Ted DiBiase Speaks About Virgil's Passing

The professional wrestling world was struck with the unfortunate news over the last week of the passing of Virgil (real name Mike Jones) at the age of 61, who made a name for himself in WWE and then later WCW, before being known for his eccentric personality in his post-wrestling career.

During his time in WWE, Virgil’s biggest storyline came as part of his alliance with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, whom he would later turn on in a big angle that saw him receive a surge in popularity as a babyface. DiBiase recently spoke on his “Everyone’s Got A Pod” podcast on the passing of Virgil.

“Oh gosh. I was really sad to hear that. Mike Jones is Virgil’s real name, or was Virgil’s real name. And we met in the WWE office when this whole thing with the Million Dollar Man started. Back then, Mike had, I mean oh my gosh, he had this tremendous body and kept himself in shape and eventually that was his role. He was like the bodyguard. I would run my mouth and if somebody wanted to say something, I would back up and say, ‘Virgil, take over.’ 

“We did a thing where basically as Virgil, Mike gets tired of all my crap and just says, ‘I’m not doing it anymore.’ So we ended up having a one-off and had a match. And doggone it, Mike was a great guy, nice guy. And like I said, to keep your body in that kind of shape takes a lot of discipline. And he was very good at that. He was much better at doing that than I obviously was, in terms of keeping his body in great shape. But I just wish that he had had more wrestling savvy. I don’t know how to put it any other way, because if he could have really wrestled, we could have had a good run. But basically it was on and it was over pretty quick. Good ol' Virgil. He didn’t have the charisma, you know. It was probably over before it really started.

“But, you know, we continued to be friends. I would see him at some of the Comic-Cons from time to time. I told him going forward, I said, ‘If you get booked on any of the Comic-Cons and we end up there together, then please come and sit with me.’ I did that much, but the reason that I stopped doing it was things that Virgil had said to some fans that just, you know, it wasn’t right. But I’m looking back at it from where I am now and I'm going -- see, he never would say that to me, he didn’t want anybody to know that he was struggling. Later, I did find out. I can’t remember the guy’s name that was his caretaker, but he was seeing to it that he was taken care of a little bit better. I just don’t know. It’s mind-boggling to me because I don’t know who he was living with or how he was living, but I know that it was not good. It’s just a sad story.”

The pair would go on to realign in the nWo in WCW, continuing their legacy together in a different promotion.

H/T F4WOnline