Apparently, having millions of dollars to flash around in the wrestling ring doesn’t translate to not charging to sign autographs and pose for pictures for free in real life. But in all honesty, that was ok with me, because it was so fun to meet retired wrestlers Ted DiBiase (who was known in the WWF as “The Million Dollar Man” and in the WCW as “Billionaire Ted” and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010) and Mike Jones (who was knownalternately as Virgil and Vincent, often acting as valet to DiBiase).
They were both great heels, who at one point turned on each other in the early 1990’s and both held the WWF championship belt (DiBiase had ‘bought’ it from Andre the Giant). When the pair made the switch from the WWF to the WCW, they became part of the legendary nWo team in its earliest incarnation. At one time, DiBiase was the most hated man in wrestling. Hard to believe that he later became a minister.
It was a hoot to see them together when they made an appearance at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con on Saturday, August 13, 2011. I was shocked not by how big Ted DiBiase was, but by how round he had gotten. In fact, he didn’t even stand up for our picture. And even though they were charging an extra fee for a photo op, I was still happy to be part of such a fun opportunity to have the championship belt placed over my shoulder, and then to see DiBiase, with no prompting, pull out a wad of $100 bills and flash them – as he had often done in the ring to the chagrin of thousands of fans.
As for why it didn’t annoy me all that much that they were a bit over-priced, I’ll defer to the Million Dollar Man when he once said “I stand real tall when I stand on my wallet. “
Celebrities of the 2011 Wizard World Chicago Comic Con will continue…
I met the pair of them at last year’s Chicago ComicCon. I had a good time talking with Ted about his early days in the ‘sport’ on “Wrestling At The Chase”.
Dave Chasteen
August 26th, 2011