Was Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase The Best Villain Hulk Hogan Ever Faced?
When it comes to discussing definitive icons of the wrestling business, Hulk Hogan has to be toward the top of the list. For all of his drama and scandal associated with his personal life, he was the key figure who served as the face of WWE for its original national expansion, and enjoyed an impressively long run on top for nearly a decade. That’s not counting his follow-up babyface run in WCW, and then redefining his legacy with several years as their top heel, leading the nWo. Hogan had iconic rivals. There was Sting as the vigilante who stood up against Hogan’s faction and Andre the Giant as the ultimate monster heel for Hogan to overcome as a superhero. There was Roddy Piper as the loudmouthed villain for The Hulkster to put in his place and Randy Savage who created an intensely personal issue. Ted Dibiase may well have been the best opponent of all for Hogan, though, on account of not only his talent but representing the opposite of the Immortal one’s ideals.
Hulk Hogan Played A Man Of The People
During his signature babyface run, from the mid-1980s to early 1990s, Hulk Hogan played a man of the people. He catered to kids and families, and though he didn’t look like an every man the way Dusty Rhodes did for the NWA, The Hulkster represented a certain ideal the people might hope for as a larger than life hero who stood up to bullies and villains.
In hindsight, Hogan’s famous posing in the ring after victories seems a bit self-aggrandizing. One of the things fans forget now about Hogan's first title reign was that simply wasn't the vibe with WWE audience back then. As Gorilla Monsoon and Vince McMahon called it from the announce table, he was giving the people what they wanted, celebrating with them and showing off the impressive physique that was so fundamental to his appeal. On top of that, while critics nowadays knock Hogan for not working a particularly impressive style in the ring—devoid of much technical prowess or acrobatics—his straightforward move set was readily accessible with moves kids could imitate with their Wrestling Buddies.
Ted Dibiase Represented The Arrogant, Wealthy Elite
A big part of what makes a successful rivalry is pairing complementary, clashing styles. Ted Dibiase was not a man of the people. His infamous early exploits included charging fans with doing humiliating things for him to pay them money. That run included a particularly infamous occasion when he challenged a child to dribble a basketball ten times, only to kick the ball away from him before he could complete the task and earn the money The Million Dollar Man had promised him.
Related: Everybody's Got A Price: 10 Things You Didn't Know About "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase
Dibiase worked a more technical style than The Hulkster, including his Million Dollar Dream finisher that was a bit sinister for rendering opponents unconscious, after which he’d jam dollar bills down their throats. From vignettes of him enjoying great wealth, to having Virgil at his beck and call at ringside, to attempting to buy the WWE Championship, Dibiase represented the opposite ideals from Hogan. While The Hulkster told kids to say their prayers, eat their vitamins, train, and believe in themselves, The Million Dollar Man espoused a fundamentally different philosophy, rendered in his catchphrase that “Everybody’s got a price!”
The Template Worked Time And Again
One of the greatest signs of how fundamentally successful Ted Dibiase was as a foil for Hulk Hogan was the ways in which the formula was imitated over time. Perhaps the most famous example—and one that arguably even exceeded its predecessor—was Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon. McMahon, like Dibiase, was notoriously rich and powerful, and though he didn’t work a technical style in the ring, his Herculean physique seemed to bespeak vanity and having all the time and resources in the world to get buff. By contrast, Austin was the every man, enjoying cans of beer and lashing out against a boss who would condescend to bully him.
While the precise characteristics at play were different, John Cena vs. Edge was another rivalry that capitalized on opposites attracting heat. Cena was a cookie cutter good guy—in some regards, a modernized version of The Hulkster who had a long run as a kid-friendly hero and as the face of WWE. Edge was anything but a white meat babyface, leaning into his Rated R persona with steel chair and ladder violence, and a Live Sex Celebration with Lita once he finally broke through the main event glass ceiling. Sure, both men were talented and they had chemistry with each other, but they arrived as each other’s greatest rivals, and outstanding long-term opponents based largely on the principle of representing opposite ideals.
The question of whom a wrestler’s greatest rival is will always carry a degree of subjectivity, and Hulk Hogan and Ted Dibiase didn’t necessarily have a record of great matches (or even a single one-on-one PPV encounter between them). Nonetheless, they also highlighted each other’s best and worst qualities for their conflicting gimmicks. The results were something special, setting them up to collide as halves of opposing tag teams in the main event of the original SummerSlam in 1988, not to mention another marquee tag match at WrestleMania 9, five years later. They were all but made to feud with another, and thrived when they went head-to-head.
