Ted DiBiase (24 page)

I learned the psychology aspect of the wrestling business from Ted. In fact, there is no better teacher than Ted when it comes to the psychology of the business, overall wrestling ability, and speaking skills. He is the best.

Working with Ted was unbelievable. There is no better field general than Teddy. He was one of the best wrestlers ever in the business. He is in a class by himself.

Sherri Martel was a wonderful person and we worked perfectly together. She had a storied wrestling career and worked for every major federation in the United States. She was a great wrestler and became the Women's Champion in both World Wrestling Federation and the now defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). She was just as awesome a manager, having managed numerous top-named guys such as Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage. Because of her impact and success in the sport, in 2006, I inducted Sherri into the WWE Hall of Fame. It was unfortunate that she passed away in June of 2007 at forty-nine.

Given that Piper had interfered in my matches against Virgil, we started a program. Roddy Piper is a great guy and an excellent worker. We had many good matches together. Before the start of each match, I would get on the microphone and say, “You know, I really don't feel like wrestling tonight. It's been a long trip and I don't feel like breaking a sweat. Roddy Piper, I know you don't want to be embarrassed by me in front of all these people. Because Roddy, if we wrestle tonight, you will be embarrassed. So to save you from being humiliated by the Million Dollar Man in front of this crowd, I am going to offer you three hundred dollars. Take the money and go out and have a fine meal and order a nice bottle of wine. What do you say?” When I'd turn away, Piper would punch me and the money would go flying up in the air. He nailed me a few more times until I landed outside the ring on the concrete floor. While I was dazed, Piper scooped up the money and handed it to the fans in the front row. I went crazy and screamed, “That is my money! Don't give the fans my money!”

At an event in Sacramento, I decided to have some fun with the angle.

Roddy Piper just didn't appreciate my offers to spare him.

Melanie traveled with me to the show because we had just visited my step-sister, who lived roughly eighty miles from the venue in Napa Valley. My stepsister wanted to come to the show. So I got them two ringside tickets. In all the years that I have been in the business, my wife has never sat in the front row; she was either in the dressing room area or in the cheap seats.

With my gimmick, everything operated on the honor system. I never wasted or abused the company's money. But this one time, I thought that my wife and stepsister should have the three hundred dollars. We were going to use the money to have a nice meal after the show. Nobody would know the difference.

Prior to the match, I spoke to Piper in the dressing room. “Look, Roddy, when we do this thing tonight and you roll out of the ring to give away the money, I want you to give it to my wife. She will be sitting in the front row.
Nobody knows that she is my wife. So when you get the money, roll out of the ring and slap the money in her hands. Tonight, we will all go out and have a good time.” Piper agreed.

Piper followed everything perfectly and put the money in my wife's hands. After the conclusion of our match, we joked about it in the locker room and planned to go out for a nice little meal together. After showering, we met up with my wife and stepsister. I asked Melanie if she had the money. She looked at me with an angry pout. “No. Don't you ever do that to me again. When Roddy put the money in my hand, and then walked away, people started coming from everywhere. They started grabbing and reaching for the money. It was unbearable. I thought they were going to trample me, so I just let it go. Don't get any other harebrained ideas like that again or I'm going to kill you!”

It would be some five years before I would run into Piper again backstage at a house show in Kansas City. After the show, we went back to our hotel. We were both staying at the Marriott by the airport. Before settling in, we decided to go to a local pub down the road to have a few beers for old times' sake. I remember saying, “What trouble can we get into?” Sure enough, after about ten minutes, some guy said something obnoxious to me. I tried blowing it off so as not to start any trouble. But the guy was being quite repulsive. Piper is a pretty scrappy guy. He is well known for losing his cool and is very successful at bar fights. Right before I was about to grab the guy by the throat, Piper came from out of nowhere and started beating the guy up. He actually laid him out.

I regained my title by defeating Virgil with the help of the Repo Man. When I became a Tag Team Champion a few months later, the angle allowed me to put the Million Dollar Belt in hibernation. It wasn't until four years later when I was managing Steve Austin that the title came back into play. Since he was my protégé, I simply gave him the belt and started calling him the champ.

PAT PATTERSON:

I don't even have a clue where the belt is today. A few years ago, I recall someone asking where the Million Dollar Belt was. Nobody could find it. I am sure Vince has it somewhere locked away.

At the
King of the Ring 1991,
I wrestled Ricky Steamboat to a draw. Ricky was one of those wrestlers whose work in the ring I sincerely admired. As chance happened, that night in Providence was the only time I ever wrestled Ricky. We had an excellent match and I remember telling him how enjoyable it was to work with him. The event also marked when Mike Rotundo (I.R.S.—Irwin R. Schyster) started getting a push as one of the major heels in the company. Toward the end of 1991, creative decided that I needed to enter into tag-team wrestling.

MIKE ROTUNDO (I.R.S.):

Since Ted basically worked in the Mid-South territory and me in Florida and the Carolinas, we never crossed paths until we were in World Wrestling Federation. We hit it off instantly. The creative team soon decided to team us together as Money Inc. They thought we would fit well together with Ted's Million Dollar Man gimmick and my deal as the I.R.S. It was a great move because we worked very well together and had a tremendous amount of success.

We wrestled many great tag teams such as the Natural Disasters, the Steiner Brothers, the Beverly Brothers, the Nasty Boys, the Mega Maniacs (Brutus Beefcake & Hulk Hogan), and the Legion of Doom. In February of 1992 we defeated the Legion of Doom (aka the Road Warriors) to become the Tag Team Champions. We went on to be three-time World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions.

The Road Warriors were one of the most popular tag teams in the world. I was friends with both Animal and the late Hawk. I will never forget our match that year at the
SummerSlam 1992
event. In front of eighty-thousand-plus fans in Wembley Stadium in London, we lost to the Legion of Doom after Animal pinned me to secure the victory. It is a fact that World Wrestling Federation sold out Wembley Stadium faster than anybody, including the Beatles.

STEVE KEIRN:

Teddy, in his peers' eyes, is one of the greatest wrestlers that ever came through the business. I personally put Teddy and those other second-generation wrestlers at the highest level. They were introduced to the business at an early age, knew the terminology, and respected the profession. As the Million Dollar Man, he made a name for himself. The promotion makes you the star, but you have to be able to carry the ball once they hand it to you. When Vince gave him the Million Dollar Man opportunity, Teddy didn't only run with the ball, he stole it. He shined brighter than many stars have ever shined. In the ring, he gave a hundred percent and never went to the ring with an attitude that he was just going to get by. He was a complete professional and will forever be a legend in the sport of professional wrestling.

It was a very exciting time in wrestling in 1993.
Raw
started airing on the USA Network.
Raw
was an unprecedented TV show shot in front of a live audience.

On
Raw
with Vince and I.R.S.

We also started doing tours overseas. I wrestled in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. No matter what country we were in, every venue was packed with screaming fans.

During that time, good ol' J.R. joined Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler doing the announcing duties on
Raw
and Pay-Per-View events. It was probably one of Vince's best hires ever. Jim is the greatest announcer in the history of professional wrestling. I have known him for years and remember him calling a World Heavyweight Championship match between me and Ric Flair in the mid-1980s when I was in the Mid-South/UWF territory.

JIM ROSS:

The Million Dollar Man persona is one for the ages, and you can take that to the bank … no pun intended. A creation of Vince McMahon and Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man was someone anyone could identify with on varying levels—no matter their background—on any continent. Ted was perfect for the role because he could naturally outwrestle most opponents, who were usually fan favorites, and then robustly laugh in the face of the popular Superstar and the Superstar's fans. I would suggest that the Million Dollar Man was one of the top ten all-time great characters WWE ever featured, and in the top five of antagonists. The Million Dollar Man's exploits will live for generations to come, and if I ever had to draft wrestlers to start my own company, the Million Dollar Man would be a surefire first rounder. Wrestlers have to fit roles and roles have to fit wrestlers. Ted DiBiase was the perfect choice for the Million Dollar Man, who the fans just knew was laughing all the way to the bank.

NIKITA KOLOFF:

Ted's wrestling skills and abilities speak for themselves in terms of his success in the wrestling industry. He was great on the microphone and had great psychology for the business—an art that I believe had
long been lost. He portrayed the Million Dollar Man gimmick extremely well and had great success with the character.

It was about this time that my drinking and partying was getting out of control. From the late-night drinking to the infidelity, I started to believe that I was the Million Dollar Man. My ego was out of control, more so my drinking. Because of my celebrity status, I was invited to party after party. One time in Germany, Ric Flair and I were at a local bar near the venue. Our fans were packed into the bar and we both were enjoying the attention. Ric left to go to the bathroom, and a young lady came up to me and engaged in small talk. She was very cordial; I would find out she was an undercover police officer. All of a sudden, everyone in the bar heard “Wooooo!” Ric was headed toward me, in nothing but his socks and underwear. Before I could wise him up, he said, “Hi, honey. How would you like to ride Space Mountain?” The look on Ric's face when I told him that she was a police officer is permanently etched in my mind.

A few years earlier, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to have introduced to the wrestling world maybe the most extraordinary wrestler in the history of WWE, Undertaker. He was part of my Million-Dollar Team on Thanksgiving Day at the
Survivor Series 1990
at the Hartford Civic Center. It was a four-on-four elimination match where we challenged Dusty's Dream Team. His team consisted of him, Koko B. Ware, and the Hart Foundation.

For weeks I teased the fans that I would have a mystery partner with my two other teammates—the Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine. After we made our way to the ring, the crowd eagerly awaited him. The fans were in awe when Undertaker made his way down to the ring. Even to this day, his entrance into the ring is one of the most entertaining moments in the business. He eliminated Dusty Rhodes but subsequently got himself eliminated when he followed Dusty to the back. My team won the match after I pinned Bret Hart.

Bret and I go way back to my college days at West Texas State. I met him and a few of his brothers when they came to Amarillo to visit the Funks. I admired his wrestling talent and pleasant personality. The two of us got along well because of what we had in common: mutual love and respect for the business. We were second-generation wrestlers and both of our fathers were
shooters. Bret's dad, Stu, had a tough reputation and would train people in the basement of his house, which he called the dungeon.