Jake The Snake Roberts vs. The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase (Mar 1989 – Apr 1990)

Background

Ted DiBiase came into 1989 having already failed to buy or win a legitimate world title. In February 1988 André the Giant beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship and handed the belt to DiBiase, but WWF President Jack Tunney ruled that DiBiase had not won it by pinfall or submission and declared the title vacant.[1] DiBiase reached the final of the tournament for the vacant championship at WrestleMania IV and lost to Randy Savage, then spent the summer teaming with André as the Mega Bucks against Savage and Hogan, losing at the first SummerSlam when Hogan pinned him.[1][2]

With no real title within reach, DiBiase had his own made. He has said WWF official Pat Patterson suggested it after WrestleMania IV: say he didn't need the WWF's title, create his own worth more money, and declare himself the champion.[3] A series of vignettes showed DiBiase at Betteridge Jewelers in Greenwich, Connecticut, overseeing the belt and demanding more stones be added, and DiBiase later put its real value at about $40,000, with roughly 700 cubic zirconia stones on gold plate.[3][4] He unveiled it on the Brother Love Show on the March 4, 1989 *Superstars*, and the WWF never sanctioned it as an official championship.[5][6]

DiBiase first wrestled with the belt on the March 11 *Saturday Night's Main Event*, pinning the Blue Blazer in 3:57.[4] He said later that the belt paid better than the real thing would have: "Everybody wants to take a picture with the Million Dollar Belt and me. The Million Dollar Belt made me more money than the WWF Title ever would have."[7]

Jake Roberts had turned fan favorite in his feud with the Honky Tonk Man, who smashed a guitar over him during a *Snake Pit* segment; the guitar injured Roberts' neck, and he said he was picking pieces of wood out of his back for weeks.[8] In 1988 Rick Rude picked Roberts' real wife Cheryl out of the crowd for his post-match kiss on the April 23 *Superstars*, then wore tights bearing her image, and Roberts moved from that program into one with André.[8] At WrestleMania V on April 2, 1989, DiBiase and Virgil tried to steal Damien from ringside during Roberts' match with André, and Roberts chased them up the aisle while André attacked guest referee Big John Studd for the disqualification.[4] Instead of the Intercontinental Championship, Roberts' next prize was DiBiase's homemade belt.[8]

Build-up

The program started on the road. Roberts beat DiBiase on a run of April house shows, including roll-up wins at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on April 23 (15:04) and Madison Square Garden the next night (16:16), both times catching DiBiase playing to the crowd.[4] After each match DiBiase and Virgil jumped Roberts, and Roberts dragged Virgil back into the ring to set Damien on him before DiBiase pulled his bodyguard away.[4][9] The two had both come through Mid-South Wrestling, and the MSG match ran on a routine they would repeat for a year: DiBiase scurrying away from the corner where Damien's bag sat, Roberts going for the DDT, and Virgil grabbing a leg to stop it.[9]

The angle that took Roberts off television was taped April 4 in Glens Falls, New York, and aired on the May 6 *Superstars*.[4] With DiBiase said to be out with the flu, Virgil substituted and lost to the DDT in 1:39; Roberts pulled DiBiase's cash out of Virgil's tights and handed it to fans, and DiBiase ran out and locked him in the Million Dollar Dream.[5] Television credited the attack with a fractured disc in Roberts' neck.[5]

Two days later, on May 8, Roberts beat DiBiase at a house show in Orlando and was arrested minutes after the match.[4] Through the spring and summer Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and the newly arrived Dusty Rhodes took Roberts' spots against DiBiase on house-show cards.[4] On the June 24 *Superstars*, DiBiase told Brother Love that Roberts was in hospital after having a disc removed from his neck, and the show ran a get-well message for him.[5] In mid-July DiBiase appeared on WWF television with a gold neck brace he said was for Roberts, now that Roberts' career was over.[4]

At SummerSlam on August 28 at the Meadowlands, DiBiase took the microphone to brag about ending Roberts' career, then beat Jimmy Snuka by count-out at 6:26.[4] Roberts cut a promo in early September saying he would be back soon for DiBiase, and on the September 16 *Superstars* he told Brother Love that if he could give only one more DDT, it would go to DiBiase.[4][5] He wrestled his return television match on the October 7 *Superstars*, pinning Brian Costello with the DDT at 2:24.[5]

At the Survivor Series on November 23 at the Rosemont Horizon, Roberts was on Hogan's team against DiBiase's Million Dollar Team; he cleared the ring with Damien at the start and was later pinned by DiBiase at 23:52, DiBiase's feet on the ropes, after Roberts had DDT'd an interfering Virgil.[4] Their singles matches on the road mostly ended in Roberts disqualification wins when Virgil interfered.[4] In Hamilton, Ontario on December 14, Virgil stopped the DDT at 12:35, and Roberts answered by DDTing Virgil and draping Damien over him.[4][10] At Madison Square Garden on December 28, with Virgil barred from ringside, Roberts pinned DiBiase with the DDT in a no-disqualification match at 18:37, though Virgil came out afterward to stop him leaving with the belt.[4]

DiBiase put the belt on the line for the first time back at the Garden on January 15, 1990, and kept it by count-out at 20:31 when Roberts went after Virgil on the floor.[4][11] The theft came on the *Superstars* taped January 2 in Birmingham, Alabama, and aired January 20. DiBiase held up the belt, called it the most expensive in wrestling and dared Roberts to come and get it; Roberts did, clotheslining him over the top rope after the squash and stuffing the belt into Damien's bag as Jesse Ventura shouted on commentary that he was a thief.[11][12][13] The next afternoon at the Royal Rumble in Orlando, DiBiase entered first and Roberts fourth, and Randy Savage clotheslined Roberts out at 14:45 as he lined DiBiase up for the DDT.[11]

On the January 27 *Superstars*, DiBiase ordered Virgil into the ring to fetch the belt; Virgil refused until DiBiase slapped him and handed him money, then fled to the back the moment Roberts opened the bag.[14] DiBiase's next move aired February 3. He bought Big Boss Man's services from Slick, and Boss Man attacked Roberts during their match, handcuffed him to the ropes and took the bag holding both the belt and Damien.[11][15] On the Brother Love Show that followed, Boss Man learned that DiBiase had paid Slick for him, said he could not be bought, pushed Slick down, uncuffed Roberts and gave him back the belt.[11][16]

The match was made official at a February 5 press conference in Toronto, where Roberts against DiBiase for the Million Dollar Belt was announced for WrestleMania VI.[11][17] On the February 24 *Superstars*, Roberts was Brother Love's guest to talk up the match and introduced Boss Man, who handcuffed Love to the guardrail and dropped his ball and chain on him in the ring.[18] On house shows through February and March, Boss Man often served as special referee for Roberts and DiBiase and sometimes helped Roberts win.[19][11] On the March 3 *Superstars*, Roberts invited DiBiase to come and take the belt out of the bag, showing off a selection of snakes that might be inside, including what he called Damien's big brother.[11]

The Matches

WrestleMania VI took place on April 1, 1990, at the SkyDome in Toronto, before an announced 67,678, a record for the building at the time.[20] Before the match, Roberts told Gene Okerlund that DiBiase would be made to beg: "This time, you will be the one that grovels for the money. And how appropriate, that the money you grovel for is your very own. A victim of your own greed, wallowing in the muck of avarice."[21][22] Whoever won would take the belt, which Roberts had carried since January, and Jesse Ventura told viewers that because it was unsanctioned it could change hands on any kind of win.[11][23]

The match followed a video package recapping the feud, and after the long build the crowd was into it from the opening bell, even though the opening stretch was slow.[23][24] Roberts went for the DDT early and DiBiase slipped out to the floor twice, then Roberts worked the arm with a long armbar and a series of knees.[23][24] DiBiase turned it when Roberts missed a high knee and crashed into the turnbuckle, and as DiBiase held a front facelock, cameras caught the crowd doing the wave.[24][23]

DiBiase used it. With the crowd now behind Roberts, he yelled at them and hit a piledriver, then posed before a lazy cover that Roberts turned into a roll-up for two.[23][25]

About seven minutes in, DiBiase put on the Million Dollar Dream, and Roberts got a foot to the ropes to break it, then kicked out when DiBiase dragged him to the middle of the ring for a cover.[23][26] DiBiase went to the middle rope, took too long, and was punched on the way down, and Roberts hit the short-arm clothesline.[23] As Roberts signaled for the DDT, DiBiase grabbed the referee's leg and Virgil dragged Roberts to the floor.[23] Roberts slammed Virgil and ran DiBiase into the ring post when DiBiase came out after him, but Virgil rolled his boss back into the ring, and DiBiase won by count-out at 11:53.[23][26][11]

Roberts got the last word anyway. He DDT'd DiBiase after the bell while Virgil ran off with the belt, then gathered DiBiase's money from the mat and handed it to fans at ringside, actress Mary Tyler Moore among them, and stuffed one of the bills into DiBiase's mouth.[23][26][11] Jesse Ventura pointed out on commentary that Moore hardly needed the money.[26] Roberts went for Damien too, but Virgil came back to pull DiBiase out of the ring.[26]

Aftermath

DiBiase stayed at ringside. When Big Boss Man came out for his match with former partner Akeem later in the show, DiBiase attacked him from behind before the bell; Boss Man still won in under two minutes and roughed up Slick afterward.[23][25] Slick had said backstage that DiBiase had paid him and Akeem to give Boss Man a hard time, and DiBiase went straight into a feud with Boss Man.[26][1] On the April 28 *Saturday Night's Main Event*, DiBiase and Virgil attacked Boss Man during a rematch with Akeem and handcuffed him to the top rope, until Boss Man freed himself and chased them backstage with his own nightstick.[11]

Boss Man then beat DiBiase on house shows through the spring and summer.[11] By June DiBiase was in Cobb County, Georgia, cutting a promo with a woman introduced as one of Boss Man's old teachers, who said he had only ever earned F's.[11]

Twelve days after WrestleMania, DiBiase wrestled the Ultimate Warrior at the joint WWF, All Japan and New Japan show at the Tokyo Dome on April 13, and the Japanese crowd turned on the match from the start.[27][28] At SummerSlam that August he bought the services of Sapphire, Dusty Rhodes' manager, which carried him into a feud with Rhodes through the end of 1990.[1] Virgil finally turned on him at the 1991 Royal Rumble, hitting DiBiase with the Million Dollar belt when ordered to put it around his waist, and beat him for it at SummerSlam 1991 before DiBiase took it back with Repo Man's help that November.[1][2]

Roberts moved from DiBiase into a short feud with Bad News Brown in the summer of 1990, then a long program with Rick Martel, who blinded him in storyline by spraying his Arrogance cologne into Roberts' eyes, building to a blindfold match at WrestleMania VII.[8] At SummerSlam 1990, Roberts beat Bad News Brown by disqualification with Boss Man as guest referee.[11] Martel had started cutting interviews to set that feud up before WrestleMania VI.[29] On the October 27, 1990 *Superstars*, a "blinded" Roberts was led out for the Brother Love Show by Tony Garea and DDT'd Brother Love, believing he was Martel.[11]

Behind the Scenes

The neck injury that took Roberts off television in 1989 was not what it seemed. Television blamed DiBiase's May 6 attack, but the History of WWE's results record says Roberts was actually out because of legal trouble, while other accounts describe the angle as cover for surgery on the back and disc problems he had carried since the Honky Tonk Man's guitar shot.[5][1][8] Roberts was arrested minutes after beating DiBiase at the May 8 house show in Orlando, on an assault charge from an incident in Daytona Beach after WWF television tapings the previous December.[4] He was found guilty and sentenced to ten years' probation, and an appeals court later threw out the verdict after finding his trial lawyer had done a poor job.[30]

The Boss Man turn grew out of the feud, but it was planned in its own right. Bruce Prichard has said it was simply time to turn him: Boss Man was well liked in the locker room, and the office believed that likability would carry over on television.[31] Prichard also recalled that when the WWF shot vignettes in Georgia with people who had known Boss Man as a real prison guard, they said everyone had loved him, prisoners included, and that the company was doing him wrong with how it portrayed him.[31] The Wrestling Observer reported in mid-January, weeks before the February 3 airdate, that Boss Man had turned babyface at the latest tapings and would feud with DiBiase, and a week later that he was getting over as a babyface before the turn had even aired.[32][33]

Damien was a working animal with a temper. In a shoot interview covering 1990, Prichard said the WWF suspended the snake after it bit Roberts on two separate occasions, temporarily swapping in a garden hose that stayed in the bag, and that bites were common because the snake was agitated from being tossed around inside it.[31]

The WWF put real money behind DiBiase's character. His road travel was booked first class with five-star hotels, and the office gave him petty cash to overtip and buy rounds in public so the gimmick looked real; in his autobiography he wrote that everyone not paid on camera was paid off camera.[1] Off camera his life ran the other way. DiBiase has said that in those years his "biggest problem was women," and that when his wife Melanie confronted him in 1992 over his affairs on the road, it nearly ended his second marriage and pushed him back toward his Christian faith.[34]

When the Toronto match was announced, Dave Meltzer predicted, as he admitted he had every year, that this would be the year Virgil turned babyface.[17] It took until the 1991 Royal Rumble.[1] Prichard has said Vince McMahon made the call to split DiBiase and Virgil after Virgil wanted to become a wrestler, and that Virgil was fine until the bell rang, with the program relying on DiBiase to do the work.[31]

The two men remember WrestleMania VI differently. DiBiase has called it his best WrestleMania match: "Wrestling Jake was almost effortless, working with him, we could almost go out there without even saying a word."[22] On his *Everybody's Got a Pod* podcast he went further: "I'll say it for you, we stole the damn show."[35] Roberts, on *The Snake Pit*, rejected that: "It was never my idea to try to steal the show. In fact, it would be the furthest thing from my mind."[36]

Legacy

Dave Meltzer rated the blow-off two and a half stars in the Wrestling Observer, noting that the crowd got bored and did the wave, and Observer readers gave the show as a whole 73% thumbs up.[25] Weeks earlier he had given a 21:20 DiBiase count-out win over Roberts on the undercard of The Main Event III one star, describing it as mostly restholds.[37] Later reviewers have been mixed: one called it among the pair's best matches together and Roberts' best WWF pay-per-view match, another thought they had a better showdown at Madison Square Garden, and a third called it fine but faulted the count-out finish.[23][26][24]

The show around it fell short of the WWF's hopes. The Observer reported a real attendance of about 64,000 against the announced figure, a buyrate of about 4% against internal hopes of far more, and a total gross that trailed WrestleMania V despite a record live gate.[25][38]

The Million Dollar Championship outlived the feud as a character prop rather than a title. DiBiase dropped it after he and Irwin R. Schyster won the WWF Tag Team Championship in February 1992, and it was later revived for the Ringmaster, the future Stone Cold Steve Austin, in 1996, for Ted DiBiase Jr. in 2010 and for an NXT storyline in 2021.[2] The Boss Man turn lasted too: his babyface run, which started with turning down DiBiase's money, kept the fans behind him until early 1993.[19]

The pair's house-show work drew praise too: one reviewer of their April 1989 Garden match wrote that they had "an easy and obvious chemistry together" and delivered "nice, smooth matches."[9] DiBiase put it more personally: "Jake is one of those guys who I really loved to work with."[22]

Decades later DiBiase still singled out Roberts' WrestleMania promo, calling it "brilliant," and named the Toronto match against Roberts in front of 67,000 people as the WrestleMania he enjoyed most.[22]

See Also

Sources & Further Listening

1. Ted DiBiase — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_DiBiase
2. Million Dollar Championship — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Championship
3. "The true history of WWE's most expensive title: the Million Dollar Championship" — Ted DiBiase's official site. https://milliondollarman.com/the-true-history-of-wwes-most-expensive-title-the-million-dollar-championship/
4. 1989 WWF results (television, pay-per-view and house shows) — The History of WWE. https://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/89.htm
5. WWF Superstars 1989 episode-by-episode results — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wwf-superstars-1989/
6. "The History Of The Million Dollar Championship" — The Signature Spot. https://www.thesignaturespot.com/articles/the-history-of-the-million-dollar-championship
7. "Ted DiBiase - The Art of Being a Million Dollar Heel" — Pro Wrestling Stories. https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/ted-dibiase/
8. Jake Roberts — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Roberts
9. "Jake Roberts vs Ted DiBiase (WWF, 4-24-1989)" — Tape Machines Are Rolling. https://tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/jake-roberts-vs-ted-dibiase-wwf-4-24-1989/
10. "Jake Roberts vs Ted DiBiase (WWF, 12-14-1989)" — Tape Machines Are Rolling. https://tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com/2020/05/25/jake-roberts-vs-ted-dibiase-wwf-12-14-1989/
11. 1990 WWF results (television, pay-per-view and house shows) — The History of WWE. https://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/90.htm
12. WWF Superstars of Wrestling, January 20th, 1990 recap — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2017/06/09/wwf-superstars-of-wrestling-january-20th-1990/
13. "Jake Roberts steals the Million Dollar Championship: Superstars, Jan. 20, 1990" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/videos/jake-roberts-steals-the-million-dollar-championship-superstars-jan-20-1990
14. WWF Superstars of Wrestling, January 27th, 1990 recap — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2017/06/13/wwf-superstars-of-wrestling-january-27th-1990/
15. "Yearly Review: WWF January 1990" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2014/02/13/yearly-review-wwf-january-1990/
16. WWF Superstars of Wrestling, February 10th, 1990 recap — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2017/06/25/wwf-superstars-of-wrestling-february-10th-1990/
17. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02.12.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/19/wrestling-observer-flashback-02-12-90/
18. WWF Superstars of Wrestling, February 24th, 1990 recap — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2017/07/04/wwf-superstars-of-wrestling-february-24th-1990/
19. "Yearly Review: WWF February 1990" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2014/04/26/yearly-review-wwf-february-1990/
20. WrestleMania VI — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_VI
21. "This time, you will be the one that grovels for the money" (Jake Roberts' WrestleMania VI promo transcript) — Cagematch Promos Database. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=93&nr=103
22. "DiBiase's Mania memories centre on Toronto" (Ted DiBiase interview, March 16, 2011) — Slam Wrestling. https://slamwrestling.net/interviews/dibiases-mania-memories-centre-on-toronto/
23. "WWF WrestleMania VI" review — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2017/07/31/wwf-wrestlemania-vi/
24. "TJR: WWE WrestleMania 6 Review" — TJR Wrestling. https://tjrwrestling.net/review/wwe-wrestlemania-6-review/
25. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04.09.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/30/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-09-90/
26. "What the World Was Watching: WrestleMania VI" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2021/07/05/what-the-world-was-watching-wrestlemania-vi/
27. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02.05.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/18/wrestling-observer-flashback-02-05-90/
28. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04.23.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/10/03/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-23-90/
29. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03.19.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/27/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-19-90/
30. "The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Jake 'The Snake' Roberts" — Grunge. https://www.grunge.com/127895/jake-the-snake-roberts-tragic-real-life-story/
31. "Kayfabe Commentaries Timeline Series: 1990 WWE as told by Bruce Prichard" (shoot interview review) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2017/07/06/kayfabe-commentaries-timeline-series-1990-wwe-as-told-by-bruce-prichard/
32. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01.15.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/14/wrestling-observer-flashback-01-15-90/
33. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01.22.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/15/wrestling-observer-flashback-01-22-90/
34. "'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase's Transformation from WWE Superstar to Minister" — Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2641220-million-dollar-man-ted-dibiases-transformation-from-wwe-superstar-to-minister
35. "Ted DiBiase Says He & Jake Roberts Stole The Show At WrestleMania 6" (Everybody's Got a Pod podcast transcription) — 411MANIA. https://411mania.com/wrestling/ted-dibiase-jake-roberts-stole-show-wrestlemania-6/
36. "Jake Roberts – 'It Was Never My Idea To Try To Steal The Show At WrestleMania 6'" (The Snake Pit podcast transcription) — eWrestlingNews. https://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/wwe/jake-roberts-it-was-never-my-idea-to-try-to-steal-the-show-at-wrestlemania-6
37. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03.05.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/09/23/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-05-90/
38. "Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04.16.90", Scott Keith's issue recap of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/10/01/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-16-90/

Further Listening

• The Snake Pit with Jake Roberts — Roberts' own podcast retelling of the WrestleMania VI match and his read on the DiBiase feud
• Everybody's Got A Pod with Ted DiBiase — DiBiase's side of the same story, including his 'we stole the damn show' line
• Every Man Has His Price: The True Story of Wrestling's Million-Dollar Man (Ted DiBiase autobiography) — DiBiase's account of the character, the belt, and the personal toll of the era
• Kayfabe Commentaries, Timeline: The History of WWE, 1990 as told by Bruce Prichard — the office view of the Boss Man turn, Damien and the DiBiase-Virgil split