THE UNFORGETTABLE - 'MILLION DOLLAR MAN' TED DIBIASE

Fact File:

Real Name: Theodore Marvin Dibiase

Date of Birth: January 18th 1954

Finishing Manoeuvre: The Million Dollar Dream

Other Wrestling Aliases: Ted Willis

In wrestling there are stars and then there are legends. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, wrestlers like Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake, The Mountie and The Warlord were stars. Only a handful of those who laced up their boots can ever be considered true legends. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Ric Flair etcetera are undoubtedly legends of this business, but this month we focus on a man who slips under the radar when talking about the greatest wrestlers of all time, or legends of the business. Yet without him, wrestler like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage would have struggled to get over against lesser heels.

Pound for pound, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase is one of the greatest wrestlers to ever step foot inside a wrestling ring and is also the greatest heel Vince McMahon and his then World Wrestling Federation has ever created. In fact, Ted Dibiase may be the greatest heel in wrestling history, period. Randy Orton, the NWO, Billy Graham were all excellent heel characters at one time or another but none of them could hold a torch to Ted Dibiase.

With his cocksure nature and attitude that he was better than the audience he was performing for, thanks to his storyline wealth, Dibiase continuously raised the ire of the people and was often the most despised man in the arena, a feeling heightened when Dibiase began offering the attending audience an opportunity to earn some cash by completing challenges ‘The Million Dollar Man’ would regularly impede. One such challenge featured a young boy who was offered cash by Dibiase to bounce a ball which the star then kicked away as the boy was about to complete his task. The boy in question was none other than a very young, Rob Van Dam.

Before Ted Dibiase was Vince McMahon’s greatest heel and one of the World Wrestling Federation’s leading performers, he had a life away from the ring and was a household name in many other American territories as well as countries around the world.

Born Theodore Marvin Willis on January 18th 1954, the baby who would eventually grow up to have a trademark laugh and clad himself in a sparkly black jacket and trousers was the son of wrestler Helen Nevis and entertainer / singer, Ted Willis. The early life of ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was a complicated one for the youngster. When his mother met ‘Iron’ Mike Dibiase and the two fell madly in love, Helen divorced his father and Mike Dibiase adopted Ted changing his surname to one which would catapult him to worldwide fame in the future.

One July 2nd 1969 in Lubbock, Texas, tragedy struck his family. During a match against Man Mountain Mike, ‘Iron’ Mike Dibiase suffered a fatal heart attack which ended his life. Valiant efforts were made to resuscitate Mike and none made more effort than former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race, who performed CPR on the grappler; however their efforts were in vain. Though he survived an ambulance trip, ‘Iron’ Mike Dibiase was pronounced dead at the hospital. Ted Dibiase was just fifteen years old and after his adoptive father’s passing, Dibiase’s mother would enter a downward spiral of depression which ultimately led to alcohol abuse. She could no longer cope now her husband had gone and was classed unfit to look after the son she had dragged into this life, after leaving Dibiase’s biological father.

The beginning of greatness for Ted came after ‘Iron’ Mike passed away. With his mother drinking herself into a bigger and bigger hole, Ted Dibiase moved away from his home and into his grandparent’s house in Wilcox, Arizona. It was a logical move since his mother could no longer care for him and he had to move on with his life. Move on, he did. Attending Creighton Preparatory High School, Dibiase went the way of a majority of would be wrestlers and earned himself a football scholarship. Maybe history would have been different had Ted Dibiase stuck to his guns and stayed on the football field. Perhaps Vince McMahon would have chosen Jake Roberts or Jim Neidhart to portray ‘The Million Dollar Man’ character. Destiny was calling and Dibiase’s mind was made up for him when he suffered an injury in his senior year. Instead of making an effort to return to football, Ted Dibiase decided to follow in the footsteps of his mother and adoptive father and step between the ropes to pursue a career in professional wrestling. It would be the single greatest decision that Dibiase would ever make.

After seeing his step-father die in the middle of the ring, it must have weighed heavy on Ted’s mind. Some small part of him must have wondered if the same fate awaited him when the bell rang. A brave decision would turn out to be the making of a legendary career. Trained by Dory Funk Jr and the great Terry Funk, Dibiase made his wrestling debut not in tights but a referee’s shirt in June 1974, in the Amarillo Territory ran by his trainers The Funks. Though Ted wouldn’t achieve the fame he may have wished wrestling and refereeing for the Funks, his big break was on its way when one year later Dibiase branched out, spread his wings and went to work for Bill Watts down in the Mid-South.

Mid-South Wrestling Association would herald a new era in Ted Dibiase’s life. He had finally found a home which he could settle into and develop his skills. Upon his debut in the company, Dibiase lost to Danny Hodge. His losing ways wouldn’t last however as on July 9th 1975, on a, NWA Tri-State / Mid-South Wrestling show in Jackson, Mississippi Ted Dibiase would best Bill Dromo for a huge upset and by far the biggest victory of his career so far. There was potential there to become great. Bill Watts saw it and so did those in attendance for any of Dibiase’s matches. Being the son both biological and adopted of wrestlers had obviously rubbed off on Ted, though what was to come would see the son surpass his mother and adopted father.

As was common in the seventies and eighties, the wrestlers didn’t stay in one territory when there was money to be made elsewhere. The talent would swap and change, travelling back and forth to different promotions several times per week before returning to their home promotion for weekly television tapings and house shows. Dibiase was no different and on Christmas Day 1975, Dibiase stepped into NWA Western States Promotion and wrestled to a fine fifteen minute time limit draw with the late Lord Alfred Hayes. It was working. People were beginning to sit up and take notice of this young upstart. More than that though, they were supporting him even though his heel tendencies bordered on egoistical.

There’s always been something special about liking a heel. Fans jeer them at events but deep down they love to hate them and there was no finer heel in the wrestling business than Ted Dibiase. He resonated with the audience and struck that part of your nerve which made you want to get up and punch him in the face. That was the power of his character and the measurement of his talent. A gift which made him ultra marketable to promoters around the country and made him a valuable commodity. Though he was still green in terms of wrestling, Dibiase was a very fast learner in the ring and throughout 1976 he had a string of losses and victories against known talent in the Tri-State / Mid-South area and on April 28th 1976 in Fort Smith, Arkansas Ted Dibiase and Dick Murdoch defeated Buck Robley and Bob Slaughter to capture the NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championships in what was a glorious moment for the young Dibiase.

Dibiase and Murdoch may have lost the Tag Team Championships to Bobby Sweetan and Killer Karl Kox a fortnight later on May 11th 1976 in Shreveport, Louisiana but Dibiase had already gained enough exposure and confidence to know that he could make it in this business and the tag team with Dick Murdoch would not end for quite a while. Dibiase had caught the eye of promoters elsewhere in the world and none more so than All Japan Pro Wrestling where the man who was still ten years off of his ‘Million Dollar Man’ character would become one of the biggest stars of its company. 1976 was spent travelling to and from Japan for Ted and on two nights in August he traded victories with Japanese star Samson Kutsuwada. On August 24th, Kutsuwada went over Dibiase in Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan and the following evening Dibiase came out victorious in Biei, Hokkaido, Japan. It may have only been two matches but it was enough to warrant further bookings for Dibiase and on top of that his exploits in the land of the rising sun had reached fans back home who called for Dibiase to hold some singles gold on American shores.

The call was answered and upon his return to the United States and back home with NWA Tri-State / Mid-South Wrestling Ted Dibiase was given the honour of becoming the NWA North American Heavyweight Champion when he pinned The Brute to capture the Championship in December 1976. Championship records are sketchy for this period of time and whilst it’s not known how long Dibiase held the gold for we do know he dropped it to The Great Zimm in 1977 in Shreveport, Louisiana. The defeat was the first curtain call for Dibiase in Mid-South. In a few short years he’d done everything he could for now and sought out bigger challenges elsewhere, finally landing in Central States Wrestling where his star would rise.

On May 19th 1977, on a Central States Wrestling in Kansas City, Kansas Ted Dibiase claimed another Heavyweight Championship when he rolled over Sgt. Slaughter for the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship. There was no doubt that Dibiase was on his way to the top and fans were now more willing to buy into the character which gave the promotions booking him more scope as to what they could with the man. Records are unclear as to when Dibiase lost the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship but they do show that Bobby Sweetan defeated Ted Dibiase in a non-title match on July 27th 1977 in Kansas City and that Bob Brown defeated Bobby Sweetan for the gold on October 30th 1977.

In 1978, Ted Dibiase divided his time between three promotions, Central States Wrestling, St. Louis Wrestling Club and the World Wide Wrestling Federation for which he had only one tryout match that year on WWWF’s PRISM Network Television Show on August 18th 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania defeating Moose Monroe. Skipping back to the beginning of the year in Central States Wrestling, 1978 got off to both a sweet and sour beginning for the man who was ever nearing his calling in wrestling. On January 7th Ted Dibiase defeated Bob Brown to regain the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship only to lose it to Alexis Smirnoff the very same night. The transitional champion role was one that Dibiase wouldn’t be stuck with.

Booked on a St. Louis Wrestling Club show on February 12th 1978 in St. Louis, Missouri, Ted Dibiase was about to broaden his horizons with fans who had not yet had ample chance to take in his brilliance in the ring. The company which was run by wrestling legend and the man who tried to save Dibiase’s adopted father, Harley Race, and the wrestling legend needed a new face to carry the promotions top championship. Turning to his friend’s adopted son, Ted Dibiase was made the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Champion when he went over Dick Slater for his first Championship, losing it to his former Mid-South tag team partner Dick Murdock on February 26th.

Something was happening around Ted Dibiase. A buzz generated only by a few stars in the wrestling industry. Hulk Hogan had it in 1983, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes all had it later on in the century and Ted Dibiase was beginning to accumulate it. Even though he was mostly a heel, depending on which territory he travelled to, people were willing to pay to see him. Dibiase was becoming the focus of a war between the territories. A war which would be won for a short time by Vince McMahon, in 1979. Dibiase had the look of a wrestler and more importantly, he could move in the ring.

Vince McMahon wasn’t the only promoter to notice Dibiase’s presence in the ring though, as the man who was closing in on the ‘Million Dollar’ moniker. The National Wrestling Alliance, whose territories Dibiase had been travelling around and making a name for himself in, had been considering Ted Dibiase for a while to be the next NWA World Heavyweight Champion – the highest accolade an NWA performer could be given – and a Championship which Harley Race had made famous. The Alliance board members who decided what happened to the Championship and who held it, had shortlisted Ted Dibiase to be the man who took over from Harley Race the next year. In the end, the shortlist came down to two people. Ted Dibiase and Ric Flair.

I don’t know what went on in the NWA office and neither do I know how the conversation went to stop Ted Dibiase becoming the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, but I have a good idea. The NWA board liked to put the main title on wrestlers who had held major Championships before to make sure they had a strong following and could sell out arenas around the country and world. Ted Dibiase had never held a major NWA Championship before and whilst he had been Missouri Heavyweight Champion and Central States Heavyweight Champion the board didn’t consider these Championships prestigious enough to qualify Dibiase for the top spot. But then, Ric Flair was in the same boat. He’s never held a truly prestigious top tier championship whilst with the NWA but Flair had one things going for him which Ted Dibiase didn’t. Jim Crocket.

Jim Crocket was a staunch supporter of Ric Flair, from the moment ‘The Nature Boy’ stepped foot in the NWA and Jim Crocket Promotions. For Jim Crocket, Ric Flair was the man who was always going to spearhead the company and the NWA after Harley Race and there was no changing his mind. Not that Crocket was wrong. Without a doubt, Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler to ever step foot in a ring. But Ted Dibiase comes in the top five. When the subject of the next NWA Heavyweight Champion arose in the NWA offices, Jim Crocket never had anyone else in mind to push for the gold and thanks to the sway Crocket held with the NWA bigwigs Ted Dibiase was always going to come second to Flair. Just think how different history could have been had Ted Dibiase been chose to defeat Harley Race for the NWA Heavyweight Championship in 1981 and Starrcade 1983 instead of the fresh faced, Ric Flair.

History is a funny thing and after being spurned by the NWA for a top flight run, Ted Dibiase sought out pastures new and that came in the form of Vince McMahon Jr. The man we know today as Vince McMahon. With the World Wide Wrestling Federation expanding by the annum and soon to change its name to the World Wrestling Federation, Ted Dibiase decided to test the water in Stamford, Connecticut and his reward was an immediate run as the short lived WWWF North American Heavyweight Champion. The Championship didn’t last the course and would soon be defunct, merged with the fictional WWWF / WWF South American Championship by Pat Patterson to become the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

Awarded the WWWF North American Heavyweight Championship on his debut in the company on February 13th 1979, Dibiase was a valiant champion, defending the title on house shows throughout the year and racking up a reign of 126 days, retaining the gold against Frank Rodriguez on WWWF Championship Wrestling Television Show on March 6^th 1979 in Allentown, Pennsylvania and on the same night, possibly a television taping for another WWWF Television programme, Dibiase also retained the Championship in a hard fought battle against Mr. X.

Ted Dibiase would reign as the WWWF / WWF North American Heavyweight Champion for three more months, putting in defences and retentions against wrestlers such as Jerry Valiant (April 28th), Greg Valentine (May 2nd), Baron Mikel Scicluna (May 5th), Nikolai Volkoff (May 15th and 16th) and Hussein Arab (June 12th) to name but a few. In truth, Dibiase’s Championship defences were many over the three months to the point where he was defending the gold almost every night. The amount of matches would be too much to list here but he defended against the above more than once. During this time Dibiase also teamed with a man who he would have great success with almost a decade later, Andre the Giant to defeat Greg Valentine and Peter Mavia, the father of The Rock, in tag team action on April 19th in New Jersey.   

Vince McMahon noticed that the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship wasn’t making waves in the company and held against the WWF Championship, the company’s main headline title, it paled in comparison. As good as Dibiase was as Champion, the decision was made to have Dibiase drop the gold and see if another wrestler could make it a success. On June 19th 1979, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Ted Dibiase dropped the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship to Pat Patterson in a defeat which would signal the beginning of the end of the first run in the company for Dibiase. With other promotions knocking on Dibiase’s door, including an offer to return to Japan, Dibiase and Vince McMahon parted ways with the door left open for a return.

Along with his WWF North American Heavyweight Championship reign in his first stint with the World Wrestling Federation, Dibiase, in later years, could also lay claim to being Hulk Hogan’s first ever Madison Square Garden opponent. A claim which would boost his popularity when he returned to his old stomping ground of Mid-South Wrestling in 1980. Dibiase’s homecoming was an uneventful affair and by the time he stepped back into the ring for Mid-South the company was experiencing difficulties. Fans were leaving the territory to pledge their allegiance to bigger promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation and Jim Crocket promotions. Seeing that his star would no longer rise in Mid-South, Dibiase decided to split his time during the year between Mid-South and Harley Race’s St. Louis Wrestling club. Another promotion which would soon experience difficulties due to the national expansion of Vince McMahon and Jim Crocket’s enterprises.

Amongst other victories and defeats, for Mid-South Wrestling Ted Dibiase kicked 1980 off with two consecutive victories over two consecutive nights, on January 4th and 5th. Rolling over Tank Patton in Shreveport, Louisiana and Mike Boyer in Alexandria, Louisiana respectively, Dibiase announced his return with a bang. Dibiase’s next big opponent in the company would be Ox Baker who Dibiase would defeat in a Lights Out Match on January 16th in Jackson, Mississippi and again two night later in a Texas Death Match in Shreveport, Louisiana. It was another valiant battle by Dibiase who was one of the top stars of the company at the time but even his talents couldn’t stop people flooding out of the gates to watch Vince McMahon’s muscle bound giants do battle.

In an attempt to cash in on Dibiase’s popularity, Mid-South Wrestling once again put the North American Heavyweight Championship around Dibiase’s waist for a second time on February 1st 1980 when the former WWF talent defeated Mike George. Mid-South had dropped the NWA from its name after it pulled out of the company in 1979. A move which only hastened its demise and would necessitate another name change a year later in order to bring in new fans. As the year grew older and summer came and went, Dibiase was flailing in Mid-South and with no real challenge left for him the only option was to drop the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship – which he did on September 19th to The Grappler in Shreveport, Louisiana – and accept bookings from St. Louis Wrestling Club where he triumphed over King Kong Bundy on October 24th in St. Louis, Missouri and Stan Lane on November 17th in Augusta, Georgia.

Unlike his first time around under booker Harley Race, Ted Dibiase was entrusted to carry the company for longer than a month. With no other obvious stars, St. Louis Wrestling Club put the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship around Dibiase’s waist for a second time on November 21st at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri putting him over Ken Patera. Whilst Dibiase would travel the territories he would do so as the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Champion and would not drop the gold for a whole year. Being the champion made Dibiase yet a more marketable commodity as promoters had to option to book champion vs champion matches. They rarely would, but the option was there and Dibiase ended 1980 with Heavyweight gold. If he thought it couldn’t get any better then he was wrong.

When Georgia Championship Wrestling came calling at the turn of 1981, Ted Dibiase answered its call and on January 26th 1981 in Augusta, Georgia the man would add even more gold to his already sizable cabinet when he and Stan Frazier defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy) for the NWA National Tag Team Championships. The victory would spark a war between Ted Dibiase and The Freebirds, though Ted would acquire different partners for the ongoing feud. Less than five days later on January 31^st Dibiase and Frazier returned the favour and dropped the Tag Team Championships back to Hayes and Gordy in order to prolong the feud beyond two months. It was and still is a common practice in wrestling today, that when a feud is planned to go beyond a certain amount of time, any championships at stake within the feud must change hands to keep the rivalry fresh. Only in 1981, it was much more effective than it is in 2013.

Before the feud between Dibiase and The Freebirds continued, there was singles action to attend to back in Missouri for St. Louis Wrestling Club and in yet another bid to draw viewers back from the bigger and expanding promotions, booker and then NWA Heavyweight Champion Harley Race promoted a Champion vs Champion match, in which he would defend the NWA Heavyweight Championship against his main man and NWA Missouri Heavyweight Champion, Ted Dibiase. The match took place on February 6th in St. Louis and Race held Dibiase in such high esteem that he lost by disqualification to his promotions champion, thus retaining NWA’s top title. Harley Race booked the disqualification loss for two reasons. The first was that if Race had pinned Dibiase on the night then there was a chance the loss would have devalued Dibiase and his NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship reign. Race was relying on Dibiase to sell seats when not wrestling for other promotions and knew people wouldn’t buy into him if he’d lost. The second was in a hope to book a rematch the between the pair that never really came about.

At this point in time, in February 1981, Ted Dibiase’s life was a hectic one. Don’t forget, whilst wrestling for Mid-South he was also wrestling for St. Louis Wrestling Club and Georgia Championship Wrestling, the territory he would go back to next to revive his feud with The Fabulous Freebirds.

It was a successful tag team feud for Georgia Championship Wrestling. The Fabulous Freebirds were such a strong tandem that people would pay to see them both triumph and get beat. On June 10th in Mariette, Georgia, Ted Dibiase and new tag team partner Steve Olsonoski defeated The Freebirds to capture the NWA National Tag Team Championships, drawing first blood in the re-imaging of the feud. Whilst the feud would continue on house shows, Michael Hayes was dropped from the equation and replaced with Jimmy Snuka who teamed with Terry Gordy to end Dibiase and Olsonoski’s Championship reign on July 6th in Augusta. The departure of Michael Hayes from the feud spelled the end of the rivalry between Dibiase and The Freebirds. There was no longevity in Snuka occupying the role and Georgia Championship Wrestling axed the storyline seven months after it had begun.

The strain was becoming too much for Dibiase who was having almost zero personal time or family time. He was on the road nearly seven days a week travelling between St. Louis, Georgia and Mid-South and the pressure was finally beginning to show. The schedule may have been tolerable if Dibiase wasn’t the Champion of two promotions so seeing that he had burdened his main star long enough, Harley Race gave the green light to take the pressure off of Dibiase and had Jack Brisco dethrone Ted on October 2nd 1981. It had been a glorious reign for Dibiase. Almost a year had passed since he captured the Championship and the recognition had set his career alight. But everything comes to an end and I can’t imagine it was a sad day when he was relieved of his Championship duties. The Championship loss was the end of Ted Dibiase’s time with St. Louis Wrestling Club, he would never return.

The parting between St. Louis Wrestling Club and Ted Dibiase must have been a painful one for the future ‘Million Dollar Man’. He was the figure head for a year. He’d defeated then NWA Heavyweight Champion Harley Race and had accomplished so much by the time came for him to bid them farewell. But Dibiase knew that stepping away from the company would allow him to cut down his wrestling schedule and compete for only two promotions, thus giving him more personal time to spend at home. It was a welcome respite for a man who had spent almost 365 days of the past couple of years wrestling.

Returning to the declining Mid-South Wrestling, Dibiase was given his third MSW North American Heavyweight Championship reign on November 1st 1981 when he bested Paul Orndorff in Lake Charles, Louisiana and 25 days later retained the gold against Bob Roop on Mid-South Wrestling’s Superdome Extravaganza show. At the end of the year, all Ted Dibiase’s hard work had finally paid off outside the ring when he was bestowed with the recognition of ‘Best Technical Wrestler’ in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards.

1982 was uneventful for Dibiase who had all but left Georgia Championship Wrestling behind and dedicated his time solely to Mid-South Wrestling. Though it would be an uneventful venture, the year was filled with high profile matches mostly in Championship positions. Three months into the year, on March 17th 1982 Bob Roop defeated Ted Dibiase for the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Championship loss was a means to an end for Dibiase who’s storyline friendship with Sylvester ‘Junkyard Dog’ Ritter was about to come to a climatic conclusion. The pair had been friends in the company for years but with a lack of main event feuds to promote, Mid-South split the pair and had Dibiase resume the heel role turning on his best friend.

It was a hot feud and very good one for two men who would later have varying degrees of success in the World Wrestling Federation. After the split, Junkyard Dog defeated Bob Roop for the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship on June 21st in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Championship was to help facilitate the feud between the former allies and six days after he won the gold, Junkyard Dog would look at the lights for Dibiase as he claimed his fourth and final Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship. It was a clever move by Mid-South, fans packed into arenas to see the despicable Dibiase get what was coming to him. The old ‘wrong friend’ storyline had worked a treat this time around, partly because of Ted Dibiase’s aptitude for playing a loathsome son of a bitch.

The feud between Dibiase and Junkyard Dog would span months of Mid-South television and house show time and was its main attraction. Ted Dibiase and Matt Bourne had formed a group called The Rat Pack, who defeated Junkyard Dog and Mr. Olympia for the Mid-South Tag Team Championships on October 27th in Shreveport before the pair resumed their singles feud in which Junkyard Dog lost a ‘Loser Leaves Town’ match to Dibiase and was forced on an exodus from the company. It didn’t last, the stipulations in these matches never do, and Junkyard Dog returned to Mid-South soon after under a mask as the wrestler Stagger Lee where he defeated Ted Dibiase for the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship on November 25th 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The victory provoked a huge response from the audience who were confident they had seen the conclusion to the Dibiase vs Junkyard Dog feud – which they had.

Ted Dibiase vs Junkyard Dog had reaped its own rewards for the pair and not only had they been given free reign over the top of Mid-South’s card, they were also awarded ‘Feud of the Year’ in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards 1982. When 1982 came to a close there was no denying who the future of the business was and not only was Dibiase in big demand all over the United States, he was also once again a valued player in Japan. Dibiase would stave off interest from All Japan Pro Wrestling for another year however, deciding instead to renew his business relationship with Georgia Championship Wrestling. The rest period of wrestling for one promotion for a year had healed the wounds and now Dibiase was ready to take the country by storm again in 1983.

Still recognised as the Mid-South Tag Team Champion along with Rat Pack partner Matt Bourne, Ted Dibiase was approaching the end of his time in Mid-South, for now at least. To see out his obligations to the company he had one last storyline to complete and that was his final foray into the promotions tag team division. The Rat Pack lost the Tag Team Championships to Mr. Wrestling II and Tiger Conway Jr on March 12th in Houston, Texas and one month later on April 13th 1983 Ted Dibiase teamed with Mr. Olympia to snatch the doubles gold back from Mr. Wrestling II and Tiger Conway Jr. Dibiase and Bourne’s team was done in Mid-South and Dibiase would leave shortly after he and Mr. Olympia lost the Tag Team Championships to Magnum T.A and Jim Duggan on July 24th 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It wasn’t the end of their business relationship however. Dibiase and Bourne would meet again in the early nineties as The Million Dollar Man and Doink the Clown.

Ted Dibiase was a huge loss to Mid-South though he would return over the next few years for sparse dates. His character after turning on Junkyard Dog was huge for the promotion and his niche of ending matched with a loaded black glove, retrieved from his tights was a guaranteed heat magnet. But promotions like Mid-South aren’t big enough to hold birds like Dibiase. Sometimes, you come across a rare gem in this industry that needs exposure and that needs to spread their wings and fly. Mid-South were clipping Dibiase’s wings and Ted was someone who was born to fly.

Dibiase had time to kill before he re-joined Georgia Championship Wrestling and had a very short stint with World Class Wrestling Association, which saw a cracking All Japan Pro Wrestling Unified National Championship Match between Ted Dibiase and champion Jumbo Tsuruta end in a draw on June 17th in Dallas, Texas – though this happened before he left Mid-South. Before he went to Georgia though, Dibiase travelled to Japan to for a few one off appearances where he extended his relationship with the country and company on October 14th 1983 in Sasebo, Japan defeating Jerry Lawler by forfeit in the final of the NWA United National Championship. Once again, Ted Dibiase was a heavyweight champion.

As the All Japan Pro Wrestling / NWA United National Champion, Dibiase made his return to Georgia Championship Wrestling where he began to team with ‘Wildfire Tommy Rich’ in a short lived face turn. The relationship would spiral out of control over 1983 and 1984 and the pair would fall out with Dibiase turning on his friend as he had done with Junkyard Dog in Mid-South. Landing back in Georgia with a splash, Dibiase upset Brett Wayne to capture the NWA National Heavyweight Championship on November 18th in Cleveland, Ohio. After landing the gold, Dibiase would defend against a whole host of faces in the promotion including Tommy Rich on December 3rd 1983 where Rich won by disqualification. Buzz Sawyer was the next contender between December 3rd and December 6th – records are not clear on an actual date – in a match which ending in a draw in Atlanta before Dibiase and Tommy Rich resumed their hostilities.

The history books read that Ted Dibiase defeated Tommy Rich to retain the NWA National Heavyweight Championship on December 6th 1983 in Macon, Georgia and on Christmas Day 1983 in Atlanta, Georgia. Dibiase and Rich’s storyline feud came to an end in 1984 when Dibiase defeated Rich in a Loser Leaves Town Match but akin to Junkyard Dog, Rich never left the company and instead came back under the mask of Mr. R to once again haunt Dibiase. If records were clearer then I could give you dates but alas I cannot, however Ted Dibiase did lose the AJPW / NWA United National Championship to Michael Hayes on January 28th 1984 in Athens, Georgia.

The Tommy Rich exit and re-entrance under the Mr. R mask had to have happened before February of 1984 because on February 18th in Athens, Georgia, Ted Dibiase lost the NWA National Heavyweight Championship to Mr. R widely believe to be Tommy Rich under the mask, everyone in the arena was shocked when Rich made his way to the ring at the conclusion of the match sans mask and distracted Dibiase to allow Mr. R to roll the champion up for the victory. Mr. R turned out to be Rich’s former tag team partner Brad Armstrong who Rich stole the Mr. R gimmick from. After losing the Championship to Armstrong both Dibiase and Rich would leave Georgia Championship Wrestling for a short while, though Dibiase would return a few months later.

Nearing the end of his territorial wrestling career, with just a few more years until fate would play its hand in Ted Dibiase’s career. Ready to take on the challenge of working for numerous wrestling promotions again and obviously missing the schedule otherwise why else would you take on that amount of work again, Dibiase split the remainder of his 1984 travelling back and forth from Japan to Georgia whilst making appearances for Mid-South which would extend into 1985.

Dibiase’s AJPW appearances were many, once again too many to list them all otherwise your mind would wander. Amongst the highlights was an excellent 17:07 NWA United National Championship Match on March 24th 1984 at All Japan Pro Wrestling’s Grand Champion Carnival in Tokyo, Japan which saw Genichiro Tenryu defeat Ted Dibiase to retain the Championship. On April 6th in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan Ted Dibiase and Bob Brown fell to Giant Baba and Mighty Inoue and on April 9th in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan Ted Dibiase romped to a victory over Magic Dragon.

After his exploits in All Japan, Dibiase had already experienced a hellish April but it wasn’t over yet. Before April turned to May in 1984 Ted Dibiase still had obligations to fulfil to Georgia Championship Wrestling defeating Jason Walker on April 22nd and Mike Starbuck on April 28th both in Atlanta, Georgia. May came and went for Dibiase and on July 14th in Macon, Georgia Ted Dibiase defeated The Spoiler to capture the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. The NWA and Georgia Championship Wrestling classed this match as a ‘phantom’ bout as The Spoiler was on his way out of GCW to join the WWF.

With the NWA National Heavyweight Championship in tow, Ted Dibiase returned to Mid-South Wrestling to compete in a few matches including bouts on Mid-South’s Superdome Extravaganza. They say that home is where the heart is and Ted Dibiase it was true. As 1984 came to an end and still NWA National Heavyweight Champion of Georgia Championship Wrestling, Ted Dibiase began to get comfortable with his status in Mid-South once again. But with another companies Championship around his waist he couldn’t completely relax and so on October 11th in Baltimore, Maryland Ted Dibiase dropped the NWA National Heavyweight Championship to Ronnie Garvin – a man who would become a member of The Fabulous Freebirds.

Once again, history repeated itself for Ted Dibiase as he had a prolonged stay in Mid-South Wrestling which lapsed into mid 1985. On December 3rd with Christmas approaching Ted Dibiase and Hercules Hernandez, the man who would go on to become Hercules in WWF rolled into New Orleans, Louisiana and whitewashed The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express to secure the Mid-South Tag Team Championships. The teams would trade the gold once more on Christmas Day once again in New Orleans.

1985 would be the final year Ted Dibiase set foot in Mid-South Wrestling Association under the company’s current name at least. Bigger things were on the horizon, Japan wanted him full time and Vince McMahon was keeping tabs on the man he had crowned the first ever WWF North American Heavyweight Champion. His final run in the company started with promise as Dibiase won his fifth and final Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship from Brad Armstrong on January 16th in Shreveport, Louisiana, a Championship reign which would last until March 13th when Dibiase was overrun by the future ‘Red Rooster’, Terry Taylor.

Dibiase’s final few months wrestling for Mid-South Wrestling Association were a rollercoaster of confusion for both him and the fans. Entering a heated feud with Jim Duggan which was meant to lead to Ted Dibiase’s exit from the company, the pair enthralled audiences everywhere, as unlikely as that sounds for a feud featuring Jim Duggan, until they finally reached Mid-South Wrestling’s Superdome Extravaganza on March 30th 1985, in the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ted Dibiase and Jim Duggan entered their ‘Loser Leaves Town, Tuxedo Street Fight, Coal Miner’s Glove on a Pole, Steel Cage Match’ – and they wonder why they went out of business – which Jim Duggan won. Even though he was meant to leave the company and thanks to the convoluted match in which Dibiase lost, fans naturally expected him and Mid-South to honour their agreement.

Yet they didn’t. Even after Dibiase had lost the match he appeared four days later amidst rumours that All Japan Pro Wrestling had secured his services. In all honesty, no one knew what was happening least of all Dibiase. Hoping to keep his services even after the Loser Leaves Town grapple with Duggan, Mid-South decided to put the Tag Team Championships back around his waist in a bid to convince him to stay and on May 3rd in Houston, Texas in front of fans that wouldn’t have necessarily seen Dibiase’s match against Duggan four days earlier, Ted Dibiase and Steve Williams defeated The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express to take the doubles straps. And then it all backfired for Mid-South. The rumours that Dibiase was to depart for All Japan were true and in his absence Bobby Sweetan stepped into the role of Tag Team Champion only for him and Williams to drop the belts to Al Perez and Wendell Cooley on August 28th.

Upon his arrival in All Japan Pro Wrestling Ted Dibiase was greeted with a situation which he had just left Mid-South in. The reigning PWF Tag Team Champions, Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody were in the middle of a transition as Brody jumped ship from All Japan to New Japan leaving Stan Hansen without a tag team partner. This was Dibiase’s call to arms as he took Brody’s place in the team and was immediately crowned one half of the PWF Tag Team Champions. They would not lose the titles for two years.

Every year in All Japan Pro Wrestling the company hold ‘The Worlds Strongest Tag Determination League’. The tournament is usually held from the end of November through to the beginning of December, under round robin rules which a team score two points for a victory, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In 1985, the tournament was held from November 23rd – December 12th around Japan and won by PWF Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase and Stan Hansen with a final total of seven points. To reach the top of the competition Dibiase and Hansen defeated Jesse Barr and Harley Race in 7:14, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith in 5:32 and Ashura Hara and Rusher Kimura in 8:04; the pair went to double count outs with Giant Baba and Dory Funk Jr in 13:04 and Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta in 13:10. The only two teams Dibiase and Hansen lost to in the tournament was Nick Bockwinkel and Curt Henning in 8:36 and Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu in and epic 30:00 collision.

A busy Christmas and hectic 1985 came to a conclusion for Ted Dibiase fourteen days after All Japan Pro Wrestling’s Worlds Strongest Tag Determination League, on Boxing Day 1985 when once again back in Mid-South, Ted Dibiase and former partner Steve Williams captured the Mid-South Tag Team Championships from Eddie Gilbert and The Nightmare in Biloxi, Mississippi. In 1986 Mid-South Wrestling changed their name to the Universal Wrestling Federation which necessitated a name change for the company’s championships and the Mid-South Tag Team Championships became the UWF Tag Team Championships. A name change also meant the company needed new faces to represent the next generation. Those faces were a tag team named The Sheepherders, who would find fame in the World Wrestling Federation as The Bushwhackers. Luke and Butch went over Dibiase and Williams to take the gold on March 16th 1986 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

Adding to his already bulging list of accolades, Ted Dibiase was awarded ‘Feud of the Year’ for his Mid-South war with Jim Duggan. 1986 marked the end of Ted Dibiase’s obscurity in the territorial system. In one year he would be the man we all know and love him for but first there was unfinished business to attend to in Japan, namely the fact he was still one half of the PWF Tag Team Champions and the Universal Wrestling Federation. For All Japan, on April 22nd 1986 in Chichibu, Saitama, Japan Ted Dibiase defeated Ashura Hara and on April 26th Dibiase put Genichiro Tenryu over for the vacant NWA United National Championship in Omiya, Saitama, Japan.

After a brief return to the UWF to participate in their UWF Heavyweight Championship Tournament on May 30th in which Dibiase defeated Blade Runner Rock in the first round and lost to Terry Gordy in the quarter finals, it was back to All Japan where his biggest contribution to the company in 1986 was in the year ending ‘World’s Strongest Tag Determination League’ from November 22nd – December 12th where Dibiase and Hansen came joint first in the final standings with the team of Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta. Both teams achieved ten points.

In the tournament itself Ted Dibiase and Stan Hansen defeated Giant Baba and Tiger Mask II in 12:57, Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk in 3:49, Ashura Hara and Super Strong Machine in 7:26, Rusher Kimura and Goro Tsurumi in 6:47 and Rick and Martel and Tom Zenk in 10:29. The pair lost only to the team of Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu in 11:02 and went to double count outs with Terry Gordy and Killer Khan in 6:31 and Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta in 9:19.

In 1987 the Universal Wrestling Federation was dealt its final blow when Jim Crocket brought the promotion outright as he had many promotions in 1983 to fund his then foray into pay-per view’s forerunner Closes Circuit Television, with Starrcade 1983. Still a major part of the promotion in heart and soul at least, Ted Dibiase was locked in talks with the NWA to prolong his stay in the territorial system when he received an offer which trumped them all from his former employer Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. To say that Ted Dibiase was hesitant to take the offer on the table was an understatement. After the way the company used him eight years previously he was apprehensive of the way he would be used again. Only this time, he need not have worried.

Inventing a gimmick that he believed was one of the best since Hulkamania, Vince McMahon hand picked Dibiase to play his new brain child. The deal breaker was that Vince McMahon give Ted Dibiase a solid guarantee that this time around he would be used properly and receive a serious push to the top of the card where everyone who had seen him wrestle before, knew he belonged. At this stage in his career, Ted Dibiase knew that he belonged at the top of Vince McMahon’s steroid built mountain and if he didn’t get the guarantee that he sought then he would stay with the territories where he was a headline star. Vince McMahon agreed to Ted Dibiase’s terms and to the mega push which began almost immediately after his debut; though McMahon wouldn’t divulge the character Dibiase would be playing until after he had signed the contract.

What everyone believes was the deal breaker, is Pat Patterson. The man Ted Dibiase lost the World Wrestling Federation North American Heavyweight Championship to in July 1979, had assured Dibiase that the character he would play on WWF Television was one Vince McMahon would play if he were a legitimate wrestler. Could you get a better warranty that your place in the company was going to be a starring role? As it turned out Patterson’s assurance wasn’t only correct it was an understatement. After nearly ten years on the territorial circuit Ted Dibiase had struck it big and would never need to return to the lowly beginnings which made him, though he would continue to tour Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling throughout the year on account of his status as one half of the PWF Tag Team Champions.

And so history was born and on three house shows on April 7th, 17th and 18th, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase lost to One Man Gang. It wasn’t the beginning that Dibiase had hoped for under his new guise but on house shows against major names Dibiase would usually be used as the fall guy and the favour was returned on television with victories for Dibiase via count out or disqualification. On April 25th 1987, Ted Dibiase’s losses to One Man Gang were rectified when Dibiase triumphed over Gang on a WWF House Show in Jackson, Mississippi.

Now contracted with the World Wrestling Federation as ‘The Million Dollar Man’, Ted Dibiase, dressed in his black, sparkly jacket and trousers with gold lapels and huge dollar sign on his back, accompanied with his bodyguard Virgil, Ted Dibiase immediately caught the attention of his peers and fans alike and it was as plain as day that he was destined for greatness. But that greatness could only be confined to one company and seeing as Dibiase was contracted to Vince McMahon for the next seven years of his life, his ties with All Japan had to be severed. It was a sad parting for Dibiase as Japan had been good to him as far as exposure and getting his name out to the rest of the world, but as has been stated before, all good things come to an end.

Completing his obligations and agreed dates with All Japan, Ted Dibiase and Stan Hansen finally dropped the PWF Tag Team Championships to Tiger Mask II and Jumbo Tsuruta on July 3rd 1987 in Tokyo, Japan only in a bizarre turn of events for Dibiase and Hansen to win the doubles gold back from the pair they had lost them to on July 11th in Yonago, Japan. The victory left All Japan in a muddle. Dibiase only had a few dates left to complete for the company before he was sole property of Vince McMahon and those dates were already booked as singles encounters. There was no room left for Dibiase and Hansen to lose the gold again and therefore the decision was made to make the team vacate the gold later in the month before Dibiase returned to the WWF.

Like all wrestlers leaving a company, Ted Dibiase went out the right way, putting over the company’s stars on his way out in a completely selfless fashion. He was a big enough star in Japan to elevate talent by putting them over in matches and Japan both knew and used this fact to their advantage. On July 19th Ted Dibiase looked at the lights for Tiger Mask in Tokyo, Japan and in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan Yoshiaki Yatsu was the next All Japan star to triumph over the outgoing ‘Million Dollar Man’. Dibiase’s final job was in a tag team match with Stan Hansen on July 30th 1987 in Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan as the pair went down in a blaze of glory to Hiroshi Wajima and Jumbo Tsuruta. Though the pair had already vacated their Tag Team Championship by this point, Ted Dibiase left a lasting impression on the company which he would see out the final days of his wrestling career with in 1993.

Now with his undivided attention, Vince McMahon could begin the push which Ted Dibiase had been promised and five days after bidding farewell to All Japan Pro Wrestling, Ted Dibiase marched into a WWF Superstars taping on August 4th, accompanied by his fist full of dollars and iconic entrance theme of ‘Money, Money, Money’ and stormed to a victory over jobber Jerry Allen in 1:51. Like every other main roster star, Ted Dibiase was permitted to look unbeatable against enhancement talent on television but it was on house shows during August which Dibiase stamped his mark on the WWF by downing some of the company’s most recognisable stars.

On a WWF House Show on August 18th 1987, Dibiase put and end to the challenge of The Genius in Utica, New York. On August 20th in Erie, Pennsylvania, Ted Dibiase romped to a victory over company darling Tito Santana and one night later in Detroit, Michigan ‘The Million Dollar Man’ pinned The British Bulldog, a feat he repeated on House Shows in Landover, Maryland on August 22nd and Springfield, Massachusetts on August 23rd. The House Show on August 23rd was the second of two house shows WWF held on that date and on the first held in Nashville, Tennessee ‘The Million Dollar Man’ challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, a match he lost but an angle which would begin Ted Dibiase’s swift elevation to the very top of the card.

With the rapidity that WWF taped television shows in the eighties and nineties, Dibiase was in action again on August 25th and 26th, taping WWF Wrestling Challenge and WWF Superstars respectively. On the 25th recording, Dibiase continued his winning ways with a dominant 2:21 victory over Larry ‘The Genius’ Poffo in Sacramento, California and on the 26th Superstar taping Dibiase repeated his success in a 4:16 outing against SD Jones in Fresno, California.

House Show outings in September saw Dibiase dominate the competition with numerous victories throughout the month against Ko-Ko B Ware, Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake and old Mid-South nemesis Junkyard Dog. By the time October rolled around there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that McMahon had picked the right man for the job and soon the mega push would be complete as Ted Dibiase took a step up towards the main target for heels at that time, Hulk Hogan. The reigning WWF Champion was the perfect opponent for Dibiase. Previously lacking heel opponents with any real clout, Dibiase was a revelation when he opposed Hogan and would often shine, carrying the limited Hulkster to some very fine matches indeed. It was these matches and efforts which solidified Dibiase as a constant main event player in McMahon and the fans eyes and even though there was no chance of Dibiase actually winning the WWF Championship, he was so reviled by fans because of his flaunted storyline wealth it was believable that somewhere along the line he may steel a victory and the gold.

The hype for ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase vs Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship began on house shows to test the water and see if there was enough interest in the feud to take it to television. Much to McMahon’s relief, there was. Many fans that had seen Dibiase in Mid-South, Georgia Championship Wrestling and St. Louis Wrestling Club had come to the World Wrestling Federation years before hand and knew that Dibiase was a legitimate threat. More than that, those fans who had enough knowledge of Dibiase had no doubt they would get a good match out of him. He was more than talented enough to oppose Hulk Hogan and it was his history with the fans in the territories which gave the paying audience confidence they would get their money’s worth.

The beginning of their real feud began on a house show on October 9th in Houston, Texas when the WWF billed the main event as Hulk Hogan vs ‘The Million Dollar Man’ for the WWF Championship. I can’t tell you how many people flocked to Texas that night to witness the bout but it is said to be normal than your usual house show attendance. Much to the delight of some and shock of many, Ted Dibiase won that match via count out as he often would against opponents such as Hogan, Randy Savage or The Ultimate Warrior. It was a failsafe way of keeping interest in the feud alive and raising the profile of the opposing heel. Had Hogan defeated Dibiase in every match they had then no one would have brought into the battle or the longevity of the hostilities. Dibiase had to win in order for Hogan’s victories to be that much sweeter.

A one night reprieve from Hulk Hogan came on a November 11th 1987 television taping of WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event in Seattle, Washington where for his efforts with Hogan, Dibiase was rewarded with yet another victory over Hillbilly Jim in the 3:30 dark match of the show. The next night it was back to business as Dibiase defeated Hogan by count out on House Shows on the 12th and 13th of November and the biggest feather in Dibiase’s WWF cap came in the dark match of the November 18th WWF Wrestling Challenge taping when Dibiase knocked off Hogan via count out in front of a national audience in Omaha, Nebraska. Even more impressive Dibiase continued to defeat Hulk Hogan on House Shows on two House Shows on November 22nd, November 25th and December 11th to end the year on a high, also receiving the Slammy Award for ‘Humanitarian of the Year’ and The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards for ‘Best Gimmick’ and ‘Best Heel’.

There was a real buzz generated around the Wrestling world when Dibiase defeated Hulk Hogan on the November 18th Wrestling Challenge. It was a well known fact that Hogan rarely put over opponents and was regularly selfish when it came to making someone else’s career. Anyone who disputes that only need read ‘Hollywood Hulk Hogan – The Autobiography’ to change their mind. People began to believe that Dibiase could be the man to supplant Hogan at the top of the tree. Whilst that wouldn’t come to pass as Vince McMahon believed the mammoth Andre the Giant should be the man to oppose Hogan in WWF Championship matches on television, Ted Dibiase would be relevant through the Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant feud even providing one of the biggest pieces of wrestling controversy in history.

The storyline going into 1988 was the frustration of Ted Dibiase at not being able to defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship. It was made common knowledge on WWF television that Dibiase had many victories via count out over Hogan but never able to pin the Hulkster to capture the gold. The resultant outcome was that on WWF Television, in order to amp up his heel persona, Ted Dibiase offered to purchase the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan with cash. His wealth was greater than that of the WWF apparently and he could easily purchase the gold anytime he wanted. Being the stand up American thoroughbred he portrayed, Hogan told Dibiase where to shove his offer, as if Vince McMahon was ever going to do anything to tarnish his top selling star.

The refusal lead to the storyline in which Dibiase used Andre the Giant to acquire the WWF Championship. Before the controversy surrounding the WWF Championship took place, Dibiase defeated Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts three times over the course of January 9th and January 10th on television and went down to Bam Bam Bigelow numerous times on House Shows the same month. It was the non pay-per view 1988 Royal Rumble which saw the wheels put in motion for the WWF Championship change and one of the most shocking results at that time in wrestling history.

At the 1988 Royal Rumble, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant signed the contract which would change wrestling history as Ted Dibiase watched. The date was set for one of the biggest wrestling matches in history and a rematch of WrestleMania 3’s main event. On February 5th 1988 on WWF’s The Main Event television show in Indianapolis, Indiana Hulk Hogan stepped into the ring to defend the WWF Championship against Andre the Giant. There was a different feeling about this match then there had been to their dire WrestleMania 3 clash and with Dibiase at ringside fans dared to believe the impossible could happen. It did. Andre the Giant cleanly pinned Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship to the shock of the world, thanks to a fast three count from the referee.

It is what happened next which made history. After Andre the Giant had been awarded the WWF Championship he handed it to Ted Dibiase who then revealed to Hulk Hogan and the WWF audiences dismay that he had brought the title from Andre for a sizable fee. The reign lasted mere seconds as President Jack Tunney marched to the ring, nullified the decision and stripped Ted Dibiase of the WWF Championship in front of the world. It was then revealed that referee Dave Hebner’s lookalike who had counted the fall was actually his twin brother Earl Hebner who had been brought to the company by Dibiase to make sure Andre won the match. Ted Dibiase’s WWF Championship purchase is not recognised and therefore Dibiase has never won the WWF Championship. It is said that Dibiase was billed as WWF Championship on three house shows immediately after the angle but I can neither dismiss nor confirm that fact.

Whilst the WWF Championship was put up for grabs in a round robin tournament at WrestleMania 4, the whole angle was a master strategy by Vince McMahon and played to perfection by Dibiase and Hogan. It added numerous layers to ‘The Million Dollar Man’ character and made people hate him even more. Dibiase had updated his entrance attire to add a green suit which looked expensive and now he had the brazen audacity to think that he could purchase the company’s top Championship. Vince McMahon couldn’t have done anything else to get Dibiase over as a hated man and his strategy worked. If Hulk Hogan had have been pinned clean it wouldn’t have done anything adverse to his image but that was a risk Vince wasn’t willing to take. By screwing Hogan out of the Championship McMahon made sure that Hogan’s reputation stayed in tact and also Dibiase was credited with engineering the whole affair.

Entered into the WrestleMania 4 Tournament to crown the next WWF Champion, Dibiase had a strong showing on House Shows and WWF Television in the run up to the big event, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow by count out on February 22nd during WWF on MSG Network television show and going over his WrestleMania 4 Final opponent, Randy Savage once again by count out in 11:39 on Saturday Night’s Main Event on March 12th, taped on March 7th from Nashville, Tennessee. The only major loss Dibiase occurred in the run up to WrestleMania 4 was to Hulk Hogan in a Lumberjack Match on WWF on PRISM Network on March 12th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a strong showing by Dibiase who looked one of the favourites to win the tournament. Once again though, all his hard work had been overlooked by Vince McMahon and the chairman and owner of the World Wrestling Federation had planned for a long time to make Randy Savage his next top star.

As the biggest event of the year rolled around on March 27th 1988 from Trump Plaza, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Ted Dibiase defeated old nemesis Hacksaw Jim Duggan in a 4:54 first round match, knocked out Don Muaraco in a 5:44 Quarter Final Match and received a bye straight into the final thanks to a double disqualification finish in the Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant Quarter Final match. The final of the WWF Championship tournament would not only herald a new WWF Champion for the first time in many years, it would also ignite a very fine feud between Randy Savage and Ted Dibiase as ‘The Million Dollar Man’ sought to do to Savage what he couldn’t do to Hogan. Savage pinned Dibiase, with help from Hulk Hogan – he had to be involved in the climax of WrestleMania somewhere, though Hogan claims to have headlined nine WrestleMania’s in a row when in fact he headlined eight. Hulk Hogan did not compete in the Main Event match at WrestleMania 4 – to become the new WWF Champion.

Ted Dibiase vs Randy Savage was a highly successful feud inside the ring even if it failed to set the box office alight. Both men were technically flawless and their matches were ten times better than almost all of Hulk Hogan’s main event bouts against people like Andre. The challenger role was one that Dibiase was great at playing. The desperate heel who came so close on so many occasions to touching to the top of the mountain but always fell short in the end and once again he was cast into the role against Randy Savage, mostly on House Shows. On April 23rd and 24th Ted Dibiase defeated Randy Savage by count out in WWF Championship Matches to keep his challenge alive and he repeated his success on April 25th on WWF on MSG Network Television Show.

On WWF Saturday Night Main Event taped on April 22nd and shown on April 30th, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ defeated Don Muraco in 4:12 before delving back into his feud with Randy Savage on a May 6th House Show in Richfield, Ohio where Savage finally pinned Ted Dibiase, the first time since WrestleMania 4. The pair would clash again on television with the WWF Championship on the line, this time on a WWF Superstars taping in a dark match on May 10th 1988 in Duluth, Minnesota where Savage romped to victory over Dibiase. On the same show Ted gained a measure of self respect back by rolling over enhancement talent Buck Zumhofe in a paltry 1:27 burial. The pair would contest the WWF Championship a further nine times in May, thirteen times in June, thirteen times in July and eight times in August where both men would share victories with Dibiase’s coming mostly via count out.

There had to be something else added to the feud in order to carry it forward. Vince McMahon was right when he theorised that mostly everyone who would pay to see the upcoming inaugural SummerSlam had already seen Randy Savage vs Ted Dibiase for the WWF Championship and looked once again to Hulk Hogan and his feud with Andre the Giant to sell the tickets for the August 29th event in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, when he pitted WWF Champion Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan as The Mega Powers against Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant with Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura as Special Guest Referee. The match itself was surprisingly very good, held together by Dibiase and Savage who were as good as they always had been and finally, four months after it had begun, the SummerSlam match freed Dibiase from the Randy Savage feud which had lifted his profile even more and allowed him to move on to other ventures within the company, though they would meet again in the 1988 King of the Ring tournament and Survivor Series 1988 in a traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match.

The next port of call was to restore some order to the image of ‘The Million Dollar Man’ and that meant having him win something prestigious enough to make people still see him as a main player in the company. That’s where the problem started. Ted Dibiase was too big to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship which was used to get lower card wrestlers into Dibiase’s position and he had no reliable tag team partner to yet hold the WWF Tag Team Championships. The Royal Rumble was too far away for the company to wait and apart from Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan and possibly Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts – who Dibiase had beaten and lost to throughout the year; Vince McMahon had no other faces with enough standing to pit against Dibiase so he could restore standing by defeating them.

The plan McMahon conjured up was to put Dibiase over lower card faces on television and house shows whilst handing him a victory in the upcoming King of the Ring Tournament. An event which was still five years away from becoming a pay-per view event and was held as a house show attraction to reel in more fans. The 1988 King of the Ring Tournament was held on October 16th 1988 from the Providence Civic Centre in Providence, Rhode Island and on his way to becoming King of the Ring, Dibiase went through Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake via pinfall in a 7:32 first round bout; Ken Patera via pinfall in a 5:42 Quarter Final outing; Ron Bass via forfeit in the Semi-Finals when Dibiase paid Patera to fake and injury and once again bested Randy Savage in the final via count out to claim the accolade.

The King of the Ring victory did restore to weight to Dibiase’s character and reinforce to the fans that he was still a man who could be brought into and relied upon, furthered by twelve House Show victories in November 1988 over Hercules, including successes on November 3rd in Glenn Falls, New York; November 6th in Springfield, Massachusetts; November 13th in Bakersfield, California and on November 20th in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The duo weren’t done as Dibiase revelled in another ten house show victories over Hercules in December. The feud was born out of an angle in which Dibiase brought Hercules’ contract from Bobby Heenan and then began to treat the man mountain as a slave. Hercules revolted and turned face against Dibiase. In between battering Hercules’ career, Dibiase also had victories on television against Tito Santana in a dark match on the November 15th WWF Superstars taping and defeated The Genius on the same show and Tim Horner on a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping in Sacramento, California on November 16th.

Before the end of the year, when he yet again received ‘Best Heel’ declaration from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, ‘The Million Dollar Man’s’ Survivor Series team of Ted Dibiase, The Twin Towers (Big Boss Man and Akeem), Haku and The Red Rooster were upended by The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage), Hercules, Ko-Ko B Ware and Hillbilly Jim at the November spectacular on November 24th 1988 from the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. During the match, Dibiase eliminated Hercules at the 16:35 mark with a roll up before Randy Savage eliminated Dibiase twenty seconds later with the same move.

By January 1989, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was a staple of the World Wrestling Federation and Dibiase himself had literally struck gold as the character. By now, Dibiase had already gotten his character over with the fans with his custom made suits and vignettes which demonstrated that his catchphrase “Everybody has a price” was true. Some vignettes which aired on WWF television showed Dibiase doing things which involved buying people off. For instance one depicted Ted bribing the manager of a local swimming pool to close for the day so he could have the pool to himself and other skits showed Dibiase paying a hotel clerk to turf a newly wedded couple out of their honeymoon suite so he could have it and paying for chewing gum with $100 bills. Vince McMahon was keeping the character and kayfabe alive outside the ring by paying for Dibiase to travel first class wherever he went, paying for limousine travel for him and even gave him petty cash from WWF Offices to throw around when on the streets, all to keep up the pretence that Dibiase really was this arrogant, rich jerk we saw on television.

Purchasing the number thirty spot in the 1989 Royal Rumble, which was a pay-per view event this time around, from Akeem; Ted Dibiase entered The Summit in Houston, Texas on January 15th and lasted 6:27 eliminating Brutus Beefcake and Hercules with the help of The Barbarian as well as The Red Rooster by himself. As the match filtered down to Dibiase and Big John Studd, Dibiase utilised his character’s traits and offered Studd a bribe to eliminate himself. Studd rejected the offer and sent Dibiase sprawling from the ring to win the match.

1989 hadn’t started well for Dibiase and it had been two years since his debut as ‘The Million Dollar Man’ yet no gold had been around his waist. To be honest, Dibiase didn’t need a Championship to prove how good he was, he’d already done that over and over again. Believing his character needed something else; Vince McMahon had a special Championship belt made just for Dibiase. Unlike the rest of WWF’s Championship titles, this had a gold strap and three dollar signs encrusted with diamonds in the centre of the strap. What else could it be called, but The Million Dollar Championship. Records differ, depending on which you read, as to when Dibiase first unveiled the Million Dollar Championship to the world. Some believe it was on the March 11th Saturday Night’s Main Event taping from Hershey, Pennsylvania which was recorded on February 16th after he defeated The Blue Blazer in under four minutes. Others, like your Wrestling God, believe that Ted Dibiase actually unveiled the Championship on the March 4th episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, taped on February 15th during a segment on ‘The Brother Love Show’. Because of the television taping times, I cannot be a hundred percent sure on when it was unveiled.

With the Million Dollar Championship strapped firmly strapped around his waist, Ted Dibiase entered WrestleMania 5 on April 2nd in Trump Plaza, in Atlantic City, New Jersey to go to a double count out with Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake. There’s no denying that it was a diminished role for Dibiase who had been in the main event of the previous year’s WrestleMania competing for the WWF Championship but the truth was, Vince McMahon had no other high profile faces to pit him against at WrestleMania and even though a feud with Jake Roberts was once again approaching, ‘The Snake’ had other duties to perform until a few weeks after the event when Dibiase initiated the feud by attacking Jake Roberts on a WWF Superstars of Wrestling episode after Roberts had defeated Virgil.

The story which came out of WWF after the attack was that Dibiase had severely injured Roberts’ neck in the attack and Jake was out of action for a few months. In reality, WWF needed to get Roberts off of television so he could undergo back surgery. Whilst Jake Roberts was otherwise engaged, WWF preoccupied Dibiase by having him go over Jimmy Snuka by count out in 6:27 at WWF SummerSlam 1989 on August 28th from the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The company were stalling for time until Jake Roberts was fit to compete and finally, in the form of the utterly putrid WWF funded movie ‘No Holds Barred’ featuring Hulk Hogan and Zeus.

Entering Ted Dibiase back into the main event scene, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ sided with Zeus who were told had legitimate beef with Hulk Hogan over who was the star of the movie. On the October 14th edition of WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event – taped on September 21st – Ted Dibiase challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio. By Dibiase’s side was Zeus who was an actor and not a wrestler. The match ended with Hogan retaining against Dibiase as if anything else was going to happen, but Zeus was a towering presence who would stay around the company in his pursuit of Hulk Hogan and be a part of ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase’s Survivor Series team.

With Jake Roberts back on board for Survivor Series, the WWF breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t have to stall Ted Dibiase any longer and the pair locked horns again, for the first time after the attack on television at Survivor Series 1989 – they had been regular opponents on house shows throughout November in which Roberts won almost all of their clashes, including bouts on November 11th in Omaha, Nebraska and November 22nd in St. Paul, Minnesota. Before that though, Ted Dibiase pinned one his Survivor Series opponents, Smash of Demolition, on WWF Survivor Series Showdown on November 1st in Wichita, Kansas. On television, Dibiase kept his win tally up with victories over enhancement talent.

As the November tag team spectacular rolled around on November 23rd in the Rosemount Horizon from Rosemount, Illinois, the feud between Jake Roberts and Ted Dibiase intensified as ‘The Hulkamaniacs’ (Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts and Demolition) defeated ‘The Million Dollar Team’ (Ted Dibiase, Zeus and The Powers of Pain) in 27:32 clash which saw Ted Dibiase eliminate Jake Roberts with his feet on the ropes at 23:51 before being pinned by Hulk Hogan for the victory.

Punishment was on the cards to begin Dibiase’s 1990 as the World Wrestling Federation began to enter a new era. For purchasing the number thirty Royal Rumble entry the previous year, Dibiase was punished by WWF President Jack Tunney and forced to enter the 1990 thirty man over the top rope attraction in pole position. Number one! All this whilst his feud with Jake Roberts continued as the pair faced off on January 15th 1990 on WWF on MSG Network television show with the Million Dollar Championship on the line. One again triumphing by count out, Dibiase retained the gold as he headed towards the Royal Rumble.

The decision to castigate Dibiase for purchasing the number thirty spot the year previous would backfire yet again, when he entered the Royal Rumble Match on January 21st 1990 from the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida. Although Dibiase wouldn’t win the Royal Rumble Match he would smash the Royal Rumble record by lasting an unprecedented 44:47, eliminating Ko-Ko B Ware, Marty Jannetty and Jim Neidhart, the last with the help of Rick Martel and The Ultimate Warrior who would eventually eliminate Dibiase. It was a hell of a showing for Dibiase who altered some of the fans minds about him and proved that he wasn’t just a one trick pony. Instead, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was the real deal and he could go with the best.

Behind the scenes however there was a major problem and it was never more noticeable than at the 1990 Royal Rumble. Ted Dibiase had been red lighting for a long time. Meaning that his schedule with the WWF was almost as hectic as it was when he was wrestling for Mid-South, Georgia Championship Wrestling and St. Louis Wrestling Club at the same time. He was beaten up, bruised, tired and time for family was few and far between. I remember Bret Hart saying that back in the very early 90’s wrestlers were on the road more than 250 days per year and with Ted Dibiase it began to look like the schedule of a top WWF star was taking its heavy toll. For anyone who has seen the 1990 Royal Rumble will be left with the overriding impression that Ted Dibiase was on drugs. The man looked drained and resembled someone who had been using hard drugs for quite a few months. Rumours began to circulate that Ted Dibiase was taking cocaine or heroin just to keep up with the hectic life he was living and to ease the pain of the wounds he was carrying.

The rumours were true. ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was doing drugs and alcohol, on top of all of that, he was partying hard though in several interviews in 2012 Dibiase said that he did the drugs but wasn’t addicted to them. It wouldn’t have been a problem had it not been so visible to everyone watching the event. Because it was, people began to talk and when that happens it’s already gone too far. Vince McMahon should have taken one look at Ted Dibiase and pulled him from the 1990 Royal Rumble match to save him from going out there looking like he did. Any excuse would have been preferable to seeing Dibiase in that state. His face was chubby, his eyes were strained and he barely looked like the same man we have grown to love. It was so bad that it was a sad sight to see.

Incredibly, unlike all of the other wrestlers who have done drugs both before and after Dibiase, it never affected his in ring product. When he stepped through the ropes he was still the marvel he always had been and after defeating The Red Rooster on WWF The Ultimate Challenge on March 7th 1990 in San Francisco, California the feud with Jake Roberts began again leading to a one on one encounter at WrestleMania 6. The story behind the feud wasn’t strong and centred around Roberts stealing Dibiase’s Million Dollar Championship.

Unusually for a feud in the 1990’s, the face didn’t win the day. Roberts did defeat Dibiase in a spate of house shows matches in the run up to WrestleMania 6, including victories on March 18th in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and March 23rd in Auburn Hills, Michigan but at WrestleMania 6, on April 1st 1990 at the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada it was the villain, the heel Ted Dibiase who triumphed defeating Jake Roberts by count out at 11:50 to retain the Million Dollar Championship. The feud between Roberts and Dibiase had run its course. There was no mileage left in it on the house show circuit and television was demanding something else.

With a lack of wrestlers to pit Dibiase against, the company would drop him down the card and against a more inferior opponent in the Big Boss Man. Before that he would travel back to All Japan Pro Wrestling with the World Wrestling Federation, for a joint show between the two on April 13th 1990. ‘WWF and AJPW Summit Show’ aired in both America and Japan from the Tokyo Dome in Japan and saw The Ultimate Warrior retain his WWF Championship against Ted Dibiase in 6:12. Launching the brief feud with the Big Boss Man, the story behind it was another weak effort by the WWF. Citing reasons that Dibiase tried to bribe Boss Man to retrieve his Million Dollar Championship from Jake Roberts at the beginning of the year, and Boss Man rejected the offer and returned the belt back to Roberts, the faux law enforcement officer and millionaire went into battle with Ted Dibiase losing an absurd forty four times to Boss Man on house shows and television.

There was no doubting that the losses to Boss Man did a great amount of damage to Dibiase, who was fading out of the main event scene and another loss to The Ultimate Warrior on The Main Event on October 30th in Fort Wayne, Indiana by disqualification didn’t help either. Dibiase may have felt his star was beginning to fade as he fell down the pecking order in the company but little did he know that he was about to have a huge hand in wrestling history, yet again. As WWF approached Survivor Series they had signed a young wrestler named Mark Calloway, who wasn’t the greatest in ring performer to begin with but would eventually become one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the industry. Vince McMahon needed a platform for Calloway and Survivor Series was the place it was going to happen.

Pitting ‘The Million Dollar Team’ against ‘The Dream Team’, McMahon had decided that Mark Calloway would debut as a member of ‘The Million Dollar Team’ but wouldn’t be announced until the night itself. Preaching to the world that he had a secret member Ted Dibiase and the WWF marched into Survivor Series 1990 on November 22nd at the Hartford Civic Centre in Hartford, Connecticut hoping that Mark Calloway would be the next phenomenon. As ‘The Million Dollar Team’, collecting together Ted Dibiase and Rhythm and Blues, stood in the middle of the ring, Dibiase took the microphone and with his trademark laugh introduced the newest member of his team and of the WWF. The Undertaker!

The match lasted 13:54 and with a huge hand from The Undertaker, Ted Dibiase was the sole survivor against ‘The Dream Team’ which consisted of Dusty Rhodes, The Hart Foundation and Ko-Ko B Ware. Dibiase eliminated Jim Neidhart with assistance from Virgil and Bret Hart with a reverse flying body press to win the match and advance into the ‘Ultimate Elimination’ main event where he teamed with Rick Martel, The Warlord and Power and Glory to go down to Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and Tito Santana. Dibiase didn’t go down without a fight though, eliminating Santana at 1:51 before being dispatched by Hogan at 8:30. He didn’t know it at the time, no one did. How big Mark ‘The Undertaker’ Calloway would become and Ted Dibiase can be credited for being the wrestler who introduced The Undertaker to the World Wrestling Federation. That’s not a bad claim at all and it would spur Dibiase to make his own Undertaker character four years later.

The Survivor Series match was an extension of the Ted Dibiase vs Dusty Rhodes feud which had been taking place on WWF television for months before the event. At SummerSlam on August 27th from The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dibiase had acquired the services of Rhode’s manager and valet Sapphire distracting Rhodes from his match with ‘Macho King’ Randy Savage thus declaring war on ‘The American Dream’. On the October 9th 1990 edition of WWF Superstars Rhodes defeated Dibiase in a Ten Minute Challenge Match as well as house show victories over ‘The Million Dollar Man’ on October 11th, 14th, 22nd and 27th. In between the house show dates Dibiase bested Rhodes on October 19th on WWF on MSG Network television show by disqualification.

During another match between Rhodes and Savage on an October 30th edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, Dibiase heinously ambushed and attacked Dustin Rhodes leading into the Survivor Series Elimination Match. Ending 1990, Ted Dibiase and bodyguard / butler Virgil defeated Dusty and Dustin Rhodes on another WWF on MSG Network television show on November 24th in under ten minutes. All was not well with Dibiase and Virgin on screen and a turn was coming which would lead into Dibiase’s next and possibly most challenging feud.

The end of the feud with Dusty Rhodes and the next war with his own bodyguard / butler, Virgil, would be initiated in one night at the 1991 Royal Rumble on January 19th 1991 from the Miami Arena in Miami, Florida. For months and even years before Virgil turned face on Dibiase, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ had ordered him to complete humiliating tasks such as rub his feet. Finally, Virgil had grown tired of his boss and wanted to branch out on his own. After Dibiase and Virgil had defeated Dusty and Dustin Rhodes for a second time, Dibiase ordered Virgil to put the Million Dollar Championship around his waist. Snapping, Virgil drilled Dibiase with the gold much to the approval of the audience.

It was always going to be a problem turning Virgil face. Virgil wasn’t a wrestler; he was a manager / valet and had minimal success in the role. Whilst standing at Dibiase’s side all Virgil had to do was stand there and look smug and menacing. Dibiase did the rest and even made Virgil look good on most occasions. Now though, Virgil would have to cover his own flaws and stand on his own two feet. No mean feat for someone who wasn’t a wrestler. For the time being he would have Dibiase as an opponent to be there and make him look good. After his feud with Ted was done though, Virgil would utterly bomb as a wrestler.

Ted Dibiase should be given many plaudits for showing the willingness to help Virgil get over, even though Virgil was taken under the wing of Roddy Piper. It was in the ring where it mattered and if Virgil had have had any other opponent than the multi talented ‘Million Dollar Man’ it would have been an utter disaster. It wasn’t just Virgil that Dibiase put over in this time; it was also enhancement talent as he lost to Kevin Greeno on WWF Superstars on February 18th in Orlando, Florida. It was a brave move as people could have seen him as a jobber, but in truth he was anything but. The ‘Million Dollar Man’ vs Virgil feud would last the majority of 1991 and it’s to Dibiase’s credit that he managed to keep it mostly interesting inside the ring.

At WrestleMania 7 on March 24th at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California Ted Dibiase did what no one thought he would and put over Virgil by count out in 7:41. This set Dibiase apart from the rest of the main talent in the company. Wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior would have flat out refused to put lower card talent over and had done many times. But the selfless Dibiase welcomed making new talent and in the end that is the measure of an excellent wrestler. You can have all the talent in the world and win a million matches in your career, but if you can’t look back and say with certainty that you helped make at least one more person’s career then you’ve failed. Ted Dibiase can look back and say that he made as many careers as men he defeated.

April was a great month on television for Dibiase as during the feud with Virgil he defeated Roddy Piper on April 22nd during WWF on MSG Network television show – recorded at an earlier date – and on April 24th in London, England on WWF U.K Rampage 1991 he went over Texas Tornado by count out. Three days later on Saturday Night’s Main Event – taped on April 15th – from Omaha, Nebraska he wrestled to a fine double count out with Bret Hart.

At WWF WrestleFest 1991 on July 14th at Busch Stadium in Dibiase’s old stomping ground of St. Louis, Missouri Bret Hart and Virgil defeated the tandem of Ted Dibiase and I.R.S. The match was a so-so affair but more than that, it was the first time that Dibiase and I.R.S – real name Mike Rotunda – teamed together in the World Wrestling Federation. At this point in time it would have no significance at all, but in a few months time the duo would come to be one of WWF’s most memorable tag team combinations as ‘Money Inc’. The tag team match was just another extension of the Dibiase vs Virgil feud and the night before SummerSlam on August 25th 1991, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ pinned Virgil in Albany, New York.

Once again, to the eternal credit of Ted Dibiase, at SummerSlam on August 26th 1991 in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York he put Virgil over in a really good effort and by far Virgil’s best match ever with the Million Dollar Championship on the line. Previously loosening the turnbuckle pad and stripping it from the metal buckle, Dibiase would be the architect of his own downfall as Virgil ceased the opportunity and rammed Dibiase’s head into the exposed buckle, allowing him to pin his former boss to become the first man to ever defeat Dibiase for the Million Dollar Championship and only the second Million Dollar Champion in wrestling history. It was a very popular outcome in Madison Square Garden on the night and showed how willing Dibiase was to make new stars.

Reeling from his loss to his former valet / manager / butler, Dibiase was on a downward spiral in the WWF which went through the 1991 King of the Ring on September 7th once again held at the Providence Civic Centre in Providence, Rhode Island. Though Dibiase wouldn’t lose in the sense of being defeated on the night he and Ricky Steamboat fought to a decent 15:00 time limit draw, gifting Jerry Saggs a bye into the Quarter Finals. Salvation was just around the corner as Dibiase and I.R.S began teaming more regularly defeating The Bushwhackers on WWF Wrestling Challenge on October 22nd in Dayton, Ohio. When the name ‘Money Inc’ was devised and allocated isn’t quite known but by the time 1992 rolled around it was firmly in place.

Before he could think of chasing tag team glory again, Ted Dibiase was put on one more collision course with the man who had taken his Championship from him, Virgil. With the feud having peaked at SummerSlam, it was well and truly time for the pair to part ways but no before the gold had been returned to its rightful owner. The task was accomplished at WWF’s Survivor Series Showdown on November 11th 1991 from The War Memorial in Utica, New York – shown on November 24th – with the help of the Repo Man – Barry Darsow, who was previously know to WWF audiences as Smash of Demolition – as Dibiase pinned Virgil to reclaim the gold that was rightfully his. The loss was the end of Virgil’s popularity and even though he would get smatterings of cheers throughout his career, he was never relevant again.

Survivor Series was a drab affair for Dibiase this time around when he entered the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on November 27th 1991. I would have thought that Dibiase expected more out of what was a fairly farcical Survivor Series Elimination Match. After being the sole survivor the year previous and having a strong showing Dibiase’s match was almost thrown out of the window in 1991. Granted, the match went a respectable 22:48 but the ending was a washout. Pitting the team of Ted Dibiase, Ric Flair, The Mountie and The Warlord against Bret Hart, Virgil, British Bulldog and Roddy Piper; most of the members on each team were disqualified in one mass brawl, including Dibiase. As Ric Flair wasn’t in the ring at the time he was the sole survivor. It was a messy ending which did no one any good.

It had been a long and tiring year for Dibiase who had to work extra hard to get Virgil over and it must have been a blessed relief when it came to and end without any further effort. The only other dealings Dibiase had with Virgil was at This Tuesday in Texas on December 3rd 1991 at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas when Ted Dibiase and Repo Man cracked the team of Virgil and El Matador in 11:28.

For most children who were fans of the World Wrestling Federation, it was 1992 when they remember Ted Dibiase the best. The years before hand were very grown up and professional with mostly real looking characters competing in the ring. 1992 began the era of cartoon wrestlers for Vince McMahon and thus attracting more of a younger fan base. A fan base who didn’t necessarily know Ted Dibiase before the turn of the year, which is a shame because for those people Dibiase was merely a tag team wrestler in the second years of the 90’s and all his main event work before hand had slipped under their radar. It wasn’t such a bad thing being known as a tag team wrestler, Dibiase had made it work with Stan Hansen in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Though they had formed in 1991, Ted Dibiase and I.R.S became a known tag team in 1992 as Money Inc. They were hugely successful and widely hated. ‘The Million Dollar Man’ who supposedly had millions of dollars and certainly more than the audience he performed for, along with the I.R.S, the tax officer who wanted to tax everyone and take their money were as good as a smash hit in the World Wrestling Federation and it opened up another alley for the company to take Dibiase down instead of push him in the main event scene which he was fading from. In all truth, there was nothing left for Dibiase on top. Hulk Hogan was beginning to dwindle in popularity and when the steroid scandal hit the company Hogan would be sent packing for a few months. Money Inc was a team which made sense and one which would hand Dibiase his first legitimate piece of WWF gold.

Before Money Inc rose to the top of WWF’s tag team mountain, there was the matter of the 1992 Royal Rumble Match to deal with. In his last Royal Rumble Match in 1990, Dibiase smashed the Rumble record for longest time in the match and the 1992 event had an even bigger incentive. Instead of just bragging rights the WWF Championship would go to the winner of the 30 man over the top rope competition. There was never any chance of Dibiase winning the gold; Vince McMahon had already mapped out Dibiase’s path from now on and it wasn’t as a singles wrestler. If anyone was in doubt of this then the writing was on the wall at the 1992 Royal Rumble Match.

Entering second in the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York on January 19th 1992, Ted Dibiase lasted a paltry 1:18 and was dispatched from the match by Davey Boy Smith, The British Bulldog. It was a huge comedown from begin the star of the show two years previous to being merely enhancement talent this time around, and a move which signified that Ted Dibiase’s glory days were over, at least in the mind of Vince McMahon. Everyone in the arena, be they cheering or jeering Dibiase was disappointed by how he had been booked on the night, especially since he was the kind of wrestler who could have done some the participants, especially Shawn Michaels – who was about to enforce a split from Rockers tag team partner Marty Jannetty – a whole load of good had been allowed to work with them. To enforce that his time in the singles ranks was over, Vince McMahon booked Dibiase in a jobber’s role.

On February 7th, in an unusual course of events, Money Inc legitimised their run as a tag team in the World Wrestling Federation and Ted Dibiase finally got his hands on an authentic piece of WWF gold. On a house show in Denver, Colorado in a match for the WWF Tag Team Championships, onlookers were shocked when Money Inc defeated The Legion of Doom – Animal and Hawk – to capture the WWF Tag Team Championships. Onlookers had a right to be shocked. WWF gold very rarely changed hands on house shows as no one but those in attendance saw the change and the company would have to go to the trouble of recording the footage and replaying it on one of their weekly television shows. This in itself proved a problem as every WWF weekly television show was taped nearly a month in advance. Even to this day, Championships don’t change hands on house shows unless something goes awry in the ring which wasn’t planned.

There was such an incident a couple of years ago during a house show WWE Women’s Championship between Victoria and Mickie James, when challenger James pinned the champion and Victoria was too slow to raise her shoulder and the referee counted to three and crowned James the new Champion. Whilst the decision was reversed later in the night and James would lose the Championship back to Victoria. However this, unlike Money Inc’s victory over the hugely popular Legion of Doom, was not recognised or even mentioned on television.

The WWF Tag Team Championship victory on February 7th 1992 also marked another milestone for Dibiase and foot note for history. Having claimed his first piece of official WWF gold, Dibiase and the company decided there was no need for the other piece of gold belonging to ‘The Million Dollar Man’, namely, the Million Dollar Championship. Whilst the Championship had done nothing for Dibiase in hindsight and wouldn’t for anyone who held it in the future – Steve Austin or Ted Dibiase Jr. – it had been invented to give Dibiase’s character an air of legitimacy. Because the company were never confident enough in him to carry the top Championship they devised, to their credit, the Million Dollar Championship to say to the audience that this man, this millionaire could buy anything he wants, including his own Championship. Now though, with singles competition dwindling for Dibiase, the Million Dollar Championship was all but defunct and the company canned the Championship.

Being in a tag team where you have someone else there to blame for the mishaps and revel in the jollities with wasn’t the plain sailing for Dibiase and Irwin R. Schyster. Instead of making them look the dominant team in the company, Vince McMahon instead booked them as the cowardly couple, one again hooked on following the old story of good guys being the strong heroes and the heels being cowards who people couldn’t buy into. It was detrimental to Money Inc in the long run as they were only allowed to go over smaller face teams on television, mostly, and lose to whichever team McMahon deemed his next big stars on television on pay-per view. The first example of this came two months after Dibiase and Schyster first won the WWF Tag Team Championships on April 5th 1992 at WrestleMania 8 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. During the WWF Tag Team Championship Match between Money Inc and The Natural Disasters, it was the WWF Tag Team Champions who came out on the losing end via count out at just 8:38. It was the wrong decision.

With The Natural Disaster – Earthquake and Typhoon – on the rise in popularity in the WWF, after one being a heel opposing Hulk Hogan and the other portraying an overweight sailor in Tugboat, it wouldn’t have done the team any harm to lose to Money Inc via pinfall on the grandest stage of them all. In fact it would have heated the feud up even more had Dibiase pinned Earthquake on the show to make sure Money Inc came away with a respectable victory. Quite why McMahon chose to bury Money Inc in the way he did on important shows I will never know. His logic made no sense at all. Money Inc may have retained the WWF Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania but the manner in which they did so hampered, instead of advanced the duo.

Ted Dibiase and Irwin R. Schyster got a reprieve five days later on the WWF European Rampage Tour when on April 10th in Rotterdam, Sudholland, Nederland; they tore through The Bushwhackers to retain the WWF Tag Team Championships on one of WWF’s many overseas tours which were profitable for the company. With memories of the count out loss to The Natural Disasters fresh in fans minds, the WWF should have begun the rebuild of Money Inc here. The Bushwhackers may not have been a relevant team in 1992 but they were still hugely popular used in the right way. The victory against Luke and Butch could have been the stage upon which the World Wrestling Federation re-launched Money Inc. It wasn’t. In fact it almost like Vince McMahon had handpicked the pair to be the enhancement talent for the face teams. A role which Dibiase was much better than and after helping get Virgil over, he should have been rewarded for his efforts with something a lot better than this.

Money Inc’s standing in the company took another blow on house shows throughout May 1992 when they lost to WWF Tag Team Champions elect, The Natural Disasters, by count out and disqualification on May 15th, May 16th and May 17th. It wasn’t as big a blow as losing at WrestleMania 8 to Earthquake and Typhoon but it still wasn’t what Ted Dibiase imagined it was going to be. Some measure of respect what restored to Money Inc on a house show on June 1st in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada when Money Inc retained the WWF Tag Team Championships against High Energy – Owen Hart and Ko-Ko B Ware. It was a small victory but not one which was substantial enough to erase memories of losses to the ‘Disasters’.

The victory over High Energy would begin a downward spiral for Dibiase and Schyster, one which would see them suffer the ultimate humiliation on July 20th, on a WWF Superstars dark match in Worchester, Massachusetts. Five months after a bright start as a proper tag team, Money Inc lost the WWF Tag Team Championships to The Natural Disasters in what was a shocking show of disrespect by the World Wrestling Federation. I’m not talking about having them lose the gold, every team and every singles wrestler wins and loses at some time in their career. I’m talking about where they lost the gold. To have a Championship change on a house show was one thing but to then deem Money Inc not important enough to even have them lose the gold on pay-per view or a match which would be streamed live on television was disgusting. Only the people in the arena on the night would see the whole Championship change, the rest of us would have to do with being informed of the change on the broadcast itself.

After losing the gold everyone was asking themselves what Dibiase and Schyster had done to earn this shoddy treatment from the booking team. Backstage they were popular with wrestlers and didn’t put a foot wrong. Inside the ring the pair were capable of much more than they were permitted to do and could carry opponents weaker than them to respectable matches. Dibiase may have been a better wrestler than I.R.S but that wasn’t the point. Years beforehand Dibiase had leant a huge hand in keeping Vince McMahon’s main event output popular, without him the likes of Hogan would have struggled being starved of a truly excellent heel. So why now, in 1992, were Ted Dibiase and I.R.S being used as whipping boys for the slightly less talented Natural Disasters? It was a question which befuddled the wrestling world and still one which has never been answered. Maybe McMahon believed that Dibiase was such a strong character that he could take the defeats, make stars and still come out the other side with his reputation in tact. Or maybe, knowing the WWF / WWE as we all do, Vince McMahon believed Dibiase’s time was up in the ring as a star and sought to push him out as he had others before.

If the latter is true then McMahon put his plan into full effect on house shows throughout July and August 1992 when The Natural Disasters went over Money Inc in tag team action ten times, including victories on July 24th, July 26th, July 30th, August 7th and August 9th. A draining period for Money Inc would get worse when they stepped onto British shores for SummerSlam 1992 on August 29th, from Wembley Stadium in London, England. On camera it was Money Inc vs The Legion of Doom. A tag team encounter which on paper looked to be competitive and one which would surely raise the profile of the ‘Million Dollar Man’ and I.R.S. Behind the scenes however, the deck was stacked against them when Legion of Doom member, Hawk, turned up to the show drugged out of his face.

The Legion of Doom were a decent tag team even if they were as stiff as a board in the ring. It took a certain level of talent to help get them over and make a match against L.O.D flow and without a doubt Money Inc were that team. Dibiase had previous with stiff opponents and every time he had succeeded at his job. Now though, an impossible job had just been made insurmountable. Sober, Hawk was a rough wrestler who refused to sell moves of the opposing team because he believed it made his hard man image more believable. But out of his face on drugs, the notorious user, whose drug usage backstage was and still is legendary today ten years after his passing, was impossible to work with. On the night, The Legion of Doom defeated Money Inc as we had come to expect and credit where credit is due, Dibiase and Schyster managed to pull a very good match out of Hawk and Animal. It’s a match and a situation which adds strength to how good Dibiase was.

Things had to begin to look up for Money Inc. If they were buried by teams much longer then they would fade into the background of the company and eventually away completely. A wrestling audience doesn’t have time for jobbers who don’t win matches. They’re an expendable commodity and one we have no time to back. I would like to think that McMahon saw this and it was the reason for Money Inc defeating The Natural Disasters for their second WWF Tag Team Championship reign on WWF Wrestling Challenge on October 13th in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. That wasn’t the reason. The real reason that Vince McMahon put the doubles gold back on Money Inc was because The Natural Disasters had run their course as a popular and viable choice to head the division.

The message was simple. Money Inc were caretaker champions until another, more popular team came along to relieve them of their belts. Now they were tag team champions again, would this signify an upturn in victories for the duo? Surely it would. What kind of company would make its champions continuously lose in front of the world? Oh that’s right, the World Wrestling Federation. Money Inc’s predicament didn’t improve and instead, McMahon used the tag champions to elevate other talent. On WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event taped on October 27th and shown on November 14th, the figureheads of the WWF’s tag team division went down like a sinking ship by count out to The Ultimate Maniacs – The Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage – in Terra Haute, Indiana. Though they would retain the gold because of the ending of the match, it was yet another blow as was their eight man tag team elimination match at WWF Survivor Series 1992, on November 25th at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. On the show The Nasty Boys and The Natural Disasters crushed Money Inc and The Beverley Brothers in 15:50.

It was clear where Dibiase’s career was heading and whether he was contemplating retiring or not, 1993 would make the decision for him and also be his final year as an active wrestler. Money Inc would take an upturn and dominate the WWF’s tag team division in 1993 but the strain of the schedule was taking its toll not just on Dibiase’s body but also his marriage. For a while, the man who the WWF seemingly wanted us to believe everything was perfect for and who had no troubles, had been having marital difficulties because of the business. It’s a common complaint amongst wrestlers and their spouses. The wrestlers aren’t at home long enough to conduct a proper relationship and after a while the spouses get fed up. In 2013, both of WWE’s top stars, John Cena and Randy Orton have suffered divorces from their wives, though Orton’s was miles more amicable than Cena’s. The Undertaker is another wrestler who went through a divorce in the early part of the 00’s thanks to his wrestling schedule and in part that he took a liking to Michelle McCool who ‘The Deadman’ is now married to and has a daughter with. The list of wrestlers whose marriages have ended thanks to the business is a very long one and includes names such as Bret Hart, The Rock and Ric Flair to name but a very small portion.

Thankfully, Ted Dibiase held his marriage in higher regard than he did his wrestling career and must have gotten the feeling that as 1992 turned to 1993; his time in the business was up. The beginning of his final year as an active wrestler began with a strong showing at the 1993 Royal Rumble match on January 24th at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. Though the great Yokozuna won the thirty man brawl and whether he knew this was going to be his final year or not – Dibiase would retire at the end of the year due to injury but may have decided to leave because of his marital situation had the injury not happened – Dibiase resolved to make the most of what was left for him in the ring and go out on top, leaving the fans with something to remember him by. Entering fourth, Dibiase lasted 24:55 and managed to dispatch Brian Knobbs, Mr. Perfect – with Ko-Ko B Ware’s help, ‘The Birdman’ Ko-Ko B Ware and Terry ‘Red Rooster’ Taylor before being foiled by the man he was credited with introducing to the WWF, The Undertaker. Another impressive singles outing proved there was more to Dibiase than losing to inferior teams in doubles competition.

Though WWF Tag Team Champions, Money Inc would lose by disqualification to High Energy on a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping on January 26th in Fresno, California, the team would soon enter a feud with the returning yet wholly extraneous Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake who had returned to the company for one last hurrah after a real life accident and would soon enter a feud with Money Inc, teaming with the returning Hulk Hogan. To set up Money Inc for a high profile feud with Hogan and Beefcake, Dibiase and Schyster retained the WWF Tag Team Champions against The Nasty Boys on a house show on February 20th in Chicago, Illinois and retained again on the March 1st edition on Monday Night Raw against El Matador and Virgil in 8:00.

The angle with Beefcake began on the February 15th edition of Monday Night Raw, when Dibiase lost to Brutus by disqualification in 4:26. The match was nothing to shout about but the resultant outcome would see Money Inc drive Beefcake’s face into I.R.S’s steel briefcase supposedly injuring his face which had been surgically repaired after a legitimate windsailing accident. Forcing Beefcake to wear a protective mask, the angle initiated Jimmy Hart’s split for Money Inc after the team attacked him for expressing his disgust at their actions and the return of Hulk Hogan, after the steroid scandal, to challenge Money Inc to a match at WrestleMania 9 for the WWF Tag Team Championships.

On the WWF Road to WrestleMania 9 television show on March 7th in Fayetteville, North Carolina Money Inc retained the WWF Tag Team Championships against the enhancement duo of Jerry Sabin and Reno Riggins before they stepped onto the grand stage where a year before they had lost by count out to The Natural Disasters. With Hulk Hogan making up one half of the team which opposed them, surely there was no way the match could fail. Dibiase and Schyster were more than capable of covering Hogan and Beefcake’s flaws whilst Hogan had the backing of the supporters that tore the roofs off of arena for him previously, regardless of whether his matches were decent or appalling. The only way one can describe the WWF Tag Team Championship Match at WrestleMania IX is tedious, and that is being kind. The 18:27 borefest which took place on April 4th at Caesar’s Palace in Paradise, Nevada left fans still waiting for something interesting to happen when it ended in a rotten double disqualification; naturally either Hogan refused to lose via pinfall or McMahon thought he couldn’t make Hogan lose at WrestleMania even after the Hulkster testified against McMahon. Either way it was another bum decision. Money Inc and their resulting feud with The Steiner Brothers would have been made major had Dibiase and Schyster pinned Hogan at WrestleMania. It would also have been a nice thank you by Hogan, to the man who made him look so good and who put him over so many times in the late 80’s. Then again, sentiment has never been Hogan’s strong point where business is concerned.

Thankfully, Money Inc continued to rise after WrestleMania IX and the double DQ ending didn’t tarnish them in any way. On a WWF Superstars Taping on April 6th in Tucson, Arizona, Money Inc and Mr. Hughes defeated The Nasty Boys and Kamala in a six man tag team outing and six days later on April 12th 1993, on Monday Night Raw from Poughkeepsie, New York Money Inc rolled over The Beverly Brothers. Before the feud with the uber popular Steiner Brother feud began, The Smoking Guns were Money Inc’s next victims as the money mad duo pulled the trigger, no pun intended, on Billy and Bart on the May 25th WWF Wrestling Challenge in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Money Inc and The Steiner Brothers would do battle at King of the Ring 1993 on June 13th from the Nutter Centre in Dayton, Ohio, which for the first time in the events history was a pay-per view spectacular, when The Steiner Brothers and The Smoking Guns defeated Money Inc and The Headshrinkers in a respectable eight man tag team clash. It was an extension of the feud which had begun to play out on television over the WWF Tag Team Championships and wanting to keep the feud between Money Inc and The Steiner Brothers.

Incredibly, like it was nothing, Vince McMahon had the WWF Tag Team Championships change hands three times in six days in June beginning the night after King of the Ring 1993 on June 14th when The Steiner Brothers defeated Money Inc for the gold. Two days later on June 16th on another house show in Rockford, Illinois, Money Inc regained the WWF Tag Team Championships from Rick and Scott Steiner before The Steiner Brothers defeat Money Inc for the WWF Tag Team Championships on another house show on June 19th in St. Louis, Missouri. Only the final championship change was relayed on television, the other two were ignored by Vince McMahon on commentary though they are officially recognised as legitimate Championship changes.

In a dark match on Monday Night Raw on July 5th from the Manhattan Centre in New York City, New York, The Steiner Brothers retained the gold in a good match against Money Inc and a match the next night on a WWF Superstars taping in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, yielded the same result via count out. Unbelievably, the next night on July 7th, Dibiase was in action again, this time in singles competition for a WWF Wrestling Challenge Taping putting over the 1-2-3 Kid in Salisbury, Maryland.

It’s not hard to see why Dibiase’s marriage began to deteriorate. Over three nights in July alone he was in action and wasn’t able to return home, let alone the other dates which he wasn’t able to return home. Little did anyone know though, that ‘The Million Dollar Man’s’ wrestling career was coming to an end and it was coming soon. As summer drew into the wrestling world everything had become stale. Ted Dibiase was no longer an integral part of the company’s long term plans and his final upcoming feud with Razor Ramon was to be his swansong as a wrestler in the company. It wasn’t a bad thing. He had given so much to the World Wrestling Federation and its fans that it was better this way. ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was never going to be a character to fade away.

After Razor Ramon had lost to the 1-2-3 Kid on the May 17th 1993 edition on Monday Night Raw, Dibiase began mocking Ramon bragging about how he would show Razor, how it was done. When Dibiase also went on to lose to the 1-2-3 Kid on the aforementioned July 7th outing the story went that Ramon found a new respect for the man who had embarrassed him in front of the world and turned face on Dibiase. Without the public’s knowledge, behind closed doors, Ted Dibiase had come to the decision that Razor Ramon would be his final opponent as a WWF wrestler. After his feud with Ramon had ended at SummerSlam 1993, Ted Dibiase would exit the company as a wrestler and as he stated in an interview after his departure, the decision was made so he could heal the rift which had been present in his marriage.

With the end nearing, it was time to wrap up loose ends and that meant the feud with The Steiner Brothers and the final proper outing as part of Money Inc. On WWF’s SummerSlam Spectacular television show on August 16th from the Mid-Hudson Civic Centre in Poughkeepsie, New York, Dibiase did the right thing and Money Inc put The Steiner Brothers over in a steel cage match as Dibiase waved goodbye to the WWF Tag Team Championships and his successful team with Irwin R. Schyster for the last time. It couldn’t have been easy, Schyster had become a good friend and even though the pair would be reunited in the WWF a year later when Dibiase became Schyster’s manager, their partnership which had brought some excellent matches and one of the most memorable tag teams in wrestling history had sadly come to an end.

Before his final WWF match at SummerSlam, Dibiase was borrowed by Catch Wrestling Association to participate in their show, the Catch Cup on August 22nd 1993 in Wien, Osterreich where he put over CWA Heavyweight Champion, Rambo, on the show.

And so SummerSlam 1993 came around and those in the know knew that Ted Dibiase was stepping into the ring for the final time as a WWF Wrestler. Those who knew he was going were respectful in their treatment of him whilst those who had no idea treated him with the same jeers they always had. It didn’t matter to Dibiase though; he loved every moment of it, as you’ll know if you’ve read his autobiography ‘The Million Dollar Man’. August 30th and the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan was the place Dibiase would bid a fond farewell to the WWF and the fans he adored so much when he put in a solid showing in a losing effort against Razor Ramon at SummerSlam.

When he entered at SummerSlam 1993 there was something noticeably different about Dibiase. He was laughing as the character necessitated and flashing his money, but behind the pretence, behind the laugher and dollars there was sadness. You could see it in his eyes as he walked that aisle as a wrestler for the final time. When Ramon pinned Dibiase with ‘The Razor’s Edge’ it was a bitter sweet moment in time. He wanted to cry, he wanted to take the microphone and thank the audience but he couldn’t, because whilst that’s what Ted Dibiase would do, it wasn’t what ‘The Million Dollar Man’ would have done.

And just like that, it was over. Ted Dibiase had done what he set out to achieve and that was to make a name for himself in the wrestling business. Dibiase left the WWF to great applause behind the scenes and from those who were grateful for his efforts over the years, in the stands. Out of the ring Dibiase began to rebuild his marriage and though he wouldn’t return to the WWF as a wrestler he would go back to the land of the rising sun to complete dates he felt obliged to wrestler, for the company which gave him his first international break. Had it not been for All Japan Pro Wrestling then Ted Dibiase may not have been headhunted by Vince McMahon to perform on an international level. Dibiase felt he owed his old stomping ground that much courtesy at least. Maybe he was right, maybe he was wrong. Whatever you believe, All Japan Pro Wrestling would be where Dibiase’s in ring career would end.

It wasn’t a long stay, merely three months but when he returned to All Japan he found a familiar face waiting to welcome him back in the form of his former tag team partner, Stan Hansen. On September 3rd 1993 in Tokyo, Japan, Ted Dibiase and Stan Hansen defeated The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) for the AJPW Unified Tag Team Championships. Gold the pair would vacate in November 1993 so the company could use them as incentive for the winner of the annual World’s Strongest Tag Determination League. A competition which Dibiase and Hansen had won in 1985 and came joint top in 1986.

Before the Tag Team League kicked in though Dibiase had a clean sweep of the board in his biggest matches for the company, defeating Tamon Honda on October 8th in Oita, Japan; Kendall Windham – relative of Money Inc tag team partner I.R.S – on October 16th in Tokyo, Japan and Jun Akiyama on October 23th in Tokyo, Japan. As time ticked away on Dibiase’s career he would return to the National Wrestling Alliance for a one off appearance at NWA Bensalem Bash on October 30th 1993 in Bensalem, Pennsylvania to defeat Terry Funk via count out in a match could be seen as Dibiase’s career coming full circle. It was Funk who trained Dibiase and it was Dibiase who defeated his trainer in the final singles match of his career.

Returning to Japan, the clock had struck midnight on Dibiase’s career. Entering All Japan Pro Wrestling’s ‘World’s Strongest Tag Determination League’ tragedy struck. Only being able to compete in one league match, on November 14th 1993, he and Stan Hansen defeated Tracey Smothers and Richard Slinger. Ted Dibiase suffered serious neck injuries which forced him out of the tournament to be replaced by Giant Baba. The extent of the injury was to two cervical discs in his neck. Not wishing to carry on with the risk of paralysis, Ted Dibiase graciously stepped away from the ring and announced his retirement from professional wrestling.

It wasn’t the biggest retirement in wrestling history but it may have been the most sensible. Dibiase could have carried on wrestling like Kurt Angle does today and risked being in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. He didn’t. Knowing he would never hold another Heavyweight Championship or be relevant in a company as a wrestler again, thanks to the new direction wrestling companies were headed in, Dibiase made the correct choice.

Whilst he could no longer make an impact as a wrestler, Ted Dibiase knew he could do so in other areas of the business. Something Vince McMahon also latched onto when he had an idea for a stable of wrestler which would practically rule over the federation in 1994. Re-hiring Ted Dibiase as a commentator and manager, everyone who tuned into the 1994 Royal Rumble on January 22nd in the Providence Civic Centre in Providence, Rhode Island was pleasantly surprised when Dibiase appeared on commentary along with Vince McMahon for the event.

As a manager, Dibiase was said to have purchased the contracts of several wrestlers in the company including former tag team partner Irwin R. Schyster, Bam Bam Bigelow, Nikolai Volkoff, Charles ‘Kama’ Wright, Sycho Sid and King Kong Bundy. The stable which would come to be known as ‘The Million Dollar Corporation’, managed by Dibiase himself. This was another clever move by the World Wrestling Federation as almost every one of the men in the group were beginning to flail on their own. In the group, they became relevant again and had a part to play. ‘The Million Dollar Corporation’ was the main focus of SummerSlam 1994 on August 24th in the United Centre in Chicago, Illinois on many levels.

In the build up to SummerSlam, Dibiase had been the main focus of two of the company’s main storylines. Storylines which McMahon was banking on to sell the buy rates! The first and most important seeing as it would be the main event of the show would be his involvement in The Undertaker’s disappearance from the WWF. In short, after the ambush he suffered at the 1994 Royal Rumble at the hands of WWF Champion Yokozuna and company, The Undertaker had disappeared from the company. In reality, Mark Calloway had taken time off to spend the months with his new born son. On television, the hunt for The Undertaker had lead to actor Leslie Nielson hunting ‘The Deadman’ down in various comical skits which lasted until SummerSlam night.

On television, Dibiase had wheeled out his own version of The Undertaker played by wrestler Brian Lee. Claiming that his Undertaker was the legitimate one, Dibiase told the world that The Undertaker had come home to the man who originally brought him to company. It was clear to everyone that Dibiase’s Undertaker was fake, he walked, moved and wrestled differently to Mark Calloway’s Undertaker and the stage was set for Dibiase’s Fake Undertaker to do battle against the real and returning Undertaker at SummerSlam 1994. The atmosphere for the match was truly epic, however the in ring product could not meet expectations and the match, which the real Undertaker won, was predictably awful.

Dibiase’s second role at SummerSlam 1994, apart from accompanying I.R.S and Bam Bam Bigelow to the ring for their tag team match against The Headshrinkers, which ‘The Million Dollar Corporation’ duo won in 6:45; was to provide the controversy for one of the worst matches on the card and that was before the bell rang. For weeks before the event, friends Tatanka and Lex Luger had been at odds when Dibiase claimed that one of them had a price and had sold out to ‘The Million Dollar Man’. The mystery going into the summer spectacular was who had sold out to Dibiase who was at ringside for the match. Realistically, there was only one answer as ‘The Man Made in the USA’ Lex Luger wasn’t going to be the one who betrayed his fans. We got our answer at the conclusion to the farcical encounter when Tatanka turned on Luger and accepted the help of Dibiase. The match ended with Tatanka, Dibiase and ‘The Million Dollar Corporation’ standing over Luger’s body who had one of Dibiase’s dollar notes stuffed into his mouth.

With his ‘Million Dollar Corporation’ complete, Dibiase led his team into the 1994 Survivor Series on November 23rd from the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, where ‘The Million Dollar Team’ (King Kong Bundy, Tatanka, Bam Bam Bigelow and The Heavenly Bodies) defeated ‘Guts and Glory’ (Lex Luger, Mabel, Adam Bomb and The Smoking Guns) in 23:21 when King Kong Bundy lastly eliminated Lex Luger with a big splash to make Bundy and Bigelow the soul survivors.

With ‘The Million Dollar Corporation’ riding high in the WWF, the beginning of 1995 on pay-per view was an absolute disaster for the faction. At the Royal Rumble on January 22nd from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was in Irwin R. Schyster’s corner for his singles match against The Undertaker in which the faux tax man went on to lose and then Dibiase went on to managed Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow to a loss over the WWF Tag Team Championships against Sparky Plug and 1-2-3 Kid. Though the January super show would be a disastrous one for ‘The Million Dollar Corporation’, WrestleMania XI on April 2nd 1995 would see Ted Dibiase thrust into an important role even though he was no longer lacing up his boots.

Inside the Hartford Civic Centre in Hartford, Connecticut, Dibiase would have multiple roles and be on double duty as a manager; firstly he managed King Kong Bundy to a dire loss against The Undertaker in 6:36, a match which had Larry Young as the Special Guest Referee. Dibiase’s second and more pivotal role was in the main event of the show which pitted ‘Million Dollar Corporation’ member, Bam Bam Bigelow against NFL star Lawrence Taylor. A feud which had stemmed from a tussle between the pair at the 1995 Royal Rumble after Bigelow and Tatanka’s loss to Sparky Plug and the 1-2-3 Kid. The match was expected to be a disaster but in actual fact, with Pat Patterson as referee and Dibiase at ringside, installed so they could guide Taylor through the match and a willing Bigelow as an opponent, the match was a triumph. One of only a handful of celebrity wrestling matches to ever succeed in the wrestling industry. Bigelow would lose the match but on the night was the real winner as the selfless professional who willingly put over the celebrity talent.

Both Pat Patterson and Ted Dibiase guided Taylor through the match with aplomb and almost certainly, without their input in the match, the main event of WrestleMania XI would have been a total disaster. The next five months were focused on yet another feud with The Undertaker which began at WrestleMania XI and saw the return of Charles Wright to the World Wrestling Federation, one year and a bit after he had left the company as Papa Shango. After The Undertaker went over King Kong Bundy on the grandest stage of them all, Kama stormed to the ring and beat down ‘The Deadman’, taking the precious urn which we were told gave The Undertaker his power. With Kama in the fold, Bam Bam Bigelow would be fired by Dibiase for his loss against Taylor and a subsequent loss against WWF Champion, Diesel.

On WWF Television in the coming weeks and months we were notified that Kama, under instruction from manager Dibiase, had been paid to take the urn from Undertaker and melt it down into a necklace which Kama regularly appeared with around his neck, week in and week out. The angle would lead to a match at SummerSlam, almost five months later, on August 27th from the Pittsburgh Civic Centre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Once again, The Undertaker was victorious against Kama in a Casket Match, with Ted Dibiase in Kama’s corner.

WWF pay-per view in 1995 ended on a high for Dibiase. As a manager he was present in the Survivor Series 1995 Wild-Card Tag Team Elimination Match on November 19th at the US Air Arena in Landover, Maryland. The idea was to spice up the event by drawing heels and faces on the same team to face friends and foes. The idea was a good one but it wasn’t a total success by WWF thanks to a lack of planning and poor execution by the company. On the night, Ted Dibiase wound up managing the mixed face and heel team of Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, Sycho Sid and The British Bulldog to a victory over Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Dean Douglas and Razor Ramon, when Ahmed Johnson pinned Yokozuna at 27:24 to make himself, The British Bulldog and Shawn Michaels the sole survivors.

As the dying embers of 1995 began to fade away, Ted Dibiase was about to become linked with another future WWE legend. Just like he had with The Undertaker at Survivor Series 1990 five years previous, Dibiase was the man chosen to manage and introduce The Ringmaster to World Wrestling Federation audiences in December 1995. Handing The Ringmaster the Million Dollar Championship, Dibiase led his new Million Dollar Champion to some success in the company though the Championship would do nothing for The Ringmaster as it had done for Dibiase and Virgil before him. As everyone here will know by now, The Ringmaster would become Stone Cold Steve Austin.

1996 would be Ted Dibiase’s final year in the World Wrestling Federation as the Monday Night Wars began. With Ted Turner and WCW stealing the WWF talent to showcase on their own programme, it was only natural they would want one of the best wrestlers and managers of all time on their team. Dibiase would jump to WCW but not before managing Steve ‘The Ringmaster’ Austin to a decent victory over Savio Vega at WrestleMania XII on March 31st 1996 from the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. The Austin vs Vega feud would be the curtain call for Dibiase in the World Wrestling Federation and his last appearance for the company was at the infamous WWF In Your House: Beware of Dog pay-per view event.

The event which was held on May 26th at the Florence Civic Centre in Florence, South Carolina became known as ‘The Night the Lights Went Out’, because a thunderstorm in the area knocked out power in the arena and in the WWF production trucks just as Steve Austin and Savio Vega began their strap match. Also cut was the pay-per view feed to the event. The matches in the arena still went ahead on the night in darkness, the old Vince McMahon motto of ‘the show must go on’ prevailed and the power to the arena and the pay-per view feed was restored prior to the ring entrances for the main event. The paying public had missed the show at home and those in the arena were only privy to action when flashbulbs from photographers lit up the shadowy figures in the ring. On the night, on pay-per view, the audience at home only say the opening match in which Marc Mero defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the epic main event in which Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog fought to a draw when the referee counted both their shoulders to the mat during the final pinfall.

The show would have been a commercial disaster for Vince McMahon had he not had the business sense to reschedule the event and offer it free to everyone who had purchased it at home. It was a master stroke. The WWF put the event on again two days later on the Tuesday, allowing time to hold Monday Night Raw in between. On the Monday Night Raw, WWF changed the stipulation to the strap match between Austin and Savio Vega. In the knowledge that Ted Dibiase was leaving for WCW, the company had Dibiase come out and declare that if Austin didn’t defeat Vega in their Strap Match the next night then he would leave the company.

On Tuesday May 28th, from the different venue of the North Charleston Coliseum in North Charleston, South Carolina. To their eternal credit, the WWF replayed the two matches people had seen from the May 26th event before staging the rest of the matches, which had taken placed in the dark on the Sunday, live. Entitled ‘Beware of Dog 2’, the Caribbean Strap Match between Austin and Vega went on live first. The match was an excellent outing for Savio Vega, which he would prevail in to send Dibiase packing from the company. ‘The Million Dollar Man’s’ exit from the company was nowhere as near as emotional as his first but then again Dibiase had become a mere bit player in Vince McMahon’s ranks.

Moving to the opposition, maybe Dibiase thought he would be a more valuable commodity to WCW than he was the WWF. In truth, Vince McMahon no longer needed Dibiase and as the WWF were moving in a different direction, it was obvious that WCW could do with another big name manager to booster their ranks. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be Dibiase’s role. Introduced to the WCW faithful as the fourth member of the NWO, Dibiase was credited with funding the group. As WCW hadn’t purchased his ‘Million Dollar Man’ gimmick it was the closest they ever got to the name which Dibiase had made himself famous under. Instead, the company began to refer to Dibiase as ‘Trillionaire Ted’, a name the WWF had bestowed upon Ted Turner. He was bestowed with the honour of an induction into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame as part of the class of 1996.

Dibiase’s NWO stint was short and the company never knew what to do with him or how to use him for the best. The company was so focused on Hulk Hogan than it ignored the fact that had they even bothered to invest a little time into Dibiase then he could have been beneficial to the company on and off of screen. Less than one year later, shortly after WCW Spring Stampede on April 6th 1997, Dibiase quit the NWO and in the summer of 1997 would manage old enemies The Steiner Brothers on an August 4th edition of WCW Monday Nitro. Like his NWO stint, the manager role of The Steiner Brothers was short lived when Scott Steiner turned heel on brother Rick and manager Dibiase at WCW SuperBrawl VIII on February 22nd 1998 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, joining the NWO. Dibiase’s time in WCW was almost a complete joke. There was no direction for him to take and the company had him stumble blindly from wrestler to wrestler as manager.

The ultimate slap in the face was when Dibiase was assigned former WWF foe Ray ‘Big Boss Man’ Traylor to manage. Traylor was never a great wrestler but in 1998 he was a bumbling mess. To put Dibiase with him was an oversight on WCW’s part and just further proof that Eric Bischoff didn’t care about the talent under the NWO, just one reason why the company went out of business three years later. The audience weren’t the only people who could see that Dibiase’s treatment by WCW officials was farcical. Dibiase began to see it as well and retracted from an on-screen role, preferring to act as a road agent for the company until his contract expired in 1999. I can imagine Dibiase was counting down the days until he was out of the WCW hell. His whole stay from beginning to end was a waste of time.

After his exit from WCW in 1999, Dibiase left the wrestling world completely for six years until he was hired back by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005 as a creative consultant and road agent on Smackdown. WWE’s Homecoming Special of Monday Night Raw on October 3rd 2005 saw ‘The Million Dollar Man’ make a special one night only on-screen return for a WWE Legends ceremony. On the night, the ceremony was interrupted by Rob Conway of La Resistance, who had insulted the legends on the microphone. Naturally, to the delight and acceptance of the audience, it was Dibiase who led a Legends attack on Conway. Backstage, Dibiase stayed around the company inducting former manager Sensational Sherri into the WWE Hall of Fame 2006 on April 1st and even participated in an angle backstage at WrestleMania 22 on April 2nd, reminiscent of his first meeting with a young Rob Van Dam, where he challenged Eugene to dribble a basket ball 100 times for $1000. In an exact ending of the Rob Van Dam incident a decade and a bit before, Dibiase would kick away the ball at the last second to the delight of the audience.

After the WrestleMania 22 appearance, Dibiase made several more nostalgia related appearances for both WWE on the April 17th Raw and October 9th Raw Family Reunion, in the latter he assisted Ric Flair in his match with the Spirit Squad which would feature a very young Dolph Ziggler. 2005 would end on a sour note for Dibiase, after collapsing at WWE headquarters and being rushed to hospital. In between Dibiase made an appearance for IPW where he watched his sons wrestle a tag team match on July 14th 2006 in Newton, Iowa and the following night he accepted the George Tragos / Lou Thez Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Induction for his father ‘Iron Mike’ Dibiase. Though Dibiase was released from his WWE contract in October 2006 he was brought back for an in ring appearance for the first time since 2003, on December 10th 2007 on WWE Raw 15th Anniversary Special where to the approval of the fans he stormed to the ring after a 15 man Legend Battle Royal, which his friend and former tag team partner Irwin R. Schyster had won and paid the tax man to eliminate himself so he could win. For old fans it was a moment which harked back to the glory days of wrestling and Ted Dibiase. For one night only, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ had returned. The moment was completed when Dibiase proclaimed that even after fifteen years, “Everybody still has a price for The Million Dollar Man!”

In a passing of the torch moment on the May 26th Raw, ‘The Million Dollar Man’ almost accepted his time in wrestling was over when he introduced the WWE Universe to its latest talent, his son, Ted Dibiase Jr. For many this was the moment that Ted Dibiase finally decided to step away from the ring. He had passed the spotlight to his offspring and after that moment, ‘The Million Dollar Man’s’ appearances for the WWE became few and far between as he weaned himself out of the business. Something many legends have failed to do. It didn’t matter to Ted that wrestling had come and gone. He could separate that side of himself from his real life because he had something to focus on. In 1999, Dibiase founded the ‘Heart of David Ministry’ church, a venture that keeps him busy to this day.

Ted Dibiase had to go out the right way. Even after all of these years, the wrestler in him wouldn’t simply allow him to fade away. To Ted Dibiase, simply just stepping away from the spotlight was a disservice to ‘The Million Dollar Man’ character. His biggest impact on the business, since he stepped away from the spotlight and hung up his trunks came on the June 29th 2009 episode of Raw when Dibiase served as ‘Guest Host’ of the broadcast. The show was a smash success and Dibiase played his part to perfection, sanctioning a match between Legacy members, WWE Champion Randy Orton and his own son, Ted Dibiase Jr. Coincidently, this was to be the only night where Dibiase Jr would come close to emanating his father in the company. Before and after, the son never even touched the face of what his father accomplished. This night, Dibiase Jr would come close to surpassing his father. In the WWE Championship match, Dibiase Jr put in the performance of a lifetime, a show which brought back memories of his father nineteen years previous. Though Orton would win with a lightening quick RKO out of nowhere, it was Ted Dibiase Jr who was the star of this show.

Though Dibiase would make sparse appearances for the company on the November 2nd 2010 NXT where he acted as minister for Aksana and Goldust’s wedding – a man, who as Dustin Rhodes, Ted Dibiase had fought nineteen years previous at the 1991 Royal Rumble – induct Jim Duggan into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011 and appear and on the December 12th 2011 Raw SuperShow, April 10th 2012 Smackdown and the March 4th 2013 Old School Monday Night Raw it was his 2010 WWE Hall of Fame induction which is considered the real end of ‘The Million Dollar Man’.

His Hall of Fame Induction was a celebrated moment in wrestling history. Finally, seventeen years after he’d retired from the ring, after everything he’d done for Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment, Ted Dibiase was bestowed with the greatest honour a wrestler can get. He took his place amongst the elite of this industry and ironically, he didn’t even have to buy the place. It had been thoroughly earned. If there was ever a wrestler who deserved a place in the hallowed halls, it was ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase.

In 2013, Ted Dibiase is a born again Christian who is still head of the ‘Heart of David Ministry’ as well as a motivational speaker. A role in which travels America and the world preaching the word of god and churches and religious functions. He’s a main stay in charity work and a spokesman for the Sunshine Foundation who grants wishes for terminally ill children and the man who once preached the value of money instead of God also preaches the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Truly, Ted Dibiase has used his post wrestling life well and is undoubtedly one of wrestling’s greatest success stories.

In the end, he was bigger than his mother, bigger than his adopted father and ‘The Million Dollar Man’ was a wrestling legend on his own terms on his own merits. His final in ring match in the WWF was used to put over Razor Ramon and make sure that line of great talent continued into the future. Ted Dibiase’s final ever singles match in wrestling saw him defeat his trainer Terry Funk in a moment which saw his wrestling career come full circle and his final ever match, he went out a winner. There aren’t many wrestlers who can say that about their careers. For a man who played the role of someone who valued money more than friends, what better was there to go out but as a winner?

I truly believe that Hulk Hogan – who was growing stale in the late 80’s / early 90’s – wouldn’t have gotten as far as he did without Ted Dibiase and without a doubt, Dibiase is wrestling’s greatest ever villain. When it comes to creations people can sit and preach that ‘Hulkamania’ was Vince McMahon’s greatest brain child. I disagree. Without the heels there are no faces. I truly believe that ‘The Million Dollar Man’ is Vince McMahon’s greatest creation. He was a character which struck that chord with fans and made them want to physically hurt him. The Hulk Hogan, real American character was one being done around the territories to a lesser extent when promoters would bring in a foreign menace to oppose the American hero. In reality, there was nothing original about Hulk Hogan.

In his autobiography, Dibiase ends by saying that everything he did, he did for the fans. He thanks everyone who every came out to cheer him and everyone who ever came out to boo him. ‘The Million Dollar Man’ holds a special place in my heart. He was the first heel I ever hated and every loved to hate; Ted Dibiase is the man I hold the biggest amount of respect for.

‘The Million Dollar Man’ has paid his price to be one of the greatest in the history of this industry and whatever you may believe his legacy to be, Ted Dibiase is the greatest wrestler, never to be WWE Champion.

Onwards and upwards...