Bruce Prichard On Who Would Have Been A Better "Million Dollar Man" Than Ted Dibiase, Vince McMahon
On episode 23 of Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard, the professional wrestling veteran talked about WWE Hall Of Famer 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase in great detail. Of note, Prichard talked about why DiBiase was given quite possibly the greatest heel gimmick of all time, who would have made a better Million Dollar Man than DiBiase, who came up with the 'everybody's got a price' tagline, and when Prichard finally understood the gimmick.
Prichard, who was tasked with producing many of 'The Million Dollar Man”s vignettes early on in his WWE run, claimed that Vince McMahon gave DiBiase the gimmick because DiBiase was a special talent that carried himself like a star.
"Teddy was so f–king smooth, man. There was something about him. DiBiase has an aura. He just has a finesse. When Ted would walk into a bar, even back in the day, that son of a b—h would walk into a bar and every head in the place would turn because he looked like somebody. He carried himself like somebody and he had that intangible 'it'. He was special. He could deliver in the ring, he could talk, and he wasn't afraid of s–t."
According to Prichard, while there is no box of unused gimmicks at Titan Tower, 'The Million Dollar Man' gimmick would have been "shelved" until the right performer was found to take on the persona. In Prichard's estimation, Ric Flair would have been a good choice for the character if DiBiase was not available at the time and he went on to say that Gino Hernandez would had been an even better 'Million Dollar Man' than DiBiase.
"I think Vince would have shelved [the gimmick] till the right guy was available. [Ric] Flair would have been perfect for it. It's the only answer, yeah. Well, if it had been pre-1985, Gino Hernandez. And Gino Hernandez would have been a better Million Dollar Man than Ted DiBiase because he was The Million Dollar Man!"
During the show, Prichard indicated that the 'everybody's got a price' tagline was McMahon's idea. Also, Prichard had the idea to incorporate DiBiase's laugh into the presentation of 'The Million Dollar Man'.
"'Everybody's got a price for The Million Dollar Man,' that was straight from Vince. That was Vince's stuff. That was The Million Dollar Man schtick, 'everybody's got a price for The Million Dollar Man.' And, later on, because Ted and I were friends, we went way back, I loved Ted's laugh and we that into it, that 'ahahahaha'. And we'd incorporate little Ted-isms and as we got to know Vince more, we begin to incorporate Vince-isms into that."
Prichard divulged that seeing McMahon paying an airplane passenger to put out a cigarette was the moment he realized that McMahon was 'The Million Dollar Man' in real life.
"We were flying along and the guy sitting back in 2B takes a cigarette out [and] lights the cigarette. And then, he starts to smoke his cigarette, Vince turns around, and he goes, 'hey pal, I'll give you $100 if you put that cigarette out.' The guys says, 'no, man, I'm good. I want to have my cigarette. I'm in the smoking section. I want to have my cigarette.' 'I'll give you $200, pal. Put the cigarette out.' The guy keeps smoking. He goes, 'look, I want to have my cigarette, okay? I'm fine. I paid for this seat.' [McMahon] goes, 'I'll give you $500, pal. Put the cigarette out, alright?' The guy says, 'hey man, I paid for my seat. I just want to smoke my cigarette.' [McMahon] goes, 'I'll pay for your seat and I'll still give you another $500. Just put the cigarette out.' The guy finally puts his cigarette out and Vince is peeling off hundreds to give this guy money to put his cigarette out. And I just looked down, I go, 'f–k, man, you are The Million Dollar Man!' And that's when it all clicked [for] me because it was, 'everybody's got a price, pal. Goddamn, it doesn't matter. Everything's for sale. Everybody's got a price for The Million Dollar Man. Do you understand now?' and it clicked, but that was Vince in real life. I mean, that was real life s–t that, I mean, actually f–king happened."
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