Mwahahahahaha! Money, money, money, money, monee-eeee-eey! Ian Hunter here, walking on out in a gold glitter suit with a bodyguard that looks smaller than I do. This week we saw our old friend Ted DiBiase bring out his son… Ted DiBiase. Left the Jr. part off, which I find funny because Dory Funk Jr. didn’t have a problem with it. I’m just thankful they didn’t slap the Million Dollar Belt on him. Because you and I both know that it would only be a matter of time before the writing staff would have Cryme Tyme come out and steal it and then melt it down into some bling. Crap… now that I’ve said that, I’ve probably given them stereotype filler for the next month. But anyway, in tribute to the major debut of his son, we’re doing this week’s trivia on Teddy Sr. But first, we need to answer last week’s questions.
1: The reformation of the nWo, officially putting an end to the Hollywood and Wolfpack factions.
2: Eric Bischoff. Later recounted by Hogan, when the match was done both he and Bischoff went out for a drink to celebrate. They had high hopes of tearing down the walls of pro-wrestling again and showing a “dark side” to it all. They didn’t even know what happened with Jarrett and Booker until Monday morning.
3: Shane McMahon was the referee of the match. Originally on the side of Triple H, he turned on him after getting beat down by Hunter.
4: Rob Van Dam was the one Paul was hoping to be champion. But at the time RVD declined saying he was happy being TV Champion. Moving down the ranks, Justin Credible was the next in line and he gladly took the roll.
5: Tony Parisi was going to be the transitional champion, but Morales had a problem with him as well because storyline-wise he was billed as Sammartino’s cousin. Publicity had already gone out for the match, but Stasiak was made the replacement early in the night with an announcement that Parisi was sick.
A lot of valiant efforts by people who actually love to play the trivia and not just look up the info. But sadly, no winners. I applaud those of you who made an effort, or at least took a damn guess. To the rest of you… tisk tisk. If you don’t bother to play, you don’t learn anything. Anyway, whole new week, whole new questions. Answer the questions and email your answers to TorchTrivia@gmail.com. We'll post the names of those who got ALL FIVE correct. Good luck to you all!
1. First, a write-in question. DiBiase trained with the Funk family in his early career via Mid-South wrestling during the late 70's. During his time there he was a jobber for his first year, but soon became a main player and won the North-American Championship in December of 1976 from The Brute. The title win was short lived (not that Ted cared, he came back to win the belt three more times in the early 80’s), and he lost the belt to The Great Zimm at the start of 1977. Of course, Zimm was a gimmick name. Who was the real person DiBiase lost the belt to?
2. After four years in Mid-South, DiBiase moved up north to Vince McMahon Sr.’s WWWF. He only spent a year there, but what a great year as he won the now retired North American Heavyweight Championship. The title was later folded into the South American version to make the Intercontinental belt, and he almost became champion if not for a last minute decision to give it to Pat Patterson. During his time with the belt, DiBiase was a fighting champion who took on all new comers. He even fought against a future WWF Champion in their debut match with the company, and served them their first loss. Who was this?
A. Antonio Inoki
B. Hulk Hogan
C. Sgt. Slaughter
D. The Iron Sheik
E. Randy Savage
3. In 1980 DiBiase went back down to Mid-South, exchanging his time between them and All Japan. Switching into a heel roll, his standard ending would be to bring a loaded black glove out of his tights and nail his opponent between the eyes for the easy win. Major feuds with Brad Armstrong, One Man Gang and the Junk Yard Dog helped fuel the midcard of the NWA territory. In 1986 Bill Watts decided to try and take the area big time like the WWF had just done, and formed the Universal Wrestling Federation. Sadly, Watts couldn’t get the territory to work the way he wanted to, and was forced to bow out to Jim Crockett who gladly took the area. While DiBiase was negotiating his way back into the NWA, he was approached by the WWF again. Who convinced DiBiase to come back?
A. Vince McMahon
B. Hulk Hogan
C. Pat Patterson
D. Roddy Piper
E. George Scott
4. Another write-in for you. Upon arrival with the Million Dollar Man gimmick, DiBiase became one of the most hated heels in the company’s history, event by today’s standards. Supposedly he was taking the place of top heel after Piper’s face turn and subsequent retirement. To kick off his heel run he started a feud with Hulk Hogan, trying to buy the championship off him for a pretty price. Hogan said no, so in turn he bought the services of Andre The Giant to go after Hogan (despite having lost to him at WrestleMania III). Andre won the belt due to a “plastic surgery” lookalike of Dave Hebner (really Earl Hebner) made a quick count, and on the same show Andre handed the belt to DiBiase. What was the name of the show in which all this happened?
5. One more write-in question for you. Throughout his time in the WWF, DiBiase would always move onto the next “downtrodden” opponent, giving them a high authority figure to try to overcome and give hope to fans to continue the fight. Jake Roberts, The Big Boss Man, Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper, and even his own bodyguard Virgil. It wasn’t until he started the tag team Money Incorporated (with Mike “IRS” Rotunda) that he came into real success with the WWF. A lackluster run with the tag titles started in 1992 against teams that weren’t delivering. But they really didn’t pick up steam until early 1993 with an attack on which wrestler?
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