Million Dollar Man banks on Jesus

Ted DiBiase thought he had it all as pro wrestling’s Million Dollar Man: lucre, Lear jets, limousines and lascivious living.

But DiBiase was carrying on a dual life that almost cost him his marriage and family, until God's call inspired him to turn from his money-bound wrestling persona toward Christian evangelism.

Quality wrestling
DiBiase, who had been a World Wrestling Federation icon, produces the Main Event through the Power Wrestling Alliance, which features born-again Christian wrestlers who put on a show and then open their hearts about how accepting Jesus Christ changed their lives.

The PWA show, modeled on the Power Team evangelical wrestling event, comes to Memorial Gardens Friday;
DeBiase will be there as well as Brutus “the Barber’ Beefcake, Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, Animal, from The Road Warriors, Rick Steiner, and the Tonga Kid.

“We’re bringing quality wrestling to wrestling fans,” said DiBiase, who arrived in North Bay Wednesday night and will be visiting some local schools Thursday to talk to students.

“I’m asked all the time about what’s happened to wrestling, because it’s become degrading toward women and full of vulgar language and all that stuff.”

Good guys and bad guys
The product DiBiase has brought to North Bay, he said, will remind wrestling fans of what they used to see “when I used to wrestle.”

“We have the good guys and the bad guys, and you’ll know who the good guys are and you can cheer for the good guys and boo the bad guys, and ultimately we tell the story that good will conquer evil,” DiBiase said.


Pride controlled my life
DiBiase said he had personal evils he had to conquer too.

Raised in a Christian home, DiBiase lost his father, who had also been a wrestler, when he was 15.

“My mother became an alcoholic, but I leaned on my relationship with God all through high school. I never drank, smoked, or did drugs, and I was devoted to athletics,” said DiBiase, who attended West Texas State University on a football scholarship.

“And when that happened I got this new confidence, and all of a sudden it turned to pride, and pride is what controlled my life for the next 20 years, almost like ‘thanks God for getting me here, but I’m here now and when I need you again I’ll let you know.'”

These horrible things
It was during his 20-year wrestling career, though, DiBiase said, that he began living a dual life.

“I was womanizing, I was drinking, drugging to a certain degree—I was never by the grace of God addicted to any of those things but I was certainly addicted to having a good time and pleasing myself—and it all came crashing down around my head one day when I was discovered, when my wife found out about some of these horrible things I was doing,” DiBiase said.

“And it was a point in my life when I had to take a long hard look in the mirror and said ‘what are you doing, you’re risking all that’s most valuable to you for totally selfish self-serving reason' and it was then that I turned back to God.”

My life changed
DiBiase, 50, admits he struggled with his new lifestyle at the beginning, but things became easier when he stopped wrestling on the road and limited his appearances to television.

“I lost control and turned control of my life over to Jesus Christ,” DiBiase said.

He became an ordained minister and opened the Heart of David ministries, located in Clinton, Mississippi, where DiBiase lives.

“My life changed, I have a peace in my life now that I never imagined, and I’m happier doing this than I was wrestling in front of 80 thousand people. And I can share with people the miracle of my own life, that God restored my marriage and my family to me, and my life is so much richer today than it ever was.”

One of those characters
Though he lives his life differently today, DiBiase acknowledges his alter-ego will always be with him.

"The Million Dollar Man was one of those unique characters and I just happened to be the guy who got it," DiBiase said.

"I mean I'll have people come up to me all the time and say 'you know I'm really not a wrestling fan but I knew who you were.' There are just a few wrestling characters people seem to remember and for whatever reason this character that I played happens to be one of them."

Those memories will be reinforced too, since DiBiase is about to be immortalized in plastic after being contacted by an action figure manufacturer.

"This is the twentieth anniversary of Wrestlemania and they're coming out with a special limited edition of 12 action figures of the top stars and I'm one of them," DiBiase said.

"They also put me on their last video game as one of their special characters, and I haven't even seen this game, but I know I'm on it. So I've been very fortunate."