Theodore Marvin "Ted" DiBiase, Jr. (November 8, 1982) is an American professional wrestler currently appearing on the independent circuit. He is best known for his run with WWE, where he is a former two time World Tag Team Champion with his tag team partner, Cody Rhodes. After being trained by Chris Youngblood and undergoing further training at Harley Race's Wrestling Academy, DiBiase made his professional wrestling debut on July 8, 2006. He won the Fusion Pro Tag Team Championship with his half brother, Mike DiBiase, in February 2007, and also toured Japan briefly with Pro Wrestling Noah. He signed a developmental contract with WWE in July 2007, and was assigned to their developmental facility, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He joined the Next Generation Hart Foundation faction for a short time, before winning the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship in December 2007. Due to injury, he relinquished the championship in January 2008.
He made his WWE television debut on May 26, 2008, and in his first match as a member of the Raw roster, he won the World Tag Team Championship with Cody Rhodes. They dropped the championship in August, before winning it again a week later. Rhodes and DiBiase were joined by Manu shortly afterwards, forming a faction of multi-generation wrestlers, although shortly afterwards DiBiase was taken off television to film The Marine 2. Upon his return, he formed The Legacy faction alongside Rhodes and Randy Orton.
Aside from professional wrestling, DiBiase is also an actor, making his film debut in The Marine 2, a direct-to-DVD movie that was released on December 29, 2009.
Professional wrestling career[]
DiBiase made his WWE television debut as a villain on May 26, 2008, where he cut a promo about his intent to become a champion like his father, Ted DiBiase, Sr., challenging the World Tag Team Champions, Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly. At the Night of Champions pay-per-view, DiBiase won the World Tag Team Championship in his first match in WWE, after Rhodes betrayed Holly, revealing himself to be DiBiase's partner. After holding the title for just over a month, they dropped them to John Cena and Batista on the August 4 episode of Raw. The following week, DiBiase and Rhodes used their rematch clause to regain the title.
DiBiase and Rhodes were soon joined by Manu, forming a stable of multi-generation superstars. On the October 27, 2008 episode of Raw, DiBiase and Rhodes lost their title to CM Punk and Kofi Kingston. It was during this time that Randy Orton became linked to Rhodes, DiBiase, and Manu on television, criticizing them in a mentor-type role. On the November 3 episode of Raw, DiBiase was attacked by Orton, after he interfered in Orton's match. This storyline attack was to allow DiBiase to be written out of WWE storylines, so he could film the movie, The Marine 2.
On the January 12, 2009 episode of Raw, DiBiase returned to aid Manu and Sim Snuka in attacking Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Instead, however, DiBiase turned on them and helped Rhodes and Orton assault Manu and Snuka, thus joining The Legacy faction. As part of The Legacy, DiBiase entered the Royal Rumble match in order to help Orton win, and lasted until the final four, before being eliminated by Triple H. Rhodes and DiBiase became involved in Orton's scripted rivalry with the McMahon family, helping him to attack Shane and Stephanie McMahon, and Stephanie's real-life husband, Triple H. DiBiase was also elevated to main event status as a result of joining The Legacy, competing in handicap and six-man tag team matches, as well as the occasional singles match against Orton's opponents and rivals. On April 26, at the Backlash pay-per-view, DiBiase, Rhodes, and Orton defeated Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon in a six-man tag team match, which, per the pre-match stipulation, resulted in Orton winning the WWE Championship. During WWE's tour of Australia in early July, DiBiase suffered an arm injury, but did not miss any time because of it. Throughout mid-2009, DiBiase and Rhodes continued to compete against and attack Orton's rivals, particularly Triple H, preventing him from earning a match for Orton's championship. As a result, Triple H reformed D-Generation X (DX) with Shawn Michaels and they defeated DiBiase and Rhodes at SummerSlam. DiBiase and Rhodes later defeated DX in a submissions count anywhere match at the Breaking Point pay-per-view, before losing to DX in a Hell in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in October.
Tension between the members of The Legacy began building in 2010, when Orton attacked DiBiase and Rhodes for accidentally costing him a chance to win the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. In February 2010, DiBiase defeated Mark Henry in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match, earning a chance to win the WWE Championship. At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, he eliminated Orton from the Elimination Chamber match, but was eliminated by Kofi Kingston soon after. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Orton turned on The Legacy, believing they had a plan to turn on him, and in retaliation, they attacked Orton the following week. As a result, the three competed in a triple threat match at WrestleMania XXVI in which Orton defeated Rhodes and DiBiase.
After WrestleMania, DiBiase debuted a new gimmick of an arrogant millionaire, similar to his father's old gimmick. On the April 5 episode of Raw, DiBiase was given possession of the Million Dollar Championship and access to a trust fund by his father. DiBiase then began looking for a "Virgil", a manservant like his father used to have. He offered the position to R-Truth, who refused, provoking a feud between the two. On the May 17 episode of Raw, DiBiase revealed his "Virgil"—the original Virgil who had worked for his father. In his first singles pay-per-view match at Over the Limit, DiBiase was defeated by R-Truth. During the match, DiBiase suffered a concussion, but was able to appear on Raw the following night. On the June 21 episode of Raw, DiBiase fired Virgil in favor of the managerial services of Maryse. In September 2010, DiBiase entered in a feud with Goldust over the Million Dollar Championship, after Goldust stole the title from him. On the November 15 episode of Raw, Goldust returned the Million Dollar Championship belt to DiBiase, Sr., who then offered to give it back to his son, but he refused the offer, proclaiming that he was interested in another belt. Later in the night DiBiase attacked WWE United States Champion Daniel Bryan, setting up a match at Survivor Series for the championship, in which he was unsuccessful. On November 30, DiBiase was announced as a Pro for the fourth season of NXT, in which he and Maryse would be mentoring Brodus Clay, On the January 25, 2011, episode of NXT, Clay traded DiBiase for Alberto Del Rio as his Pro.
As part of the 2011 supplemental draft on April 26, DiBiase was moved to the SmackDown brand. In his first match on SmackDown, DiBiase lost to his former tag team partner Cody Rhodes. The following week, DiBiase was accompanied to the ring by Rhodes. On the June 3 episode of SmackDown, DiBiase lost to former rival, Daniel Bryan via submission. After the match, Rhodes and DiBiase attacked Bryan, but were stopped by Sin Cara. On the July 8 episode of SmackDown, DiBiase teamed with Rhodes in a winning effort against the team of Bryan and Ezekiel Jackson. After DiBiase lost a match against Randy Orton on the August 26 episode of SmackDown, Rhodes attacked him, ending their association.
On the September 16 episode of SmackDown, as Rhodes was ridiculing the audience, DiBiase disguised himself as a fan by wearing a paper bag on his head before attacking Rhodes, turning into a fan favorite. DiBiase then challenged Rhodes for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions, but he was unsuccessful. In a YouTube video published on September 22, DiBiase introduced his new gimmick to hold tailgating parties with fans just before WWE events, terming those who tailgated with him as the "DiBiase Posse"; DiBiase also acknowledged that mimicking his father's rich gimmick "didn't really work out".
On the November 4 episode of SmackDown, DiBiase defeated Tyson Kidd, beginning an eight match winning streak in singles matches, defeating wrestlers including Heath Slater, Derrick Bateman, and Jinder Mahal. In November, DiBiase began a feud with Mahal after Mahal chastised DiBiase about forsaking his wealthy upbringing to hang out with commoners. On the December 30 episode of Smackdown, Mahal finally broke DiBiase's winning streak via submission, ending their feud. In January 2012, Hunico started a feud with DiBiase when Hunico was offended that he was not invited to one of DiBiase's Posse parties. Although DiBiase beat Hunico in a flag match, Hunico emerged victorious in two regular singles matches against DiBiase. DiBiase suffered a broken wrist and torn cartilage in late January during a house show match with Rhodes. Despite the injury, DiBiase continued to wrestle and finally defeated Hunico in a singles match on the February 10 episode of SmackDown. The following week, Hunico cheated to defeat DiBiase in retaliation.
On March 6, DiBiase suffered a broken ankle during the tapings of SmackDown. That same month, DiBiase announced that he was undergoing surgery for his shoulder. DiBiase made his in-return at a house show in Sioux City, Iowa on July 21, defeating Jinder Mahal. DiBiase made his pay-per-view return on September 16 in the Night of Champions pre-show battle royal to determine the number contender for the United States Championship, but failed to win the match after being eliminated by Tensai. After being mainly relegated to WWE Superstars, DiBiase finally returned to television on the October 19 episode of SmackDown, losing to United States Champion Antonio Cesaro in a non-title match. On December 26, DiBiase suffered an injury in his finger in a match against Fandango at a live event in Chicago. He returned on February 23, 2013 at a live event in Waco, Texas, losing to Fandango once again. On May 4, DiBiase returned to the ring at a WWE Live Event in Reading, Pennsylvania as he defeated Corey Graves. DiBiase had his first televised win in 2013 after defeating Michael McGillicutty on the May 9th edition of WWE Superstars. After a month of absence in television, DiBiase appeared on June 10 episode of Raw as a part of lumberjacks during John Cena and Ryback last meeting. On August 26, Ted announced that he decided not to renew his contract with the WWE.