Real Name: Theodore Marvin DiBiase
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 245 pounds
Born: January 18, 1954.
From: Omaha, Nebraska.
Nickname(s): The Million Dollar Man; The Million Dollar Champion
Favorite Saying(s): "Everybody's got a price."
Favourite Move(s): Million Dollar Dream (sleeper hold)
WWF Titles Won: WWF Tag Team Championship (3) and WWF Championship for a few minutes thanks to that moron "commisioner" Jack Tunney
One of the most successful and genuine characters in WWF history
belongs to
the man known as "The Million Dollar Man", Ted DiBiase.
Being the son of a former pro wrestler, Ted has been involved in the
business from the time he was a child. At the age of 15, his stepfather
"Iron Mike" DiBiase died of a heart attack
while in the ring. His
mother fell into depression and alcoholism, and Ted moved to Arizona to
live with his grandparents. Later on, Ted (and his brother John) were
sent to Texas, and were taken in by Dory Funk Sr. Ted became a sort of
brother to Funk's sons, Terry and Dory Jr.. After high school, Ted went
to West Texas State University on a football scholarship, something he
credits the Funks with helping to give him the push he needed to do.
DiBiase studied communications and physical education at West Texas
State, and also did wrestling training with the Funks. Ted eventually
dropped out of school and went into wrestling, starting on the Oklahoma
circuit.
DiBiase's first big match came against Killer Karl Kox, a match Ted won
that started him on his way to notoriety. DiBiase also had some classic
matches early on with Dick Murdoch and Greg Valentine. After some time
in Oklahoma, he made his way to Japan where he encountered such
grapplers as former AWA champ Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba, Tank Patton
and the Wolfman. DiBiase considers his matches with Tsuruta some of his
best. Ted's time in Japan was invaluable, and provided him with the
experience he needed. He headed back to the U.S. and it didn't
take
long before he won a title, the Central States belt, which he won from
Sgt. Slaughter. Later, Ted would add the Western Tag Team Championship
(teaming with Irvin Smith) as well as the Missouri title (from Dick
Murdoch) to his list of accomplishments. It was in the Mid South area
that DiBiase would eventually become a signature star. He teamed with
Murdoch to win the NWA U.S. (Tri-State) tag title on April 28, 1976,
and in December of 1976 young Ted won the Mid South's version of the
North American title from the Spoiler.
After a while, Ted became noticed on a national level. As a result, he
was given a title shot a t Harley Race's National Wrestling Alliance
(NWA) world title. It was a big match for Ted against the seasoned
veteran Race, and DiBiase put up a great showing before the match was
halted due to a throat injury suffered by DiBiase. Ted went home to
recuperate, but upon his return it took him no time to reestablish
himself as a competitive wrestler. In the Spring of 1979, Ted defeated
the legendary Fritz Von Erich to win the North American Heavyweight
Championship. Soon after, Ted entered the World Wrestling Federation
and brought the N. A. title with him. He was acknowledged as the first
WWF North American champion and did battle against some all-star talent
such as Pat Patterson, Hussein Arab (The Iron Sheik), Bulldog Bob
Brower and others. On June 19, 1979 in Allentown, PA, DiBiase lost the
title to Pat Patterson. But his days in the WWF weren't over. Ted
competed briefly in the tag team division with such partners as West
Texas State classmate Tito Santana and the late great Andre the Giant.
Also, in December of 1979, Ted became the first ever opponent in
Madison Square Garden of a guy you might have heard of by the name of
Hulk Hogan.
Ted left the WWF in 1980 and returned to the Mid South region, which
would eventually become affiliated with the NWA. DiBiase won the North
American title a second time on February 1, 1980 by defeating Mike
George in Shreveport, LA. Between 1980 and 1987 Ted won this title four
more times, making him a five-time N.A. champion. Ted also won the NWA
United National Heavyweight title in October of 1983 after winning a
12-man tournament when Jerry Lawler forfeited in the finals. But
DiBiase's dominance in the Mid South/NWA area wasn't restricted to
singles action. He also won the tag team championship there on several
occasions. The first came on October 27, 1982 when he teamed with Matt
Borne (as the "Rat Pack") to defeat the Junkyard Dog and Mr. Olympia.
Ted would win the belts on three other occasions; once with Hercules
Hernandez and twice with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Williams and
DiBiase in particular were an incredible tag team that dominated the
Mid South territory, and were the first ever UWF tag champions after
the Mid South titles were renamed.
For the early part of his career, Ted took on the role of "babyface" or
"good guy" in wrestling.
He was obviously successful and garnered many
championships in those early years. Ted had actually broken into the
business as a "heel" or "bad guy" (a role his father had portrayed) but
was unable to generate the type of heat from the crowd that a
successful heel requires, so he went back to a face and stayed that way
for the first several years. Everything would change in 1983. Ted was a
fan favourite in the Mid South, and teamed regularly with the Junkyard
Dog, who was the most popular star in the region at the time and one of
the most popular ever. After a while, the Mid South area lost heel
wrestlers such as Paul Orndorff and the Samoans. Bill Watts, the
mastermind and boss of the Mid South, got together with assistant
booker Ernie Ladd and decided that what the Mid South area needed was a
strong heel. The two told DiBiase and other Mid South wrestlers to keep
their eyes on the wrestling circuit for a man who could fit the bill.
The rest of this story comes from DiBiase himself, courtesy of a
Prodigy chat on October 2, 1997:
At that time the strong babyfaces were myself and JYD. I used to tease
JYD and say "you know they play your music, you walk out and bark like
a dog and 10 minutes later it's over... you make all the money. I go
out and put in 45 minutes a night... something's not right". Then it
came to me one day... I went to Ernie Ladd's hotel room and told him "I
have found your heel". He was all excited... and said "who is it?". I
said "you're looking at him". His eyes got big like silver dollars and
he realized it was right in front of him. When I saw how excited he
got, he couldn't wait to get on the phone and call Bill. It was almost
like immediate... he said "That's it".
With DiBiase being the babyface that he was, and with he and JYD being frequent tag team partners, nobody could imagine Ted turning on the Dog. But that's exactly what he did. DiBiase would become a monster heel, and portrayed the character perfectly. He earned big-time success as a heel, dominating the Mid South championship scene either as champion or top contender. In November of 1985 he once again became a face after an NWA title shot against "Nature Boy" Ric Flair was interrupted by the hated Dick Murdoch who felt he deserved the title shot and beat up DiBiase in the process. However, Ted's time as a heel impressed a lot of people. He'd showed what he's capable of.
In 1986, the Mid South area was renamed (under Watts) the Universal
Wrestling Federation (UWF). The company also became more involved with
the NWA, and in 1987 the company was absorbed into the NWA (which later
became World Championship Wrestling). This left DiBiase with two main
choices. The NWA or the WWF. But then, it happened. Ted explains in an
interview with RichInKC in September of 1997:
It truly was a dream come true. Vince McMahon called me at home, said
he had a great idea and thought that I was the man that fit the bill.
He then flew my wife and I first class to New York City where a stretch
limousine picked us up and took us to his office in Stamford,
Connecticut. As I sat in Vince's office, he laid out this character in
detail to me. "Ted, we're going to make you the most evil villain that
wrestling has ever seen. You will be wrestling's J.R. Ewing, or
Ebenizer Scrooge, if you will. You will be filthy rich. You will throw
money around like it's water. Throwing it at peoples' feet, laughing in
their faces and telling them to get on their hands and knees and grovel
for your money and then, I want the full visual effect. Ted, we're
going to fly you all over the country wherever you go first class. Lear
jets, if they are available. There will be a limousine to carry you
everywhere, no matter where you are. I am going to make sure you have a
wad of $100 bills, and even if you only buy a pack of gum, I want you
to always use a hundred. You will stay at the finest hotels and we are
even going to give you a bodyguard (Virgil, now the NWO's Vincent). On
top of all of that, you're going to make a lot of money."
My response was disbelief. I couldn't believe this was happening to me.
Without any hesitation, I said, "I am your man." With that, he then
says, "I want you and your wife to take the limousine outside and I've
made arrangements for a room at the Helmsley Palace in New York City,
dinner at one of the finest restaurants in the city, and after that
tickets to the theater. Ted, welcome aboard, go start being the Million
Dollar Man. . . ."
And that's exactly what he did. DiBiase debuted in the WWF in late-1987
and became one of the sports' biggest heels almost overnight. For weeks
the WWF teased his debut by showing video vignettes of him doing
dastardly things. He bought the honeymoon suite of a hotel, kicking a
honeymooning couple out in the process. He bought a public pool for a
day, forcing all the children in the pool to stand and watch from the
other side of the fence. He got himself from the end of the line in a
fancy restaurant to the best table in the house. Then Ted (and Virgil)
brought their spectacle to arenas all over the world. DiBiase evenimg
challenged kids to do things for money. On one occasion he challenged a
youngster to dribble a basketball ten times for money, but after nine
dribbles Ted kicked the ball away and gave the boy nothing. He was
hated, he was despised. But because of it, people flocked to the arenas
to see Ted get beat up. "The Million Dollar Man" was a million dollar
success.
In 1988, Ted set out to capture the WWF heavyweight title. When he was
unable to get the job done on his own, he decided to buy the contract
of Andre the Giant. The Giant promised DiBiase that he would win the
title and present it to him. In February of 1988, Andre defeated
champion Hulk Hogan on a "Main Event" special in one of the most
controversial title changes in wrestling history. True to his word, the
Giant gave the title belt to DiBiase. Ted's title reign would be
short-lived, as WWF President Jack Tunney stripped the Million Dollar
Man of the title and announced a WWF title tournament to take place at
Wrestlemania IV. DiBiase entered into the tournament and made it all
the way to the finals before being defeated by "Macho Man" Randy Savage
thanks to outside interference from Hogan.
Ted's loss to "The Macho Man" set up a heated feud between Savage and
Hogan (known as the Megapowers) and DiBiase and Andre (called the
Megabucks). The two teams squared off at the first ever Summerslam,
with Ted's team coming out on the losing end.
Besides Savage, Ted had some memorable feuds in the WWF. After
introducing his "Million Dollar Championship" belt in 1990, DiBiase got
into a feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts after the Snake stole the
belt from Ted. The feud climaxed at Wrestlemania VI when the two
squared off for the belt, a match that Ted won. Another memorable feud
was against the Big Bossman, whose services Ted had initially enlisted
to help him get the Million Dollar belt back from Jake. When the
Bossman discovered that his manager Slick was being paid by DiBiase,
the "law abiding" Bossman refused to help and a bitter battle resulted.
One of Ted's best WWF feuds was against "The American Dream" Dusty
Rhodes. DiBiase enraged Rhodes when he bought Dusty's manager Sapphire.
There was also an edition of Saturday Night's Main Event that saw
DiBiase buy the seats of the entire front row. One of the seats was
occupied by Dusty's son Dustin Rhodes (Runnels) who refused to give it
up. Ted and his bodyguard Virgil delivered a beating to Dustin, and to
Dusty as well when he tried to come to his son's aid. This led to a
special 10-minute challenge match on WWF national television between
DiBiase and Dustin. The younger Rhodes lasted the 10-minutes and won
the match. Next came a series of tag matches involving DiBiase and
Virgil against the Rhodes. During one such match at the 1991 Royal
Rumble, the years of humiliation that Virgil had taken from Ted became
too much as he turned on his "boss".
Virgil would later win the Million
Dollar title from DiBiase, but Ted would eventually win the title back.
DiBiase also enlisted the services of "Sensational" Sherri Martel,
making him an even more dangerous competitor.
On February 7, 1992, the Legion of Doom were set to defend the WWF tag
titles against the team of the Natural Disasters. The Disasters'
manager, Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, threw a curveball at the
challengers as well as the LOD, as he announced that another team would
be the replacement opponents for the 'Disasters. Hart introduced "Money
Inc.", comprised of Irwin R. Shyster and DiBiase. The two defeated the
LOD and with that, Ted had his first legitimate WWF gold. The Disasters
were out for revenge and defeated Money Inc. that July, but DiBiase and
co. won the belts back on October 13, 1992. Then came Wrestlemania IX,
when Money Inc. took part in one-half of the double main event against
the team of Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake. Jimmy Hart had left Money
Inc. weeks earlier to join Hogan and Beefcake (aka the Megamaniacs)
following the champions' brutal assault on Beefcake during an episode
of Monday Night Raw.
The 'Maniacs won the match at Wrestlemania by
disqualification, but didn't win the belts, a huge moral victory for
the champs. But things would come to an end that June. Money Inc.
swapped the titles with the Steiner Brothers before losing them to the
Steiners for good on June 19, 1993. Money Inc. gained several title
shot rematches, one of which was a special steel cage match that
August. But the team was unable to regain the titles.
In the Summer of 1993, Money Inc. began appearing on Monday Night Raw
in interviews in which they made jokes about Razor Ramon (Scott Hall).
Ramon had just lost in a huge upset to WWF newcomer the 1-2-3 Kid (Sean
Waltman) on Raw. Ramon didn't take kindly to these comments and took on
Waltman as an ally. DiBiase took on the Kid on WWF Superstars, and
thanks to the outside distraction of Ramon, was pinned by the Kid in a
major upset. Then came Summerslam '93, with Razor going one-on-one
against the Million Dollar Man. Ted put up a good fight, but was beaten
cleanly by Ramon. Later in 1993, Ted suffered an injury to his
neck/spine. He explains here what he decided he had to do, courtesy of
Prodigy chat, October 2, 1997:
<
What I was told was that should I have the disc removed and replaced that I could possibly wrestle again, but in doing so I would risk being paralyzed if dropped on my head wrong. The injury took place at around the same time I was turning 40. I can remember as a kid deciding to get into wrestling, and the fact my father died in the ring at 45, I promised myself I wouldn't go beyond that age. When this injury took place at about that time, I said "That's it."
With the injury, the Million Dollar Man saw his wrestling career come
to an end. He left the wrestling business altogether in late 1993, but
he would return. By the Spring of 1994, Ted DiBiase, the manager, was
back at it in the WWF. He immediately took on former partner Irwin R.
Shyster as a protege, and added Bam Bam Bigelow to his Money Inc.
stable soon after. Then, DiBiase announced that he'd brought back the
Undertaker (who had been out of action since the 1994 Royal Rumble),
and introduced his fake Undertaker (aka Brian "Chainz" Lee). DiBiase's
Undertaker took on, and was defeated by, the real Undertaker at
Summerslam '94. Also at that event, Ted added Tatanka to his stable
after the Native American turned on Lex Luger. DiBiase continued with
his group well into 1995, as he added WWF great King Kong Bundy, Sid,
and the 1-2-3 Kid. Despite the impressive men that Ted enlisted, he
never achieved great success with this group. Ted's feud with the
Undertaker continued after Summerslam '94, and it saw UT plow through
all of DiBiase's men, including feuds with IRS, Bundy and Kama. DiBiase
also enlisted the services of Henry Godwinn at one point, but Godwinn
soon had enough of "boss Ted" and engaged in a brief and ridiculous
feud with Money Inc. that saw DiBiase get a bucket of pig slop dumped
over him on several occasions.
By the end of 1995, Money Inc. had basically disbanned with the
exception of the 1-2-3 Kid. However, Ted began to focus his attention
on his newest recruit,The Ringmaster (aka Steve Austin). DiBiase
proclaimed that Austin was the new Million Dollar Champion, and Steve
even used Ted's "Million Dollar Dream" sleeperhold as his finisher.
Just like the wrestlers before him, Austin just didn't enjoy a high
level of success under DiBiase. He engaged in a feud
with Savio Vega
that climaxed with a Caribbean Strap Match in May of 1996 at WWF In
Your House: Beware of Dog II. DiBiase announced before the match that
if Austin lost, Ted would leave the WWF. Austin did indeed lose to
Vega, and with that, DiBiase's long and illustrious WWF career came to
an end.
DiBiase had done a lot in the WWF. Besides being a contender for
several years (as well as the manager of contenders), Ted has also been
the benefactor of Brother Love, and had been the man who introduced the
Undertaker at the 1990 Survivor Series. DiBiase's history of being a
man to introduce stars continued on as he joined World Championship
Wrestling (WCW) shortly after his WWF career ended. Ted became the
benefactor of WCW's popular nWo angle. He then left the group because being a devout Christian it wouldn't set a good example of what the
NWO did and what he was preaching.
He became a face manager mananager for The Steiner Brothers in 1997, but by 19998 they had all disbanded and gone they're seperate ways.
Today, Ted DiBiase is a born-again Christian who travels across the
United States preaching the word of God at various churches and
religious conferences. He is greatly involved in charity work, and is a
spokesman for the Sunshine Foundation, an organization that grants
wishes to critically ill children. Ted is also a motivational speaker,
and appears at various assemblies to speak out against drug and alcohol
abuse. He warns America’s youth about the trap of being addicted to
drugs and alcohol. He also encourages them to stay in school, set
reachable goals and pay whatever price it takes to become the best that
they can be. To top it off, DiBiase wrote his own book this last year,
an autobiography entitled "Every Man Has His Price: The True Story of
Wrestling's Million Dollar Man".
Visit The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase's official website!! Click here!!