What kind of world champion Ted Dibiase would have been?

[CM Steel]

The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase is one of the greatest heels in the history of the WWF/E, maybe even in wrestling in general. Around the time of Wrestlemania 4 Ted Dibiase was in a feud against the WWF's manin event draw Hulk Hogan over the world title. But Ted Dibiase never won it.

The way the story is told. The reigning WWF IC champion at the time the Honky Tonk Man was suppose to drop the IC title to the Macho Man Randy Savage (R.I.P.). But refused to do so. So the WWF front office decided that they wanted to put a belt arounf the Macho Man, so they gave him the WWF world championship over Ted Dibiase. So the Million Dollar Man had to be pissed at the Honky Tonk Man for not dropping the IC title to the Macho Man, and maybe he could have been the WWF champion by that time.

I think that Ted Dibiase would have made a grand heel world champion. He was the original JBL! And with Alberto Del Rio now being a two-time WWE champion. Ted Dibiase sure has paved the way for future world champions with the "rich man" gimmick.

But what kind of world champion Ted Dibiase would have been?

 

[crippler]

The million Dollar Man would have made a great heel champion unfortunately he was wrestling at the time when the only guys that became WWF Champion were Big guys or muscular guys. Vince only had the big guys as champion until Ric Flair 1st came to the WWF when he won the title at the 1992 Royal Rumble. That was the time when Ted Dibiase was a Tag Team with IRS as Money Inc so again he never got a chance to be Champion.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

The million Dollar Man would have made a great heel champion unfortunately he was wrestling at the time when the only guys that became WWF Champion were Big guys or muscular guys. Vince only had the big guys as champion until Ric Flair 1st came to the WWF

This Argument makes no sense. Ted Dibiase was taller (by an inch or so) and heavier than Randy Savage, and Flair was just an inch or so shorter than Savage and they weighed about the same. So the size argument doesn't really work in this situation...

and I have a hard time believing that the reason that Savage was given the WWE Championship was because Honky refused to drop the Intercontinental Championship to him. Honky never had that kind of pull backstage, because if he did, and if he was such a mark for Titles, why didn't he use it to get the WWE Championship? This was long before the internet, if Honkey had ever pulled something like that, and Vince really wanted Savage to be the IC Champion again, then he would have fired Honky Tonk Man and had Savage show up the the belt and say that he won it in some random untelevised match, or in a tournament Rio de Janeiro.

the reason that Savage won the title was because he was starting to get reactions on par with Hogan, and he was selling a lot of merchandise... now, as for what kind of champion would Ted Dibiase have made? He would have been an awesome heel champion, because people would have paid a lot of money to see Hogan and Savage, and any other face that they wanted to throw at him, beat him up. And Dibiase's character was the type that wouldn't have been afraid to do anything, no matter how cheap or dirty, to keep his title, which would've just gotten him more heat while keeping the title on him.

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Million Dollar Man would have been one of the GREATEST heel champions ever, on par with Flair in Jim Crockett.

Having Hogan chase him would have been amazing.

It's too bad he never got his chance. Great promo, great worker, all around awesome.

Greatest laugh too.

 

[rokuma]

I think he would have elevated other faces to "main event status" such as Jake Roberts (arguably one of the top 3 most over guys in the WWF around 1990), Piper would have been cemented (again one of the most over guys in WWF around 1990 and before...watch the 1990 Royal Rumble with Piper and Snake taking on Savage and Dibiase in the match...the crowd goes NUTS), Dusty Rhodes later on possibly, Brutus Beefcake I'm sure would've gotten a bump, the Ultimate Warrior would have been on decent matches with him ...maybe even guys who were noted heels like Mr. Perfect would have became face if Dibiase was the champion. Who knows? I just think Ted's wrestling ability and the reactions he drew would have made ANYBODY that was going against him instantly bigger just because people wanted to see Dibiase get his butt kicked. Truly a shame if you ask me...Dibiase was one of the greatest. It's an even bigger shame that they don't have a DVD out for him yet.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The Million Dollar Man would have made a great heel champion. I think it would have been a lot like JBL's reign back in 2004. We would have seen Dibiase take the belt off Hogan and continue to defeat challengers at show after show. "Everyone has a price" would be used a lot. People could try to buy title matches, only to lose when it came time for the match. The faces who tried to challenge him would be elevated to a higher level, coming out from their title matches looking stronger. This title reign would have started around 1991, and it would have been ended by then-rising star Bret Hart and this would get him his first WWF Championship reign around 1992. It would have added another bragging point to Dibiase's legendary career and Hart's victory would have been all the better had it been the ending of a heel like Dibiase's reign of terror. It's too bad he did not get a run with the title because he certainly deserved it and would have been a really good heel champion.

 

[WrestlingFanSinceThe80s]

I would have Ted Dibiase Sr. win the 1993 Royal Rumble instead of Yokozuna. Have Dibiase Sr. challenge Bret Hart for the world title at WrestleMania 9 and defeat Bret for the world championship. Have Dibiase Sr. hold the world title UNTIL SummerSlam of that same year and have Ted drop the world title to Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1993. Have Mr. Perfect hold the world title until WrestleMania 10 and defend the world title against Bret Hart and have Bret Hart win the world title. Have Bret Hart hold the world title until 1994 Survivor Series and have Bret drop the world title to his younger brother, "The King Of Harts", Owen Hart. Have Owen Hart hold the world title until WrestleMania 11 and drop the world title to Razor Ramon. Have Razor Ramon hold the world title and drop the world title until the 1994 King Of The Ring to Big Daddy Cool, Diesel.

 

[Da Truth]

Even as a kid I felt that Ted Dibiase should've champion, and I was a Hogan fan back then. It would've been great tv just to watch Dibiase to over the top with some of his mischief. The WWF should've capitalized on using him; I'll almost guarantee the buy rates for ppv's would've been bigger cause everyone would've wanted to see Dibiase get what he deserved. There were so many all time greats that should've had a run with the title back then though (Perfect, Andre, a last run for Piper, Rick Rude, etc.) Plus, the WWE was still catering to an era that was based on Hulkamania and family friendly characters on tv.

 

[FlairFan2003]

DiBiase didnt get the belt because Vince didnt want to make a long term investment in a heel champion. Vince needed a good guy champ to maintain his cartoon like, kid friendly product. Hogan wanted time off otherwise he likely would have gotten the belt back. Savage was the next most popular star and he would work a full schedule of house shows unlike Hogan. Plus, Vince wanted to maintain the distinct difference in his product vs the competition so a fan favorite underdog rises to the top champ was perfect vs the NWA's drinking, womanizing heel champ. As far as could DiBiase do well, anyone who saw his work in Mid South knew he could carry a promotion. I always found his Million Dollar Man gimmick a bit cheesy but he was a great worker, could elevate lesser talent in ring, and great on the mic. In many ways his obnoxious rich heel character was Vince's answer to Ric Flair and DiBiase was the company's best heel 1988-1990. If he had won the WM 4 tournament I think WWE could have made just as much money with Savage chasing him and DiBiase vs Hogan given their storyline heading into WM 4 would have been just as big as Savage Hogan was.

 

[One to Remember]

His era of dominance did not permit his character to rise to the very top of the ladder. He would be a DelRio-Layfield hybrid. He would also be a major faction leader. The odd thing about it though is if he had paid the Big Show for the WWE title in 2005 the title change would had held. I never got y he didnt pay Andre to lay down then pin him then the WWF have him drop it a few weeks later in stan stasiak fashion.