'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase

Everyone has a price...

	I jilted this five-year-old kid and his eyes welled up with BIG TEARS and he ran off screaming to his mum. Hahaha!

SR: I'd say my dad 'Iron' Mike DiBiase in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He was always a 'heel' [bad guy] and most of his peers would tell you he was one of the greatest villains to this day. Other than my dad there was also Cyclone Negro, but the heel I probably learned the most from and who I think should be a Hall of Famer is Killer Carl Cox [clearly not the UK DJ]. He was real nasty!

Ted Jr., you're a nasty piece of work, too. Is your dad one of your favourite villains?

JR: He’s going in the Hall of Fame for that very reason. He embodies the image of the greatest villain in WWE history, this rich guy who shoves it down your throat, he cheats to win, he cowers away when he should stand and fight. I am being biased but I’m being honest too! Another guy I used to watch and admire is Arn Anderson. He’s just solid and as a heel he and Tully would get together and their tag matches were some of the most exciting ever seen.

Were you actually really rich?

SR: I wasn’t and I’m not! I wish I could say 'The Million Dollar Man' was my idea but it was Vince McMahon’s. I was just fortunate to be the guy he chose. When my father wrestled he had that kind of attitude where he looked down at everyone and talked like everyone else was below him. Because I patterned my career on him, Vince saw that sort of character in me.

Is that laugh your real laugh?

[LAUGHS]

Shit, it really is!

[MORE LAUGHS] That's my laugh! I did an interview one day and ended it with the laugh. Vince happened to be walking by and he stopped, stuck his head around the door and cried: “THAT is the Million Dollar laugh! I want to hear that laugh everytime you do an interview.”

What's the most evil thing you've ever done?

SR: We were in Milwaukee which was famous for basketball and beer, so they came up the idea where I offered 500-dollars to someone who could dribble a basketball. So I hand-picked this little five-year old kid from the audience - I remember his name was Shaun - and I got him to dribble it 10 times. I said ‘wow, that's good, okay, if you can do that 15 times without missing I’ll give you 500 bucks!'.

So he dribbles the basketball and the whole crowd are counting, and as he gets to 14, I stuck my foot out and the ball bounced off it. I'd jilted him! Haha. I said: “Awww, that’s too bad, kid. You gotta learn a tough lesson at such a young age. If you don’t get the job done, you don’t get paid. Hahaha!'.

Big tears welled up in his eyes and he ran off screaming to his mum. Now understand we’d actually rehearsed this, they got the money! But as far as that crowd was concerned I was a real nasty piece of work. To this day people still ask me if I jilted that kid out of his money and the answer is ‘no’!

Is the 'Million Dollar Belt' made of real diamonds?

SR: Well obviously it’s not worth a million dollars and it’s not solid gold and it’s not all real diamonds because otherwise it would be too heavy for me to wear it.

JR: And I would have stolen it too. Actually I did once - during Show and Tell!

SR: It's estimated value when they made it was between 40-50,000 dollars and I had to carry a declaration around with me whenever I came into the UK. Most of the stones on it are Cubic Zirconias. Those are not cheap, they’re like 60 and 70-a-piece, and there’s 600-700 on the belt. Plus the belt’s designed by a world renowned jeweller from Connecticut. Basically the belt was worth enough money that they didn’t give it to me! Instead it’s kept in a safe in Connecticut.

So there’s no real diamonds in it at all?

SR: Actually there’s two in the back of the belt that nobody can see. It was funny ‘cos I was looking at the belt and I saw those two diamonds and I asked ‘why are they there’? They told me it's because they’re real and so that whenever anyone asks you whether the diamonds are real or not, you can say ‘yes’!

*SEE WWE IN ACTION! - Box office and tour dates*

*WrestleMania 26 will be live and exclusive on SKY BOX OFFICE at midnight on Sunday 28 March

*UK Live Events Tour:

The WrestleMania Revenge Tour, presented by Honey Monster, hits the UK and Ireland this April - from 8 April to the 13.

There will be 13 live events taking place in 9 cities across the UK and Ireland (full list below)

Tickets are still available at some venues but are selling fast. See WWW.WWE.COM for details.

LIVE EVENT DATES AND CITIES:

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13 April - Sheffield
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9 April - Dublin
10 April - Glasgow
11 April - Manchester
12 April - Nottingham
13 April - London