Ted Dibiase or Tully Blanchard?

[CM Steel]

Both WWE hall of famers Ted Dibiase & Tully Blanchard are next generation wrestlers. And many wrestling don't know that both Dibiase & Blanchard played college football together at West Texas U. along with fellow WWE HOF'er Tito Santana. And went on to make their way into wrestling as well.

Both Dibiase & Blanchard wrestled in NWA wrestling and the WWF/E. Both playing a rich man or a spoiled rich kid to a degree being second-generation stars in wrestling. Blanchard feuded with the likes of Rhodes, Magnum T.A, and Ricky Steamboat. And Dibiase feuded with such stars as Rhodes, Hogan, and Roberts.

But who was the better all-around in-ring performer as well as better charactor? Dibiase or Blanchard??

 

[The_Gene_Genie]

I often hear praise afforded to Tully Blanchard for his abilities in the ring. Unfortunately, my only experience of him is as part of the technically solid Brain Busters tag team in the then WWF with Arn Anderson. Don't get me wrong, I am aware of his involvement with the ground breaking Four Horsemen stable (even before their induction at this years Hall of Fame) but never really saw anything at the time for them or Tully to have impacted my wrestling viewing or sway my thoughts or opinions.

Ted DiBiase on the other hand was the ultimate bad guy at the time I started watching wrestling. He played his Million Dollar Man gimmick to perfection. He was solid with his offence, sold exceptionally well and he made you genuinely believed that he could beat a guy cleanly on any given day. But when all else failed, he had Virgil to call on, or his seemingly endless supply of money to buy what he wanted; as was displayed when he 'bought' the title from Andre the Giant, or the number 30 spot from Akeem at the '89 Royal Rumble.

Ultimately, DiBiase was relevant in the top company for so long. Blanchard, in my opinion, didn't stay long enough at any one company and that, coupled with his drug and alcohol infractions at key periods in his career, possibly hindered his exposure to me as a fan. Therefore DiBiase gets the nod ahead Blanchard from me.

 

[thebarber]

I thought it was common knowledge that all 3(Blanchard, Santana and DiBiasr all went to West Texas state and played football together before entering the wrestling business.

Ted DiBiase was heads and shoulders a much better all round package than Blanchard. Blanchard was in the biggest faction in wrestling history, but he was never a main event talent. Upper mid card yes, US Champion yes but he was never the number one heel in the NWA/WCW and certainly wasnt it WWE. He was more or less a solid singles grappler, excellent tag team wrestler.
Ted DiBiase had it all, main eventer, huge heel gimmick that lasted 6 years, plied his trade for years on the cirucit before coming up to WWE and becoming a huge star. Blanchard was good, but DiBiase was great. Would Blanchard have been inducted as a singles guy???? Highly doubtful. DiBiase was a headliner, case closed your honour.

 

[Potatogod93]

Dibiase is a way better character/charisma guy than Blanchard IMO. But if we're just comparing in ring ability Tully does have his advantages. Tully Blanchard is a better technical wrestler than Ted. However, just saying that I don't even feel Tully is the better in ring performer. Ted is a more athletic type wrestler and in his younger days with the NWA threw a damn good drop kick. TD is probably also a better seller though I haven't seen enough of Tully to really know that. TO me its not really close Tully Blanchard had a good career, but Ted Dibiase is one of my favorite heels of all time.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The overall better wrestler's Blanchard. Character wise, Million Dollar Man was well established and very over the top... so I'd give the advantage to Dibiase character-wise.

In-ring, Blanchard could dish it out and take a beating as good as anyone in wrestling. He's resilience and ability to manage to win by any means necessary makes him one of the more underrated wrestlers in the 80's. Dibiase also never held a major singles title in the WWE other than his 'purchase' of the WWE title from Andre the Giant. Both Blanchard and Dibiase were WWE Tag Champions, and in the NWA, both were National Heavyweight Champions, which was the belt below the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title back in the early days before the United States title.

Both were excellent heels, but Dibiase also had a good babyface run during his time in the NWA. Blanchard was never a good guy that I'm aware of.

My vote goes to Blanchard.

 

[MillionDollarMan]

As you can tell by my name, I voted for DiBiase. He was the primary reason I became a wrestling fan as a kid. His character was larger than life and he played the egotistical, arrogant rich snob to the hilt. He was blessed with so much wrestling skill that, looking back on it, it's shocking he only held the tag team belts and never an individual title with the WWF other than his own Million Dollar Belt. It's still a crime that he wasn't the first heel to ever win the main event at Wrestlemania. And I say that even though Savage is one of my favorite wrestlers as well.

He could've helped carry the WWF with Savage and Hogan till it was Bret and Shawn's time. But I was grateful for his awesome tag team Money Inc.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

I'll say it now, Tully Blanchard made the Four Horsemen what they were. Blanchard was a bad man, but as clean and cool as anyone in that role. Blanchard never got the credit until recently that he deserved. Everyone despised Tully, everyone tried to put him out, nobody got close; not before the Horsemen, not during, and the only ones that could after the Horsemen were Demolition and let's face it, Demolition during that time were dominating. Tully was excellent in the ring and made a lot of stuff happen out of it with his mouth.

I also loved Ted, Ted was just a once in a lifetime character and he was good enough to run with it. Ted was a thinking man's wrestler who was bigger, could talk on par with anyone, and really was for about 3 years #3 in the WWE behind Savage and Hogan.

In the end I look at what each did. Tully was feuding with Dusty Rhodes to be the #2 guy in the NWA (The biggest and most talented wrestling promotion in the world up until 90) when Dusty was on top of his game (No Dots). Up until the Universal Soldier Phil Shatter (Gunner) held the US Championship for two years Tully was the longest reigning United States Champion in history, beating Dusty, Magnum, and countless other highly talented wrestlers. Ted's biggest feud in that time was with The Mega Powers which ended with Savage turning on Hogan, then the Warrior feud which I believe he carried. Ted never held a championship (WWE Championship Reign Voided) until Money Inc and yes, IRS/Mike Rotunda and Ted were the best in the business at that time.

Overall I think the 5'10, 220 Pound rat Tully Blanchard was the better performer, if just barely. I was a huge fan of both guys and the two were so different and the companies they were with were so different I think it was a difficult comparison. In the end you have to look at this, when Blanchard got to NWA Charlotte they were pulling 1200 people into the building, when Blanchard got there along with Arn and Ole the attendance raised slightly meaning guys like Tully had a lot of drawing power, then when the Horsemen formed the venues went from around 1500 to 18,000.

I wish I had more on how much money Ted drew but I think in the end that Tully was money, even in the WWF which I watched a lot at the time my favorite feuds were The Brainbusters vs Demolition/Rockers/Hart Foundation, love him or hate him Tully drew more attention and more money than most people will ever draw. So I give Tully the VERY SLIGHT edge in this because I personally think they are about even. Even though Tully has Ted beat in Championships I think Ted could have been champ if Vince hadn't been sniffing Hogans backside so much.

So in my opinion what sets them apart is how much they were responsible for drawing money and I think Tully had a slight lead in that department.

 

[HBsam31]

I picked Ted, but only because I followed his career more than Tully. I would have to say that Ted would be more known to casual fans. From what I have seen Tully may be a little bit better in the ring. One poster mentioned Tully's long US title reign, and Ted only the the tag belts with IRS. I believe it was said that Andre awarding the WWE title to him does not count. The Million Dollar Man is the ultimate heel. I will never forget him kicking the basketball away from that little kid. lol. I remember seeing some skits like that with Tully on the 4 horsemen DVD, and I just didn't find them as entertaining as the stuff Ted did. Just my opinion, but it just seemed like Ted was the bigger star. A previous poster said that Tully drew more money, and that may be, but Ted was a personality you just so badly wanted to see get beat. In his prime I would say he was the number 3 guy in WWF behind only Hogan and Savage.

 

[The Idiot]

Ted DiBiase by a mile. One of, if not the greatest, wrestling heel of all time. Great wrestling ability and perfected his character to a T.
Its not just about in-ring ability, which Tully excelled at, but it's also about connectibg with the audience which, in my opinion, there's no comparison.

Tully was inducted into the HOF because of the 4 horsemen.

DiBiase was inducted because he was one of the greatest wrestling personalities of all time.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

I picked Ted, but only because I followed his career more than Tully. I would have to say that Ted would be more known to casual fans. From what I have seen Tully may be a little bit better in the ring. One poster mentioned Tully's long US title reign, and Ted only the the tag belts with IRS. I believe it was said that Andre awarding the WWE title to him does not count. The Million Dollar Man is the ultimate heel. I will never forget him kicking the basketball away from that little kid. lol. I remember seeing some skits like that with Tully on the 4 horsemen DVD, and I just didn't find them as entertaining as the stuff Ted did. Just my opinion, but it just seemed like Ted was the bigger star. A previous poster said that Tully drew more money, and that may be, but Ted was a personality you just so badly wanted to see get beat. In his prime I would say he was the number 3 guy in WWF behind only Hogan and Savage.

You also have to remember though that Tully was #3 behind Dusty and Flair. As I said, the two styles were different, two different types of heels that you just wanted to beat to a pulp for different reasons. Both rich, but how many people remember why they were rich? Storyline wise Tully had Tully Blanchard Enterprises (Tony "Iron Man" Stark type cool bad guy), Ted got money from having to be "Rebuilt" after a plain crash (Bionic Man type rich bastard) making him perfect, getting rich in the process. I realize these were early 1980's ideas but they were created through pop culture of that time and they played their roles better than anyone else ever could have.

That is why I bring it down to the Draw, they were so different but at the same time so similar, so on the same level in their companies.

 

[HBKperfect23]

I do enjoy Tully and think he is great in the ring, but Ted Dibease is one of the greatest of all time. He could make anyone look good in the ring. The Million Dollar Man character was the greatest gimmick of all time and Ted was such a good fit for it. Dibease was involved with arguably the best angle ever with Andre "beating" Hogan for the belt and then "buying" it from him. Best WWF heel team of the 90s with IRS. Also great mouthpeice for his Million Dollar Corperation and the NWO. So Tully was great but Ted was better.

 

[Lowdown]

This is kinda a toss up but I'm going with DiBiase on this one. Tully Blanchard was great in regards to being with the Horsemen and later with Arn in WWF. But Ted stood out with me more due to the fact that he came into WWF and garnered a ton of heat as the Million Dollar Man. Probably the best heel talker next to Bobby Heenan. The man could wrestle and make anyone look good to boot. He was still getting the same kind of heat when he started the Million Dollar Corporation as well. I don't think a lot of people think much of what Tully has done post Horseman.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

This is kinda a toss up but I'm going with DiBiase on this one. Tully Blanchard was great in regards to being with the Horsemen and later with Arn in WWF. But Ted stood out with me more due to the fact that he came into WWF and garnered a ton of heat as the Million Dollar Man. Probably the best heel talker next to Bobby Heenan. The man could wrestle and make anyone look good to boot. He was still getting the same kind of heat when he started the Million Dollar Corporation as well. I don't think a lot of people think much of what Tully has done post Horseman.

Tully went into a semi-retirement in 1992, wrestling only sparingly after that. Never wrestled a full schedule again after leaving the WWF. He instead focused on getting clean and on his religion. Tully's career in all only lasted a little over a decade as a full time performer. So Ted also has the Longevity factor.

 

[Lowdown]

Tully went into a semi-retirement in 1992, wrestling only sparingly after that. Never wrestled a full schedule again after leaving the WWF. He instead focused on getting clean and on his religion. Tully's career in all only lasted a little over a decade as a full time performer. So Ted also has the Longevity factor.

I didn't mean he did nothing mind you. I know he battled drug addiction, which is what got him fired from WWF. But usually when someone brings up Tully, they focus on his time in GCW and with the Horesmen as opposed to his WWF tenure with Arn and Heenan.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

I didn't mean he did nothing mind you. I know he battled drug addiction, which is what got him fired from WWF. But usually when someone brings up Tully, they focus on his time in GCW and with the Horesmen as opposed to his WWF tenure with Arn and Heenan.

He didn't get fired from the WWF, he and Arn at that time were traveling as a team and Arn had to put in his notice for family reasons. So they decided to leave together, go back to WCW, and reform the Horsemen. Long story short, he failed the drug test and lost out on a large contract.

At the time they felt as though they were the best team in the world, and the only team at that time who could touch them was Demolition who were just dominating. While they didn't know they were leaving WCW together, they knew that they were better together than on their own at the time of their signing their WWF contract as a tag team.

But yea, didn't mean to make it sound like you said he did nothing, my bad if I made it sound that way.

 

[FlairFan2003]

A lot of posters here are posting opinions pro DiBiase admittng they have not seen Blanchard's work. I did, Blanchard was better.

In the ring, it's not that close. DiBiase was very good mind you, he wrestled Cage Matches and bloddy brawls in his Mid South days (those matches were WAY BETTER than 99% of what he did in WWE when his matches wre typically very short and very formulamatic outside of his tilt's with Savage). Blanchard also could wrestle any type of match and was extremely athletic in the ring. As good as guys like Flair & Steamboat were in the 80s, Blanchard was right with them.

As far as being a big star, Blanchard was huge in wrestling in the mid 80s. When the NWA was making big money and killing WWE south of the Mason Dixon line (Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Carolinas, Texas, Tennessee etc) Blanchard was the No 2 villain and No. 3 overall character on the show (behind Flair & Dusty Rhodes). That's saying something considering that Rhodes is one of the most popular wrestlers EVER and Flair spent most of the 80s as The No 2 draw nationwide behind Hogan (according to Meltzer's research which spanned 1980 through 2007, ranking them each year).

Blanchard's fued with Rhodes was almost as epic as Rhodes battles with Flair. Blnachard routinely did over the top rope and off the top rope sunset flips, dropkicks, flying bodypresses, even though his reputation was that of a more grounded technical wrestler. His 1985 Great American Bash Cage Match with Rhodes is probably the highight of that feud, and was a prety big match on one of the biggest wrestling cards anywhere that year (sold out Charlotte Memorial Stadium). To this day people stil praise his brutal Steel Cage "I Quit" match vs Magnum TA from Starrcade 85 as one of the best gimmick matches of all time. This match is every bit as good as the WrestleMania "I Quit" matchg between Austin & Hart and better than much more famous Clash Of Champions "I Quit" match between Flair & Terry Funk.

Blanchard was clearly over as a hated villain, a guy Shawn Michaels himself has said was one of his inspirations and favorite wrestlers when he was getting into the business (right behind Flair). Blanchard was one of the first male wrestlers to clearly physically attack a woman (Baby Doll) on TV when such violence was completely taboo. His $10,000 plus my title if yiu can pin me gimmick was hugely over in 1987 (leading to his $100,000 vs TV Title Match with Rhodes, another memorable encounter).

Blanchard did as much to make Magnum TA a main event star as Flair did for Luger and Sting. With Arn Anderson, they had several memorable tag team matches vs Road Warriors and their bouts with The Rock & Roll Express in 1987 were every bit as good if not better than their memorable WWE tilts vs HBK/Marty Jannety.

Blanchard could wrestle long matches (often going 50 minutes or more in battles with the likes of TA, Rhodes, etc) and he participated in just about every gimmick match there was at the time (Bunkhouse Matches, Bullrope Matches, Taped Fist Boxing Matches, Steel Cage, I Quit/Submission,). Heck, he even wrestled in the first Ladder match in a major US wrestling company (vs Rhodes, 1987 Great American Bash) when such matches, at least outside of Canada, were non existent in the US (this is 5 years before HBK & Brett Hart would do them at WWE House shows). That match didnt have as many off the ladder highlights (Rhodes was a liitle old & heavy for such huge spots) but they made up for it in brutality by making it a "Barbed Wire Ladder Match" (this is the same time that WWE was promoting wrestling like Disney, a full decade before anyone ever head of ECW).

DiBiase could have wrestled better matches in WWE, it wasnt his own limitations but the limitations imposed on talent in general during the HulkaMania era where very rarely were more talented in ring oerformers allowed to showcase those skills (skills Hogan did not have). Honestly, DiDiase's matches outside of his 1988 series vs Savage seemed non special to me, where as Blanchard had great matches vs Rhodes, TA, RR Express, LOD, and was also very good in bouts vs Ron Garvin & Barry Whyndam.

In terms of titles Blanchard was more dominant, Tully & Arn being the 1st tag team to win both the NWA & WWE Tag Titles, and won tag team of the year in 1989 from Pro Wrestling Ilustrated.

Believe me, I was watching the NWA a lot back then and when Blanchard left that company lost a lot, both in the ring and on the mic. DiBiase was very good, his Millio Dollard Gimmick one of the best Vince creations ever (alongside Mr Perfect for Curt Henning & The Undertaker gimmick) but Blanchard was better.