TSC Evaluation #65: Ted DiBiase

[mrken12]

I gave DiBiase a 10 overall. To me he's a 10 in every category. I'm especially a fan of his Million Dollar Man gimmick which is one of the all time greatest wrestling gimmicks that we've seen. Although it's a simple rich man gimmick, the vignettes did a great job of developing his character and establishing the type of person that he was. Vignettes are an underutilized tool in today's wrestling. One of my favorite ones is paying a public pool to kick out all the kids so that he could have the pool all to himself.



Also sabotaging people from getting easy money.

Also they made sure that he was living the gimmick outside of the ring to maintain kayfabe.

So Vince really made sure Ted DiBiase was maintaining kayfabe...

His promos were top notch as well. The iconic villainous laugh and the smug boastful promos enhanced his heel gimmick and made it easier to despise him.

His ring work was great as well. I had the chance to watch his Mid South work and he did a great job as a heel even before his transformation into the Million Dollar Man. I especially liked his feud with Junkyard Dog. Other top feuds/matches were: vs Dusty Rhodes, vs Ultimate Warrior, vs Bret Hart

Although he didn't win any major gold in the WWE, he still was a compelling larger than life character who was a great entertainer. He made an excellent transition into the role of a manager and was one of the most well rounded wrestlers to ever be in the WWE.

 

[Hoss]

I remember reading that Vince was kinda living vicariously through DiBiase because he had developed that character envisioning himself as a wrestler. Million Dollar Man was essentially the wrestler version of Vince himself.

Makes perfect sense. Also explains the massive push right out of the gate. They picked the perfect dude for the job.

His rep in the ring was that everybody loved working with him because he only cared about match quality and storytelling, not about dominating the offence.

I really don't think he gets enough credit as a worker. The in-ring talent is just so wildly overshadowed by the character and gimmick.

 

[Ripp]

10 because people actually still believe he was/is the million dollar man (sort of like razor ramon being so good even to this day you arent 100% convinced he isnt hispanc)

picture this... a rich nikka says "hey im gonna wrestle... matter of fact fukk your world title ima make my own belt"

also no internet back in the day really helped people like me believe in his character. I was a kid growing up on deebs and was 100% convinced he was who he portrayed... I had no knowledge of territories and never seen him wrestle in a gym before making it to the E...he was on the tail end of his career when I was old enough to start remembering wrestling though.. so to me he came off as a rich dude that couldn't wrestle... but had money to buy people to do his dirty work

his stable of robbers was lit back in the day. he was a better manager than wrestler to me. stillba 10 and a true legend in every sense of the word

 

[Vic Damone. Jr]

10
Ted had it

Goat laugh too

 

[Bart simpson]

Before my time but from past promos and vignettes he was about that life