To legions of wrestling fans around the world he is the Million Dollar Man an arrogant villain remembered for his feuds with the likes of Hulk Hogan in the 80s heyday of the World Wrestling Federation. Nowadays, however, Ted DiBiase has swapped pile-drivers for prayer meetings. Ahead of appearances in Dundee and Blairgowrie this weekend, he tells David Clegg about the conflicts between being a wrestling bad guy and a devout Christian.
In 1987, Ted DiBiase was at the centre of one of the most memorable and controversial moments in the history of televised professional wrestling.
While playing the role of the Million Dollar Man who in the scripted world of the WWF was a mega-rich cheat trying to buy success he selected a young child from the audience and offered to pay him $500 if he could bounce a basketball 15 times in a row.
The overawed child, who clearly wasn’t a plant, picked up the ball and cautiously began to bounce it. Just as he got to 14 DiBiase kicked it away. The segment ended with the wrestler laughing manically and fanning himself with a wad of hundred dollar bills as the boy broke down in tears. Although the child’s family were given the cash after the cameras stopped rolling, DiBiase still required a police escort to leave the arena.
With a past like this making children cry on live television it is hardly surprising some people have problems taking the 56-year-old seriously in his latest role as an evangelical preacher.
“A lot of people ask how I can be a Christian and talk about God and then go out in the ring and be the evil villain and the bad guy,” he admits. “Well, my answer to that is that it is just showbusiness; it’s playing a role. As long as the message we send out is that good will eventually triumph over evil at the end of the day I have no problem with that.”
The issue of drug abuse in wrestling is a sensitive one and has been the subject of much debate in recent years. In June 2007, former world champion Chris Benoit murdered his wife and seven-year-old son, before hanging himself. In the aftermath of the tragedy there were suggestions Benoit’s steroid use contributed to his actions.
“I took steroids for a very short time,” says DiBiase. “It should be obvious by looking at me that I didn’t take them regularly because I was in good shape, but I was never massive. My strength was my ability to talk and my work in the ring. I always looked like an athlete but I didn’t look like Charles Atlas.
“The thing about the steroids was I was always afraid of them and I finally had a doctor tell me about the effects and that warned me right off them that was it for me with that stuff. The only other drug I took for a while was cocaine. Now this doesn’t sound like the Million Dollar Man, but I stopped doing that because I was cheap I didn’t want to spend the money on it!”
When not preaching DiBiase now spends much of his time helping young wrestlers learn from his mistakes and schooling them in the art of the sport. His relationship with the Blairgowrie-based SWE began last year when he was contacted by company owner David Low.
“David emailed me and told me about the organisation and his desire to put on the event and asked if I wanted to get involved,” he says. “I am happy to be able to meet the fans and maybe give some of the young wrestlers some tips.”
Mr Low says wrestling is extremely popular in Dundee, with youngsters regularly packing community centres across the city to watch SWE shows.
“A lot of it is down to the popularity of the WWE,” says Mr Low, who wrestles under the name Bravehart in tribute to WWE star Bret Hart. “We bring over the American stars and the audiences in Dundee seem to respond to that. It is really exciting someone like the Million Dollar Man is coming to Dundee.
“Wrestling is just huge over here.”For more on this weekend’s events, visit www.sweonline.co.uk