Underutilized: Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase

[shooter_mcgavin]

I think people are pointing to the era Debiase was in the reason why he never became the World Champion. Yes Hogan and the faces dominated as the Champions in that time but I believe the reason why Debiase never got a run with the title was because of the Honky Tonk Man.

I recall Randy Savage in an article saying he was supposed to win the Intercontinental Title from the Honky Tonk Man at WMIV but Honky Tonk Man refused to drop it to Savage (for reasons I cannot remember). Thus plans for WMIV changed so that Savage would win the World Title, scrapping plans to Debiase winning it.

So Debiase's lack of a title reign was really attribute to a combination of bad luck, timing, and the Honky Tonk Man.

[MrMojoRisin]

For anyone saying that Dibiase wouldn't have been NWA champ... he was actually recommended to the board by Harley Race to become the champ. It wasn't over Flair though. In fact, he was recommended to win the belt the first time Dusty took the title, but Rhodes and the Florida office had enough influence that they were able to get the belt onto Dusty. Up until Dibiase left for the WWF, he was recommended by Race every time a short term championship reign came up (not a long one because Race agreed that Flair was the guy for that). Regardless though, if Dibiase had turned down the M$M gimmick and let that be known, that along with Harley Race's endorsement would have been enough to put him over the top and begin at least one run with the NWA title.

Dibiase was one of the greats of his era. He was a amazing heel, being able to play so many different layers from over the top cheesy to ultra serious. Like someone else said here, he could draw heat so well that he made the careers of others as babyfaces (no one knows who Virgil is if it wasn't for Dibiase). He was also a tremendous babyface (look at his mid-south/UWF work for an example there).

The politics of the time in the NWA, with JCP holding all the power, made it hard for NWA guys in other territories like Dibiase to break through the glass ceiling, but he was so close that a show of loyalty would have been all it took to get him his run... and once he had that, who knows where he could have gone?

In that regard the WWF of the time wasn't any better, although he was originally supposed to get the belt at WM4 instead of Savage (once again the Honkey Tonk Man has to screw things up for someone). Had he come along even a few years later, we'd likely be talking about a multi-time WWF champion right now. As it is, we still remember Dibiase as one of the greatest heels of his and any era... because that's exactly what he was.

The funny thing is, if you've ever listened to any interviews with him, it doesn't bother him at all that he never won either the NWA or WWF titles, even though there's no one in history that came as close behind the scenes to taking both and yet ending up with neither. This is a guy that's perfectly content with his career.

[DirtyD79]

I think he was used just fine. It ain't like he was beggin' through the palms for a spot on the card. The man got plenty of high profile feuds and was presented as a legit threat to the babyfaces in them which is what a heel is supposed to be. He got to live it up like a king on the boss' dime with the first class hotels, jets, and limos. Not everybody is gonna be the big dog and quite frankly not everybody should be. A fed needs solid talent all throughout the card.