The Mega Bucks

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Tag Team
The Mega Bucks
Members	Ted DiBiase André the Giant Virgil
Heights	DiBiase: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Andre: 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m)
Combined weight	799 lb (362 kg/57.1 st)
Debut	January 24, 1988
Disbanded	August 29, 1988
Promotions	WWF

The Mega Bucks was the professional wrestling tag team of "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and André the Giant with Virgil as their manager. The team was formed in a storyline that saw DiBiase purchase André's contract from fellow manager Bobby Heenan. André was booked to win the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan, but the angle then had him try to sell the belt to DiBiase. The title was vacated, but DiBiase and André were then scheduled to face Hogan and Randy Savage in a match at SummerSlam 1988, which Hogan and Savage won.

1 History
2 References

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

In November 1987, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase proclaimed intentions to buy the WWF Championship from reigning champion Hulk Hogan.^[1] When Hogan eventually refused (and DiBiase subsequently lost a series of matches against Hogan), DiBiase purchased the contract of Andre the Giant from Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in January 1988, with plans of Andre winning the title and giving it to DiBiase.^[2] On the February 5, 1988 broadcast of The Main Event, Andre pinned Hogan to win the championship, despite Hogan's shoulders being up before the three count, and handed the belt to DiBiase.^[3] Another referee, an exact double of the original referee, ran to the ring to attack the initial referee. Hulk Hogan then came out to throw the crooked referee out of the ring onto DiBiase and his bodyguard Virgil. It had turned out that DiBiase paid an unnamed referee to get plastic surgery to look exactly like referee Dave Hebner (in reality, this was Dave's twin brother Earl Hebner).^[4]^[5]

[edit] Feud with The Mega Powers

The controversy resulted in WWF President Jack Tunney vacating the WWF Championship and putting it up for grabs in a 14-man tournament at WrestleMania IV.^[6] In the tournament, Andre and Hogan were involved in a double disqualification, eliminating both men from the tournament.^[7] Meanwhile, Andre assisted DiBiase in moving through the tournament, leading to a final match between DiBiase and "Macho Man" Randy Savage.^[8] After interference from Andre, Hogan appeared to even the odds, with Savage eventually winning the match and the championship.^[8] The result was a feud between two forces, The Mega Powers (Hogan and Savage) and The Mega Bucks (DiBiase and Andre).

At the inaugural SummerSlam, the two teams faced off. Jesse "The Body" Ventura had been appointed as a supposedly impartial guest referee by Jack Tunney.^[9] It was strongly hinted leading up the event that Ventura, already a strong critic of Hulk Hogan as a commentator, had been paid an undisclosed amount by DiBiase.^[10] The match didn't go as planned for the Mega Bucks, as Elizabeth exposed her skimpy panties after stripping off her skirt to the stunned Mega Bucks, resulting in The Mega Powers coming back to win the match.^[10] Ventura counted but stopped at two, hesitating until the Macho Man forced the three count.^[10]

[edit] Aftermath

This match essentially marked the end of the feud between Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant that had dominated WWF programming for over 18 months. In the weeks after the match, Andre returned to The Heenan Family, with the explanation that Heenan had quietly purchased his contract back at a large profit,^[11] and feuded with other upper-card wrestlers such as Savage and Jake Roberts.^[3] Hogan and Savage continued to feud with DiBiase for the remainder of the year.^[3]

Although the tag team of the Mega Bucks was short-lived, DiBiase and Andre appeared in the 1989 arcade game WWF Superstars as the game's boss tag team.^[12]