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[[caption-width-right:240:♪ ''Moneyy moneyy moneyy moneyy monneeyyyyy-eeyy...'' ♪]]

->''"Everybody's got a price''\\
''Everybody's gonna pay''\\
''Because the Million Dollar Man''\\
'' '''Always''' gets his way!''\\
'''''[[EvilLaugh NYAAAAHAHAHAHAHAA]]!!!'''"''
-->-- '''Ted [=DiBiase's=]''' [[MoneySong entrance theme]]

Listen up, you nickel-and-dime peons: "The Million Dollar Man" Theodore Marvin [=DiBiase=] Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is a retired {{professional wrestl|ing}}er. He was one of the premier {{Heel}}s in the "federation years" of the WWE. He was inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame in 2010, and kept a watchful eye over his son Wrestling/TedDiBiaseJr during his WWE run. He is a 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]] with Wrestling/IrwinRSchyster as Money Inc., a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwf-na-h.html WWF North American Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/pwf-t.html All Japan PWF World Tag Team Champion]] with Wrestling/StanHansen and 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/aj-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Champion]] also with Hansen, and held various territorial titles in the late 1970s and through most of the 1980s before arriving in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in 1987.[[note]]He also briefly held the WWE 24/7 Title on the RAW Reunion show in 2019, [[CallBack buying it]] off [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} Alundra Blayze]] before losing it back to Wrestling/DrakeMaverick.[[/note]]

[=DiBiase's=] post-wrestling career would end up taking a turn for the worse, ironically. In May 2022, he, his sons, and former NFL great [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeagueQuarterbacks Brett Favre]] were among several people sued by the state of Mississippi over [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_welfare_funds_scandal misuse of over $20 million in welfare funds]]. In April 2023, his son Ted Jr. was indicted on multiple federal charges related to the scandal. While Ted Sr. has been fined back in October 2021, time will tell if further sentences will occur.
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!! "Every man has his trope":
* AffectionateNickname: Nicknamed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gafkXGT7WJc "Teddy Bear"]] by his moll, [[Wrestling/SherriMartel Sherri]], an oblique reference to being her SugarDaddy. She kept right on calling him that, even in retirement.
* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/JunkyardDog, [[Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan]], Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/RandySavage, Wrestling/DustyRhodes, Wrestling/{{Virgil}}, Wrestling/TheNaturalDisasters ([[Wrestling/JohnTenta Earthquake]] and [[Wrestling/FredOttman Typhoon]]), [[Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors the Legion of Doom]], [[Wrestling/ScottHall Razor Ramon]], the Steiner Brothers (Rick and [[Wrestling/ScottSteiner Scott]])[[note]]Both in WWE near the end of Money Inc.'s run and as a manager for the nWo in WCW. Ironically, [=DiBiase=] would himself manage the Steiners until Scott's heel turn.[[/note]], Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/LexLuger, [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]], Wrestling/BamBamBigelow (after he quit/was fired from the Million Dollar Corporation), Savio Vega.
* AuthorAvatar:
** Ted [=DiBiase=]'s Million Dollar Man character was based on the type of wrestler WWE boss Wrestling/VinceMcMahon wanted to be. This was years before Vince himself would [[FaceHeelTurn turn heel]] following the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob and become the BigBad we know until his retirement.
** [=DiBiase=] noted after Wrestling/EricBischoff brought him to WCW as "Trillionaire Ted", the financial backer of the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], that the character was basically an avatar for Bischoff himself. Much like [=McMahon=], Bischoff would go on to portray a similar character himself.
* BadassPreacher: Became one after his wrestling career petered out; he frequently worked with Wrestling/NikitaKoloff on combined Christian/wrestling events. And he does weddings, too.
-->'''[[http://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1xpi7b/ama_announcement_the_million_dollar_man_ted/ Redditor:]]''' He also insisted that we do counseling with him pre-wedding, so we spoke with him about life and love and lovemaking (which he referred to as "romp-and-stomping" in his thick Mississippi accent--hilarious, but a touch awkward, too).
* BashBrothers: With [[Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan]], "Maniac" Matt Borne, Wrestling/DrDeathSteveWilliams, Virgil, IRS, Wrestling/StanHansen
* BattleButler: Virgil, ''Wrestling Superstar''. Amusingly, in 2013 Ted let slip the reason he left WCW was because he refused to be "Hogan's Virgil".
%%* BeardOfEvil
* BlingBlingBang: Not sanctioned by the WWF, the Million Dollar Belt was more a huge piece of jewelry than anything else. Taking a belt shot ''covered in diamonds''? That'll leave a mark.
* CatchPhrase: "[[EveryManHasHisPrice Everybody's got a price]] for the Million Dollar Man!"
* DemotedToExtra: As with so many other stars, Ted was kept on WCW's payroll despite rarely appearing on television. Ted was one of the first WWF Superstars to jump ship to WCW, and also one of the first to jump right back. The idea was that Ted bankrolled the nWo, with Hogan and the others providing the muscle. He turned face and disappeared from WCW programming later that year, and his boss role was subsumed by Wrestling/EricBischoff. According to Ted, it slowly dawned on Eric that he was essentially paying someone to play himself, but [=DiBiase=] had signed a three year contract. When he kindly pointed this out, Turner Entertainment realized that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they had no choice but to keep employing him]], so Ted became a road agent for ''Nitro''. He really took them to the cleaners.
* DirtyCoward: Whenever he couldn't buy his way out of a situation, he folded like a lawn chair.
* DoItYourselfThemeTune: Sang his [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] entrance theme.
* TheDogBitesBack: From his "servant," Wrestling/{{Virgil}}.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Returned to the WWF as a face in 1987, feuding with old nemesis One Man Gang at house shows in Texas. He didn't begin his "Million Dollar Man" gimmick and start appearing on WWF TV until a month later.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** One of the ways heels got under Wrestling/RandySavage's skin during his WWF World Heavyweight Championship reign was to threaten Elizabeth, and more than once grab her and swing back a fist, night club, etc. Not [=DiBiase=]; he never once even so much as acknowledged Elizabeth ... he just wanted the WWF World Heavyweight title.
** Evoked this from other heels when he announced his plans to buy the WWF title from Hulk Hogan. It wasn't for noble reasons though, they were simply outraged that he would have the audacity to sidestep them (and the process of winning a wrestling match) and procure the title for himself.
* EveryManHasHisPrice: The main point of his shtick, as highlighted by his entrance theme (see quote at the beginning of the article). He bribed whoever it took to get his way, including that time he bought the WWF Championship from Wrestling/AndreTheGiant.[[note]][=DiBiase=] was never recognized as champion, as WWF President Jack Tunney ruled that the title could not be won by buying it.[[/note]]
* EveryYearTheyFizzleOut: Regularly tops lists of the best wrestlers to never win a world title. He did briefly hold the championship when he bought it from Andre, even defending it at some house shows, but his reign was retconned from WWE canon.
* EvilKnockoff: When Yokozuma bested Wrestling/TheUndertaker at the '94 Wrestling/RoyalRumble, he finally broke Wrestling/PaulBearer's hold over the zombie wrestler. [=DiBiase=] declared that everybody from there to Timbuktu was searching for The Undertaker's remains, but had come up short. Using his vast money and resources though, the Million Dollar Man claimed he did indeed find the casket first and signed a contact placing Taker (actually an impersonator, Brian Lee) under ''his'' control. Paul called B.S. on this, as not even he knew where Taker was buried. In due course, Paul unsealed the power of the urn and the real Undertaker re-materialized to take the imposter out.
-->'''''[[http://rockethideout.com/articles/undertakerpt2.html RocketHideout]]''''': At the end of the ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' match, when his Undertaker was lying prone and helpless, I think Ted [=DiBiase=] took a closer look at his Undertaker and saw on the bottom of his boot those three words nobody wants to see when they buy something. ''Made in China.''
* EvilLaugh: Almost without doubt the greatest and most-iconic in professional wrestling. Ted [=Dibiase=] is always laughing; he must be very happy.
* {{Expy}}: Claimed in his [[{{Biography}} autobiography]] ''Every Man Has His Price'' that Wrestling/VinceMcMahon described the "Million-Dollar Man" [[TheGimmick gimmick]] to him as a wrestling version of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. Which made it funny in a meta sense when [=DiBiase=] gladhanded with Trump at ''[=WrestleMania=] V'', held at Trump Plaza.
* FaceHeelTurn: Few people knew it at the time due to the lack of national exposure, but before his days as the "Million Dollar Man", Ted Dibiase was the fan favorite of the old Mid-South territory. He played the same scrappy asskicker character in his stints in the pre-Hulkamania [=WWF=], so when he came back in 1987, he had the same persona, but after his debut return match, he quickly turned to his heel tendencies, and very soon after, the first Million Dollar Man vignettes began airing on [=WWF=] television, showcasing his new character.
** Pro Wrestling Illustrated (who covered his face years and always refused to go with Vince's insistence that they pretend it's a totally new wrestler) explained away his sudden money as years of payouts from victorious matches and title wins.
* FauxAffablyEvil: [=DiBiase=] always appeared to be a congenial guy, but the moment things didn't go in his favor, he would lash out at everyone.
* {{Fiction 500}}: He is basically [[ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie Daddy Warbucks]] with fists. This was parodied by ''Kayfabe News'' (basically a wrestling ''Website/TheOnion'') with the article [[http://www.kayfabenews.com/dibiase-bails-greece/ "DiBiase Bails Out Greece"]].
* FinishingMove:
** The Million Dollar Dream submission hold (a Cobra clutch).
** He also used the Cobra clutch combined with a Russian legsweep, a top rope backwards elbow drop, and a spinning toe hold at different phases of his career.
** His unique fist drop was sometimes used as this or as a SignatureMove.
* {{Heel}}: Probably one of the best-known characters of this archetype.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: After the famous incident in 1993 where [[Wrestling/SeanWaltman The 1-2-3 Kid]] beat [[Wrestling/ScottHall Razor Ramon]], Ted challenged the Kid to a match to prove how easy it was to beat "a nobody." During said match, Ted kept picking the Kid up at the count of two just to inflict more punishment. When Razor himself showed up, Dibiase decided to rub it in by attempting the most nonchalant cover imaginable... only for the Kid to crucifix him for the win. Razor, his HeelFaceTurn now complete, cracked up laughing on the outside.
* IAmGreatSong: Money[-Money-][--Money--][---Money---][----Money----]
* ItRunsInTheFamily: See WrestlingFamily below.
* JerkassHasAPoint: "IF YOU CAN'T DO THE JOB, YOU DON'T GET PAID! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
* LaserGuidedKarma: He bought the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble from Akeem in order to have the best chance at winning. Along with that, he tried to buy off Wrestling/BigJohnStudd so he could win the whole thing. Studd didn't bite, making the Million Dollar Man the last man eliminated. In the subsequent Rumble matches he participated in, [=DiBiase=] drew #1 in 1990, #2 in 1992, and #3 in 1993. He was even the first man eliminated from the Rumble in 1992.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: His entrance attire is a tuxedo, for crying out loud! Barney in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' spent an exorbitant amount of money on a custom suit with [[ConspicuousConsumption diamond encrusted pin-stripes]] called "The [=DiBiase=]". You can't take that to just any dry cleaners.
* MarshmallowHell: Happened while he was selling a bump, after [=DiBiase=] made fun of Sherri's tits once too often.
%%* MoneySong: His theme, obviously.
* MoneyToThrowAway: Yes, the Man is so rich he can afford to stuff wads of cash in his opponents' mouths. Also, his entrances. (See below)
* NoSell: Amazingly, he once did this after the Fabulous Freebirds gave him a spike piledriver on the ''floor''.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse:
** He once attempted to purchase the WWF Championship off of Wrestling/HulkHogan. One [[AlternateHistory "Rewriting the Book"]] article on Website/{{WrestleCrap}} explores WhatCouldHaveBeen if Hogan had taken the deal.
** Ironically, he actually inverted this earlier in his career. While competing for "Cowboy" Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986, [=DiBiase=] competed in, and was eliminated from, the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midsouth/uwf/uwf-h.html UWF World Heavyweight Title]] Tournament on May 30. ([=DiBiase=] d. [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior Blade Runner Rock (The Ultimate Warrior)]] in the First Round and Terry Gordy d. him in a Quarter-Final Match.) [=DiBiase=]'s former manager, Wrestling/GeneralSkandorAkbar of Devastation Inc., offered him $25,000 to interfere and cost his friend [[Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan]] his semi-final match against Akbar's charge [[Wrestling/{{Kamala}} Kamala the Ugandan Giant]]. [=DiBiase=] said, "Make it $50,000." Akbar agreed, [=DiBiase=] put on his infamous black glove... and nailed KAMALA, giving Duggan the win and sending him into the finals against Gordy. (Duggan lost, but that's another story.)
* PhotoOpWithTheDog: [=DiBiase=] is remembered for producing a money roll and tossing bills at crowds to buy their support.
* PowerStable:
** He was the manager of The Million Dollar Corporation: [[Wrestling/MikeRotunda Irwin R. Schyster]], Wrestling/KingKongBundy, Wrestling/NikolaiVolkoff, Wrestling/BamBamBigelow, "The Undertaker"[[note]]Actually Brian Harris, aka Wrestling/{{SMW}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{ECW}}'s Brian Lee and Chainz of the Disciples of Apocalypse[[/note]], Wrestling/{{Tatanka}}, Kama[[note]]Papa Shango[=/=]The Godfather[[/note]], [[Wrestling/SidEudy Sycho Sid]],[[Wrestling/SeanWaltman The 1-2-3 Kid]], [[Wrestling/BallsMahoney Xanta Klaus (Jonathan Rechner, aka SMW's Boo Bradley[=/=]ECW's Balls Mahoney)]], and [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin The Ringmaster ("Stone Cold" Steve Austin)]].
** (In Mid-South/UWF): Devastation Inc.
** (In WCW): The [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]]
* PowerTrio: (in "Cowboy" Bill Watts' Mid-South/UWF): The Rat Pack, with [[Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan]] and "Maniac" Matt Borne.
* RagsToRiches: Early on in his career as the Million Dollar Man, the idea was that [=DiBiase=] built his fortune using the insurance money he gained after his adoptive father Mike [=DiBiase=] died from a heart attack in the ring, as a way to explain the gimmick to the fans who remembered him as a top face in Mid-South and an early WWE stint.
* RedBaron:
** "The Million Dollar Man"!
** In Mid-South, while working as a heel, he was called "The Big Cheese".
* {{Rich B|itch}}astard
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Do we ''really'' have to explain this one?
** Creating his own championship, for a start.
** Averted in 1988. [=DiBiase=] paid Wrestling/AndreTheGiant to win the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWF Championship]] from Wrestling/HulkHogan for him, and detained referee Dave Hebner backstage while Dave's EvilTwin brother Earl impersonated him to help Andre win the title; Andre tried to surrender the belt to [=DiBiase=], but the WWF refused to acknowledge Ted as the champion, and the title was declared vacant. (Andre's brief reign is still the shortest recognized WWE Championship reign in history.)
** Also backfired on him when he bought Wrestling/HerculesHernandez's contract from Bobby Heenan, and outright stated he saw it as literally [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil buying him as a person]]. Hercules, whose gimmick in the WWF was that he either thought himself to be or literally was the actual legendary Hercules, became understandably furious at being treated like property, promptly turned Face, and beat the hell out of him.
* SpiritualSuccessor:
** Make way for Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield, who is absolutely this trope for the new millennium. Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio has credited the MDM as well. As JBL himself said, three generations [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BdUjRJ8IMAAg4kC.jpg:large of one stolen gimmick.]]
** Vince [=McMahon=] has gradually turned into a Million Dollar Man, [[FaceHeelTurn turning heel]] following the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob, acknowledging and abusing his status as the chairman of the WWE and becoming the BigBad we know today.
* StartMyOwn:
** Since Ted literally couldn't buy a WWF Championship reign, he went out and had the "Million Dollar Championship" - a custom belt made of gold and diamonds - created just to prove he was the best. He awarded the belt to Steve Austin in 1996, and eventually to Ted Jr. in 2010. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse The belt subsequently disappeared not long after that]], [[TheBusCameBack only to resurface in NXT in 2021]].
** In January 2000, he started his own promotion, the short-lived [=WXO=].
* TagTeam: Money Inc., with IRS.
* TakeThat: Following victories, [=DiBiase=] would stuff $100 bills into his opponents' mouths. This is the kayfabe distinction between the Cobra Clutch and the Million Dollar Dream (they're the same hold, otherwise).
* ThrewMyBikeOnTheRoof:
** One skit had him purchasing a public pool just so he could kick all the kids out.
** The Million Dollar Man would usually offer rewards to audience members for doing some task, but they could never pull them off. He once offered $500 to a very small child to dribble a basketball 15 times without missing. The boy did surprisingly well... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwoQ2b3k8Uo only for Ted to kick the ball out from under him at the fourteenth bounce.]] [[PetTheDog The boy was later invited backstage, however, where he was given the $500 and got to meet the wrestlers.]]
** In 2019, this is almost $1,100.
* TricksterMentor: To his son, maybe.
* WouldntHitAGirl: One of the more common elements of Wrestling/RandySavage's storylines during his face run was the villains either trash-talking or outright physically harming his valet, Miss Elizabeth. [=DiBiase=] completely averted this; his focus was plain and simple: Win the title, don't worry about the girl.
* WrestlingFamily: Ted's mother Helen Nevins-[=DiBiase=] was a wrestler (as Helen Hilde), as was his adoptive father "Iron" Mike [=DiBiase=], and his sons Mike, Ted Jr., and Brett have all become wrestlers. Ted Jr. was signed to WWE but has since left as of the end of August 2013.
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->''Some might cost a little''\\
''Some might cost a lot''\\
''But I'm the Million Dollar Man''\\
''And you '''will''' be bought! [[EvilLaugh DYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]]''
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