Ted DiBiase on Living the Million Dollar Man Gimmick

'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase looks back at his Hall of Fame career, from Mid-South, to Japan, to WCW, to WWF, and everywhere in-between! Join Ted and Marcus every Friday at 6am ET on all podcast platforms or if you want early access, get it commercial free on Premier+ with Premier Streaming Network!

[@GamerLegend.97]

No doubt one of the greatest heels ever of the 80s the million dollar man Ted DiBiase

[@jamesoshea494]

Crazy thing is the gimmick would never work today because 1 million is the equivalent of 100 grand today

[@nightwing27]

Its too bad when Ric Flair came in the WWE back in the early 90s that he & Ted were not put together as a team and said they were the Millionaire's Club.

[@MegaSammy70]

Ted would've made a good member of the 4 horsemen if he had gone to work for Jim Crocket Promotions instead of the WWF after the UWF went under.

[@theramplocal]

100%, cld see him in the horseman, good call dude

[@jowbloe4700]

WWF. Stop the blasphemy.

[@davesvarte]

Ted definitely earned it. Always a highlight when I watched his matches and everything else.

[@chadcollins1056]

My favorite wrestler of all time!

[@josephnicolino8529]

He is a great heel. The only things that bummed me out was he never held the world's championship and he didn't wear the green and silver tux for very long

[@josephross7936]

Think if Ric Flair was given this gimmick. He actually lived it every night.

[@SamSamSamJ]

Unfortunately, the internet killed Kayfabe.

[@brianrieger8427]

The steroid trial did too.

[@nunyafuckinbizniz]

Vince McMahon killed kayfabe and wrestling......

[@SamSamSamJ]

You guys are right. The internet finished it off and buried it.

[@luciano-km7mq]

Certain wrestlers back in the late 90s (before the internet took off) killed kayfabe.

[@jshiner7298]

Vince McMahon made wrestling great but destroyed it by destroying kayfabe, wrestling hasn't recovered and never will

[@michaelkrolewski7406]

"Money can and does buy you anything or anybody. Everybody's got a price for the Million Dollar 💵 Man!"

[@theramplocal]

His laugh is legendary! Hahahahahahaha

[@gstcomputing65]

Did they ever explain how Ted became so wealthy? I remember watching Mid-South wrestling where Dick Murdoch put him out of wrestling and Ted made promos regarding how he was out of money and couldn't feed his kids. Next thing I know, he is on WWF television as a super-rich person trying to buy the championship. It made no sense to my young teenage self.

[@EGarrett01]

I don't remember them explaining it either, someone else said that he inherited the money from an oil tycoon father, but I don't know if that is what was said on the air or if they just made that up.

[@PireFirebat501Protoss]

My favorite wrestler! Really enjoyed playing as Ted Dibiase in WWF WrestleFest, too!!

[@BrianM-q3c]

hey ted you were my favorite gimmick of all time ....the only wrestling memorably i own is your toy and the million dollar belt because my 2 favorite wrestlers you and stonecold are the best thank you guys

[@patrickryan86]

Genius marketing! 💵

[@davidescanio2929]

Yup his face is on theMt Rushmore of believable heels...almost 10 years straight of being the top or 1 of Vince's top heels

[@skylisszthecolossus]

That's the best back story!

[@stormykeep9213]

To the world, his gimmick was the "Million Dollar Man." To McMahon, his gimmick was the "Walking, Talking WWF Billboard."

[@Quarry_Saintwater]

State of Alabama would like to know how he was livin the gimmick

[@darkreaper8859]

Seems similar to the Lex Express or how Macho Man was you have to be living your role 24/7 some people might go crazy doing that because you have to suppress your to self

[@petersmith5915]

Ted was 1 of the main lynchpins in the wwf during that era n vince knew it, as well as being a top performer himself he helped others to shine too imo.

[@deadpools1069]

So cool

[@shepcon7892]

Embazzzzzzzzler.

[@ZackFrisbee]

Compare that to having to be Doink the clown or Golddust 😝

[@fmthebaron]

Goldust would be every gay man's dream to play that character. Get to rub the wrestlers wieners and make out with them.

[@theramplocal]

Lmao

[@ReeseMan]

ted has lived the life of a real pro wrestler now he lives for God much respect to him thanks for the memories

[@michaelr.4878]

He went from being the Million Dollar Man on tv to asking churches to pass the offering plate around for a 2nd trip during his 'talks' at churches. hahaha. 'Hey Pastor, you only paid me $2000 for this talk at your church...why don't you send that offering plate around for a second round before i finish'. Then there is his involvement in the welfare money scam with his son. hahha.

[@TOOL-22]

Very 🆒️ gimmick

[@vanhenry98]

I dated a girl in 90s had an older sister who spent the night with the million dollar man and in the morning he got up threw $20.00 bucks at her and and said thanks for everything and split ,then we started calling her the million dollar p#ssy 😂

[@mritsme9901]

So this story sounds full of shit? If he carried so much cash why only $20?

[@vanhenry98]

@@mritsme9901 it's TRUE and that's what is so funny he only gave her twenty bucks ,shit she basically just banged him because who he was ,this was in DETROIT late 80s ,early 90s

[@fmthebaron]

Million Dollar Corporation Member Sid said Dibiase loved the FAT Women so the $20 story makes sense.

[@kevinfitz8516]

thats brilliant haha

[@deadeyedarwin]

I guess he ripped off poor people because Vince wasn't paying his bills anymore.

[@jeffh278]

Algorithm

[@tjvincenzi3695]

Tell you what it worked, me and all my friends really believed he was rich. I mean I was a 10 year old boy who also believe a fat man broke into my house and ate my food and left presents under a tree was real too. So I guess it's not really saying much. But in those golden days of the WWF we believed.

[@mazzoanV2]

The irony is what his son is involved in.

[@trevieboi]

Didn't this guy scam a bunch of people or something irl?

[@5vs1ngh0]

Everybody’s got a price hahahahaa

[@qmkb4917]

Life imitating kayfabe

[@CCrawford522]

No different than any other preacher. Religion is nothing but kayfabe anyway.

[@mringram]

@@CCrawford522 😆😂😆😂

[@michaelriverajr8891]

Basically pulled a brett favre

[@JonathanSweeting]

It worked cause l thought he was rich af

[@jd9119]

Why would The Million Dollar Man buy meals for people though? He's a heel! He wouldn't be paying for people's tabs. Remember, we saw him bribe the guy at the swimming pool to kick the kids out. We saw him kick the basketball out of the kid's hands so he wouldn't have to pay him $500. Doing something nice for people would be so out of character.

[@parkmccann7878]

Yeah i see what you mean but by paying off strangers tabs though strangers are going to tune in to see what that guy is all about. New fanbase. Plus they are going to tell everyone they know. Great marketing scheme.

[@jd9119]

@@parkmccann7878 Having a heel do something babyface like buying people meals kills all of his heat. Now if Ted offered the restaurant money to kick all the people out so he could dine alone, that would be both display his wealth to those people and keep his heat. Plus do you know those people that were kicked out would tell everybody they know about what The Million Dollar Man did to them.

[@fmthebaron]

Obviously Ted would be cutting a promo patronizing the people the entire time as he pays their bill.

[@Asshat237]

Dude, Vergil was his slave!!!! How was that ok? I was 6 so i didn't process what was going on.

[@fmthebaron]

It was acceptable in the 80's and 90's. All the cartoons and tv shows were awesome back then because the country wasn't filled with complaining pussies that get offended by everything.

[@sleazyfellow]

Living the gimmick and didnt save, got a free ride in WCW because he was hogans bitch, got in trouble ripping off a church, now doing a podcast. Life certainly has gone down down down for someone who acted as he was rich. Ted got his limo paid for him by vince while others had to legit get there, thats all you need to know right there.