for a week. Then they eventually changed it to 10 on, three off, four on, and three off, so you were home a little more.
But again, I thank God I'm still here.
Dibiase is one of 38 people being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The lawsuit alleges that Dibiase owes the state $1,971,223 in funds that were meant to go to nonprofit organizations to address poverty in the state. Dibiase's son, Ted Dibiase Jr., has been charged criminally for his role in the scandal.
Dibiase was voted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996. He also was voted Best Gimmick in 1987, Best Heel in 1987 & 1988, Best Technical Wrestler (now the Bryan Danielson Award) from 1979-1981, Feud of the Year (w/ Junk Yard Dog) in 1982, and Feud of the Year (w/ Jim Duggan) in 1985.
More must-reads: