10 Greatest Vince McMahon Creations
5. The Million Dollar Man
Vince McMahon was talked out of an in-ring career by his father. He bestowed the gimmick he devised for himself on Ted DiBiase following his return to the WWF in 1987.
It was complete and utter genius completely and utterly worthy of that overstatement. DiBiase was the proto 1% - an inherently detestable act whose very essence was a heat magnet. Dibiase's cackling, über-arrogant portrayal of it ("Mr. Ted DiBiase - what a terrific honour it is to meet you." "Well of course it is.") was as superb as the original concept.
DiBiase was the perfect antagonist for the traditionally working class wrestling audience ("Look at that, Virgil! Look at the poverty!"). As terrific as he was in the ring, the highlight of which was surely his series with Jake Roberts at the turn of the decade, his vignettes and segments were the stuff of legend. He once, infamously, called on a member of the audience to earn a chance at a tiny fraction of his wealth by dribbling a basketball fifteen times.
A young African American child answered that call (the WWF never shied away from the racist overtones of the act). He dribbled the basketball fourteen times, at which point that absolute b*stard kicked the ball away.
The heat he generated was nuclear. The Million Dollar Man lives on as an indictment of modern wrestling. You never, ever hear reactions like that anymore.