The relationships between wrestlers behind the scenes can be quite different from what fans see on screen. Some of the best storyline rivals like Mick Foley and The Undertaker or John Cena and Randy Orton are real life friends with bonds rooted in mutual respect. By contrast, there are acts like Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader who grew into mutual resentment when they were forced to team together in Japan. Ted Dibiase and Virgil are an example of a wrestling pair that was intertwined for years and had a deceptively complicated real life relationship, particularly after both men had stepped away from working on national television on a regular basis.
Ted Dibiase And Virgil Were Partners In Crime And Opponents
One of the reasons Ted Dibiase and Virgil are so linked is that each attained their greatest fame when they were paired together. As The Million Dollar Man, Dibiase was an iconic star of the Golden Era—an all-time great promo man who could more than back up his talk with tremendous skill in the ring. Virgil was a near ideal sidekick selling Dibiase’s wealth as his ever-present hired hand. Moreover, he was that rare truly logical bodyguard figure in wrestling, who was a somewhat imposing presence, but not so formidable that fans could tell right away he should be wrestling. The duo was all but inseparable in WWE for over three years.
From there, the Dibiase and Virgil story paid off in an all-time great slow-burn feud. They had been together long enough for a split not to feel like a foregone conclusion, and for it to feel like a seismic shift when Virgil started to buck against his employer’s bullying, only to ultimately standup for himself. The result were major matches at both WrestleMania and SummerSlam, inarguably the defining bouts of Virgil’s career.
The On-Screen Relationship Between Ted Dibiase And Virgil Extended Longer Than Most Fans Remember
There’s no question Ted Dibiase and Virgil were huge parts of each other’s wrestling destinies from the late 1980s into the early 1990s, from their partnership to one of the most noteworthy feuds of either man's career. Fans forget, however, that their on air story didn’t end with their series of matches or feuding over the Million Dollar Championship. The duo would come back together in WCW in 1996, both working under the New World Order banner, less directly tied to each other, but still linked with Dibiase initially cast as the stable’s financial backer and Virgil as their “head of security”—a fancy term for a bodyguard.
In addition to Dibiase and Virgil carrying on in WCW, they had one other connection in WWE. In 2010, The Million Dollar Man’s son, Ted Dibiase Jr. came of age. The young heel introduced Virgil as his sidekick in a fun throwback to yesteryear, renewing the former bodyguard’s connection to the family. The association didn’t last long, though, before the younger Dibiase stuffed money down a prone Virgil’s throat after a loss and shortly thereafter kayfabe fired him.
Virgil Falsely Represented Ted Dibiase For Bookings
By most indicators, the relationship between Ted Dibiase Sr. and Virgil was fully amicable if not particularly close after they’d stopped working together on a regular basis. In 2016, however, it became clearer that things had grown more complicated between the two former on-screen allies.
In an interview with ESPN, Dibiase revealed that Virgil had falsely represented in him taking independent bookings. The logic seems to have been that the latter wrester saw a better opportunity to get himself booked if it were as part of a package deal with Dibiase. However, he took bookings without The Million Dollar Man’s consent, and without even going so far as tell Dibiase about them. The result was Dibiase looking like he had unprofessionally no-showed events when he hadn’t even known he was supposed to be in attendance. He was understandably unhappy about that state of affairs and had to put the word out that Virgil did not represent him for any future bookings.
It's unclear where things currently stand between Ted Dibiase and Virgil, but given they haven’t been making appearances together in recent years, it stands to reason that their falling out was a permanent one. Virgil remained a presence on the indies and the autograph-signing circuit up to health concerns coming up for him earlier this year. Dibiase found a different path as a Christian minister. He has also continued to make autograph signings and appeared for WWE as recently as last year for an angle involving Cameron Grimes, extending the history of the Million Dollar Championship.