Did they ever explain where DiBiase got his money?

[Deleted]

If so, I've never heard it. I always wondered about that.

[Brother Ike: Thread Killer]

He filled out a blank check for a million dollars.

On that note, they never really explained how much money He actually had either. So the name "million dollar man" could literally have been just $1,000,000, and while that's still alot of money, probably not all that much when looking at all the things he was buying and being compared to what Hogan was making at the time.

[Bubble Lead]

I dont think so, my admittedly blurry childhood memory recalls Ted just kinda showing up in vignettes talking about how rich he was.

Even as a kid I wondered why a ludicrously rich guy would even bother putting his body at risk wrestling when he could just be a manager or something.

[Deleted]

Well, I have seen several promo shots of him reading the Wall Street Journal, so maybe he was supposed to some kind of business/stock tycoon like JBL is in real life.

I have never heard an official explanation, though, so I've always just assumed that he was just a stock "rich guy" character like Scrooge McDuck.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Nov 12, 2009 19:52:44 GMT -5 @wvguitar said:

Well, I have seen several promo shots of him reading the Wall Street Journal, so maybe he was supposed to some kind of business/stock tycoon like JBL is in real life.

I have never heard an official explanation, though, so I've always just assumed that he was just a stock "rich guy" character like Scrooge McDuck.

Scrooge McDuck has a very long and thorough back story.

[Cretinous Humanoid]

Nov 12, 2009 19:12:17 GMT -5 Bubble Lead said:

I dont think so, my admittedly blurry childhood memory recalls Ted just kinda showing up in vignettes talking about how rich he was.

Even as a kid I wondered why a ludicrously rich guy would even bother putting his body at risk wrestling when he could just be a manager or something.

That's why I never liked the gimmick. I never understood why he wouldn't just pay someone to do his bidding.

[TheDieselTrain]

I thought that it was explained that he inherited the money which was supposed to make you hate him more since he never did anything to actually earn it.

[JerryvonKramer]

But he did SO OFTEN pay someone else to do his bidding. Or used his money to get an advantage. Including off the top of my head, when he:

- bought the title/ ref
- and when that plan failed, made sure Andre got him into the finals of WM4
- bought Hercules as a slave
- paid off Slick to ensure he got #30 place in the 89 Rumble
- paid off Randy Savage to help him all the way through the 90 Rumble

I posted most of the early vignettes here by the way:
officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wrestling&action=display&thread=238839&page=2

As for the OP: I think he just re-dubted as a very rich man and it was never explained how he made his fortune.

They did mention investments and things like that but how he made his money in the first place was never divested.

[Bubble Lead]

Nov 12, 2009 20:31:40 GMT -5 JerryvonKramer said:

But he did SO OFTEN pay someone else to do his bidding. Or used his money to get an advantage. Including off the top of my head, when he:

- bought the title/ ref
- and when that plan failed, made sure Andre got him into the finals of WM4
- bought Hercules as a slave
- paid off Slick to ensure he got #30 place in the 89 Rumble
- paid off Randy Savage to help him all the way through the 90 Rumble

I posted most of the early vignettes here by the way:
officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wrestling&action=display&thread=238839&page=2

As for the OP: I think he just re-dubted as a very rich man and it was never explained how he made his fortune.

They did mention investments and things like that but how he made his money in the first place was never divested.

Very true. WWE always made good use of his gimmick of being rich and using that to his advantage.

I mean, it still never made much sense to me that a rich guy would keep wrestling and putting himself at risk for no good reason. However, at least he used his money as a big advantage to give him a leg up on opponents. As a kid I sort of explained it away as he was a bored rich guy with a huge ego and thus wrestled because he liked humiliating people and wanted the glory of being WWF Champion for vanitys sake.

Keep in mind, I was too young to know of his pre WWF history at the time. Otherwise I probably would have just assumed he was like JBL and became suddenly rich during his wrestling career, but kept wrestling because he enjoyed it and could now throw money into title pursuits and towards crushing his rivals.

[ToyfareMark]

I believe the Apter mags always stated that he inherited it.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I believe he inherited it, as the person who was to originally have the gimmick was........Vincent Kennedy McMahon. It's long been rumored it's the gimmick he wanted to use, but his father forbade him from ever becoming a wrestler, so Ted DiBiase got the gimmick.

Any truth to the rumblings Vince gave Ted a million dollars to throw around in public? I remember hearing Vince did and Ted made it last the whole run of the character. I know Ted always flew first class and stayed in the best hotels and such to protect the character, but anything truth to Vince giving Ted money to buy ridiculous crap?

[lmoney215]

i enjoyed his theme, but you think that he would be rich enough to have a better "theme song", but it did fit him well and it is still catchy to this day.

[Baixo Astral]

I have an Apter mag that suggests that the money was running out.

[johnnyk9]

Dibiase got his money the honest way he embezzled it HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[quantum]

Ted Dibiase was the highest paid mid card wrestler ever.

[nerdinitupagain]

He had a ridiculous expense account to live up the image outside of the ring.

Talk about getting a great gimmick.

[Jay Peas 42]

Inheritance and the right investments. Worked for Mike Wallstreet and Robert Roode.

[Tapout]

Nov 13, 2009 4:46:38 GMT -5 lmoney215 said:

i enjoyed his theme, but you think that he would be rich enough to have a better "theme song"

You have to be kidding. This is one of the all-time great wrestling themes.

[Woooooolhouse!]

I heard he got rich working online from his own home. AND SO CAN YOU!!!

[JerryvonKramer]

Nov 13, 2009 8:15:56 GMT -5 quantum said:

Ted DiBiase was the highest paid mid card wrestler ever.

I think it's unfair to call him a midcarder. He was brought in at Main event level and pretty much stayed there (or at upper mid-card) until Money Inc. And even then, Money Inc. vs. Megamaniacs was a co-headline at WM9.

He definitely wasn't a midcarder. Tito Santana, Dino Bravo, Ric Martel, and Jim Duggan were midcarders. And at the top end of the midcard (IC level) there were people like Mr. Perfect.

Ted was very clearly above IC level and always in contention for the World title until Ric Flair arrived.

If the TEW2008 mod I play is to be believed, he was on the same 'big money' contract in 1993 as he was in 1988. Something like $56,000-$65,000 a month.