Theodore Marvin DiBiase was born on January 18, 1954 in Miami, Florida. He attended West Texas University on a football scholarship, but dropped out of school due to an injury in his senior year. He then began a career in professional wrestling.

DiBiase’s started  his professional wrestling career as a referee in June 1974. After a year, he wrestled in the Mid-South Wrestling league and lasted four years. He joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the late 1980s, where he wrestled as “The Million Dollar Man.” He was also dubbed by WWE as the organization’s “most despised villain” during those times because of his cutting-edge heel promos, which often concluded with a trademark evil laugh.

In the WWF, Ted DiBiase was the first WWF North American Heavyweight Champion, a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion along with Irwin R. Schyster, and the 1988 King of the Ring. He also created his own championship called the Million Dollar Championships. In 1988, he held the WWF Championship belt after he bought it from Andre the Giant, however, this was not recognized by the WWE as an official title reign.

As a retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator, he has achieved championship success in several wrestling promotions with thirty titles in his professional career. Currently, he is signed with WWE in their Legends program. He also frequently headlined WWE events such as WrestleMania IV. He has been cited as one of the finest in-ring technicians history. In 2010, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons Ted and Brett.