Better Midcarder: Tully Blanchard or Ted Dibiase?

[It's...Baylariat!]

It's a simple question about two guys who came from the same college, wrestled in the same territory, but both went on to do way different things. Blanchard was a member of the Four Horsemen, going on to win Tag Team, Television, and United States Championship gold during his peak. Ted Dibiase was the Million Dollar Man, who only held the WWE Title after he purchased it from Andre the Giant. Other than that, he was a National Heavyweight Champion in the NWA and also competed in Japan with Stan Hansen. But who had the better career as a midcarder? Tully or Ted?

 

[X]

Well it depends partly on how you define success in the wrestling business. If we're going off the idea that the bigger the draw, the more successful the career, than undoubtedly we'd have to give the nod DiBiase here. As great as Tully and the rest of the Crockett crew were, they were never big draws, atleast not compared to the crowds the WWF was getting at the time. DiBiase definitely wins in that regard.

If we're talking about who was better at what they did...well that's arguable. DiBiase was absolute gold on the microphone, but Tully was no slouch either. I'd give Tully the nod over Ted if we're judging in-ring skills. Legacy and importance...again you'd have to go with DiBiase, simply because of his time in the WWF.

These are two of the most underrated workers of their era, so this is a rather difficult decision for me to make. For me to choose my personal favorite...again, very difficult. I love both of them. DiBiase, next to Roddy Piper, was the most underrated heel of his era. Tully though...man I might just go as far as to say he was my favorite member of the Four Horsemen. He was the true worker of that group.

I'll give the nod to Tully, only slightly. Both are legends and were absolutely wonderful at what they did. For those unfamiliar with Tully and his work in the NWA...please, turn off The Price is Raw, and go watch the old Starrcade shows from the 80s, immediately.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Well it depends partly on how you define success in the wrestling business. If we're going off the idea that the bigger the draw, the more successful the career, than undoubtedly we'd have to give the nod DiBiase here. As great as Tully and the rest of the Crockett crew were, they were never big draws, atleast not compared to the crowds the WWF was getting at the time. DiBiase definitely wins in that regard.

If we're talking about who was better at what they did...well that's arguable. DiBiase was absolute gold on the microphone, but Tully was no slouch either. I'd give Tully the nod over Ted if we're judging in-ring skills. Legacy and importance...again you'd have to go with DiBiase, simply because of his time in the WWF.

These are two of the most underrated workers of their era, so this is a rather difficult decision for me to make. For me to choose my personal favorite...again, very difficult. I love both of them. DiBiase, next to Roddy Piper, was the most underrated heel of his era. Tully though...man I might just go as far as to say he was my favorite member of the Four Horsemen. He was the true worker of that group.

I'll give the nod to Tully, only slightly. Both are legends and were absolutely wonderful at what they did. For those unfamiliar with Tully and his work in the NWA...please, turn off The Price is Raw, and go watch the old Starrcade shows from the 80s, immediately.

I was thinking on the same lines. In drawing capacity, I'd give the nod to Dibiase. Mind you, the Four Horsemen wrestled in venues like the Superdome in New Orleans, the Orange Bowl in Miami, and packed out arenas across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. But Dibiase had a major company backing him with a great gimmick and a bigger forum to show his skills to.

As far as mic work, Dibiase gets the nod here, too. Tully was great, but Dibiase made catchphrases work. Tully just said what was on his mind and cut a great promo on said opponent.

In ring work would go to Tully. Blanchard was a ring technician, and had to be due to his size. He was billed as 5 "10, but he was more like 5 "7. Dibiase had good size and good ring work, but Blanchard could sell, hit, and bleed as good as anyone in the biz.

Match quality would go to Blanchard, too. All I have to really say is the I Quit Match with Tully and Magnum TA. Dibiase had some good feuds, but these guys may have really hated each other. It was that great of a rivalry.

 

[wolvdog316]

This one is very very simple. MDM. And in my opinion not even close.

I loved the Horsemen and Tully was fantastic. Just spectacular in the ring, and he was very good on the mic. But NWA was a lot different than WWF. NWA catered to the heels, they let the heels dictate the shows. The heels held all the titles, the heels had all the heat. Ted DiBiase got heat, but he got heat in an era where the good guy ALWAYS won. He NEVER won. Never even came close. Yet people still wanted to see him get beat up the 100th time or the 3rd time. And Ted did all this without cheap heat. Not saying Tully had cheap heat, but anybody that attacked Dusty or TA would have gotten heat. Could Tully carry a fued with an rather unknown character like Ted did with Virgil? Granted Virgin was known, but nobody really knew if this kid could wrestle, or what. So there was an unknown element to it.

And he sold out buildings. He could sell. People paid hard money to see him get beat. And on the mic the man was a god. What came out of his mouth was pure mind blowing greatness. Stuff that til this day, would work in ANY era. His promos would have sold in the kliq years, the attitude era, the PG era, nWo era. His stuff was legendary.

But IMO, this isn't a fair fight. Tully was more of a Midcarder and Ted was more of a Main Eventer. He would close out the A house shows with Savage in a cage or against Hogan when Hogan had the title. He main evented Summerslams. Now later on sure, he was a midcarder. But when I think of Ted I think of him more as a main eventer. Even though he never held the World title. Which I think again, speaks volumes about how over this guy was.

On a side note, I think it's an absolute travesty he never held the world title. He, in my opinion, was what a heel was supposed to be. And he never got to say he was a WWF World Champion. Had he been around during the 90s, he would have held the title prolly 10 times.

 

[Wrath]

With all due respect and love to Blanchard I think Dibiase was better of the two. Four Horsemen(The original version) was without a doubt the best stable ever and Blanchard was a huge part of it. He was great in the ring,had lots of unforgettable matches and feuds and he was a part of the best heel stable ever. He was probably one of the most underrated wrestlers in NWA.

Unfortunately Blanchard didn't have that drawing power to carry himself like a star like Dibiase had. Ted Dibiase is considered as one of the biggest stars that never had world title and probably the best heel ever. His mic skills were truly awesome,he had one of the greatest gimmicks ever,his in ring skills were great and he had more memorable matches and feuds than Blanchard. Maybe without Horsemen Blanchard isn't known right now but if Ted Dibiase wasn't in Hogan era he would've at least won 3-4 world titles. He was the most hated man even though he had never won a world title what if he won the title from Hulk Hogan I really can't think the crowd reaction.

I love both guys and they were truly underrated in their promotion but when we look who the bigger star and better midcarder was it was Dibiase. He had better charisma,better look and even though not as much as Blanchard he had great in ring skills. Unlike Blanchard he had never needed a stable which is consisted of some of the best workers to get over. So my vote goes to Dibiase.

 

[jmt225]

The answer is Ted Dibiase, and it's not even close.

Look, Tully Blanchard was a great wrestler and all, but his accomplishments and all around repertoire doesn't come anywhere close to touching Dibiase's. Tully had a great run with the United States Championship, and was part of a really cool faction and a very good tag team, but that's it. He never really could stand out on his own. He needed the Horseman to be successful. Ted Dibiase, on the other hand, needed nobody.

Dibiase is most known for his run in the WWF as the Million Dollar Man, and while that was great, I firmly believe his best work remains from when he was with Mid-South Wrestling/UWF. His matches there were just incredible (he had a match against Flair at the Superdome that ranks up there with Flair's best work ever in my opinion; it was a total bloodfest). And then the man even had great matches in Japan. I know it's sort of snobbish to have this opinion, but you're not truly with the greats in the history of the sport if you never had at least one run in Japan. Dibiase had plenty of runs there, and more than held his own against the toughest motherfuckers in the history of the business.

All that, PLUS his run in the WWF.... forget about it. Tully was a great wrestler, no doubt, but Dibiase was completely out of his league.

 

[ssvegita77]

I have to go with the majority on this, its clearly Dibiase. He is the most deserving guy to never be champion, and one of the best promo's I've ever had the pleasure watching. Blanchard is an all time great but outside of the horsemen he had no relevance in the wrestling business. We will never really know if he could have stood on his own two feet the way Ted did.
Don't get me wrong Tully was a great wrestler. The majority of my experience watching him was his WWF run. The brain busters, were a stellar tag team, heck they could be considered the blue print of heel tag team wrestling. They did everything right; quick tags, ref distraction, smart double teaming. They really worked it and made it look seamless add Bobby Heenan to it and get out of the way.
Of course this is Tully's downfall. For the majority of his tenure he was at first part of a 4 man group and shortly after he was a member of a tag team within that 4 man group. As soon as Ole left he kissed his singles career goodbye. Nothing wrong with that, but rival the million dollar man....not a chance.
This isn't a bad thread as I see the similarities between the two. But wouldn't Arn Anderson be a more convincing contender to Rival Ted Dibiase? Now that was a guy who cut a compelling promo (that still would resonate today) and had an amazingly methodical style. Matter of fact, I'm adding that to my list of dream matches.

 

[RVDgurl]

Holy shit, this is a tough choice for me. These were 2 of my favorite guys to watch back in the late 80's. I've always been drawn to heels and these 2 guys are the how-to book of heel psychology. Both men were able to create enormous amounts of heat in front of every crowd. Both men could make anybody they worked with look good.

While I loved Teddy, Tully Blanchard sqeaks this one out for me. Tully had the style and flash that was associated with Horsemen, yet he was a hard nosed, blue collar guy in the ring. He worked stiff and was so sound technically.

 

[Tully]

It's Tully by a nose. DiBiase was awesome but Tully was a better in-ring performer IMO.

 

[lamo78]

If you are looking at straight up mid-card work, I think Tully is better. But I feel that Ted's upside is higher and he will get a bigger push and can be a main eventer.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Nice question. I gotta go with ted, barely (by like a strand of hair).

 

[Excalibur]

This is a great question. Both guys were great. Both guys could main event and had great matches throughout their careers. I really liked Tully. Its a shame he let his drug use ruin his career when he was still at his peak. He was great as a singles guy and tag team with Arn. Who didn't fear the dreaded Slingshot Suplex? His feud with Dusty lasted years and never really got old. Same with him and Magnum TA.

Ted was a great heel. The Million Dollar Man gimmick worked both in the ring and as a manager. He helped a lot of "faces" get over. He could main event with Hogan one night then help out Virgil (who was not that good) get over on another. I also always got a kick that a millionaire decides to be a wrestler.

I picked Tully but it was close. Both were great.

 

[byrnside]

No brainer for me here as well. DiBiase hands down is one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time. I'm sure a lot of you are getting to "know me," and notice I'm more into the heels, as I'm sure a lot of us in the IWC are. But hands down, this guy was one of the greatest heels ever. Trying to buy the WWE title from Andre? Simply, Priceless [no pun intended. Former two time tag champion with Irwin. The thing about DiBiase, and this is why I think he wouldn't have made the best champion, is he was groomed to be a guy to make others look good, and he did it well. I don't know how many of you have watched a match with him lately, but I've been on this old school kick, watching matches on YouTube and his move set is classic. Most of his moves were moves to make others look good, HBK and Ric Flair are the only other guys I can think of that did/do this. My first favorite DiBiase move is when someone would give him an inverted atomic drop and he would flip over the top rope. The second, was when he'd go to the second or top rope, you knew he wasn't gonna hit his move, you didn't even know what it was because he never hit it, but he'd get hit in the gut coming down and do that flip.. classic. This guy was truly the master heel. Sorry I got completely off topic there. I'd have to agree with JMT and a few others on this one. No disrespect to Tully, but he definitely needed the Horseman to get over, DiBiase didn't.

 

[NSL]

This is tough to answer...Damn good question Lariat.

I'm a big fan of Tully, and he was always my favorite Horsemen. His match with Tully has to rank as one of the greatest mid-card title matches of all-time, and that's just a piece of his greatness in the ring.

DiBiase is perhaps the greatest heel in wrestling history, and was always in the bigger company, fighting bigger stars. I'm not totally sold on Ted ever really being a mid-carder. He was so big, that he was probably a lower top-tier talent, more than he was an upper mid-card talent.

After further debate with myself, I'd say Tully is the better mid-carder, but mostly because I never viewed the Million Dollar Man as one...

 

[Junior]

ted [prob was better mid-card but thats only bc ted was 80 percent the time some what involved in the main event. also i beleive, could be wring, but ted also was tag team champion in the wwe. but vote goes to the greatest wrestling laugh in history..a man who should b a HOFer.. Million-dollar-man!!

 

[RATED R CHAMPION]

LOTS OF TED DIBIASE GUYS HERE......HOHHHHH...

WELL GUYS, YOU KNOW MY POINT OF VIEW, WRESTLING QUALITY, IN RING QUALITY FOR ME IS THE KEY, AND HERE I HAVE TO PICK TULLY BLANCHARD WITH BABY DOLL BY HIS SIDE, THE U.S HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ALWAYS LOOKED GOOD! IN HIS SUITS, BLACK LENS, LONG WELL TREATED HAIR, AND HIS CLASS WERE AWESOME I LOVED HIS STYLE AND HIS COCKYNESS ALONGSIDE THE HORSEMEN, TULLY BLANCHARD FOR ME BETTER MID-CARDER THAN TED DIBIASE.

ALTHOUGH DIBIASE HAD HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS, FOR ME IF YOU DON'T WIN TITLES, YOU CAN'T BE THE BEST, AND DIBIASE WAS PRICELESS, AND TITLESS, BUT WAS GOOD EVEN THOUGH!

TULLY + THAN DIBIASE AS MID CARDER AND WRESTLER.

OF COURSE DIBIASE MAYBE MORE FAMOUS, BUT WE ALL KNOW THE STORY OF WWF IN THE 80'S, FAME, SHOW, LUXURY, BUT NWA WAS IN-RING QUALITY, WRESTLING TRADITION, PASSION, WORK, AND ABOVE ALL THAT,TRUE WRESTLING!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Which is better? I think that's a fairly difficult call.

Tully Blanchard was great in the ring and great on the mic. Blanchard as a mid-card came across as this cocky, womanizing hothead that gave really passionate promos and you believed everything he said. His feuds with Dustry Rhodes and Magnum TA were some of the best of the 80s in my opinion.

Ted DiBiase as the MDM was priceless. He was always a solid worker in the ring even before the MDM character but it was his mic work that ultimately set him over the top for me. The WWF did a series of vinyettes with DiBiase that were classic. Before he even set foot in a WWF ring as the MDM or cut a promo on WWF television, he was the most hated heel on the roster. DiBiase also had some great, very memorable matches and feuds against the likes of Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan.

In a lot of ways, the two are on similar levels. Blanchard's promos were more passionate, DiBiase's were more intelligent. Both guys stayed mostly on the mat and had a pretty good ground game. I guess, for me, it sort of comes down to how the two were marketed by their respective companies.

When Blanchard came into Crockett Promotions in very early 1984, he was just another guy on the roster. He got over quickly and became a great heel. Gave even more credibility to the NWA Television Championship. When DiBiase came to the WWF, as I said earlier, he was the most over heel in the company before wrestling a match as the MDM. The WWF had him try to by the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan, the most over man in wrestling period. When that didn't work, he went out and just created his own "Million Dollar Championship" and had a successful run as a tag champion in the 90s.

Ultimately, I'm going to have to give the edge to DiBiase because he made it to the main event and had credible matches as a main eventer. He went up against Savage and Hogan, two great WWF Champions, on numerous occassions. As far as I know, I don't think Tully ever wrestled for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at any point in his career and he certainly didn't do it while he was part of the Four Horsemen. I think Tully would've made a great heel champion personally, I think he could've had a great feud with a face champion but that's all just speculation. Tully stayed within the mid-card strictly as a singles performer during his prime, and while he did win a fair share of championships, he was never in the main event on his own. Even though DiBiase never won the big one either, he was a legitimate ME competitor and threat to guys like Hogan and Savage.

Overall, I have to go with DiBiase, though not by much.

 

[Nature Boy]

This is tough one!

I am a huge fan of both these guys, and both are among my favourite wrestlers of all time.

Both were great in the ring, and both were great on the mic. Both were characters I adored hating.

I'm probably going to have to give the nod to Blanchard (but only by a fraction) because while Dibiase had the more entertaining character (one of the very best of all time) I would say that Blanchard was just that bit better in the ring.

Also, while I love Dibiase's UWF period, if you comapre their WWF and NWA/WCW runs, Blanchard had the better quality of opponents to work against.

Don't get me wrong, Dibase had some wonderful opponents in Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Bret Hart and Roddy Piper, but Blanchard had Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Jay Youngblood, Lex Luger, Sting, Wahoo McDaniel, The Rock N Roll Express and The Road Warriors.

So my vote goes to Blanchard, if only slightly.