‘Hardest to produce’ – WWE spent a month to make prop worth $200k that only six wrestlers ever used
Since its explosion in popularity in the 1980s, WWE has rarely been short on cash. Legend has it that former WWE chief Vince McMahon was prepared to risk it all to make a success of the family entity he effectively took over from his father. The Million Dollar title was synonymous with Ted DiBiaseWWE At that stage, what became WWE existed only a small scale as a localised promotion in the US, before the first WrestleMania fired a warning shot around the globe that things were going to get bigger. From there, McMahon and co began to dominate not only the States but also Europe and the rest of the globe as the grunt-and-groan era of ‘rasslin’ gave way to the bright and colourful character-driven world McMahon developed. It became a lucrative business, with WWE a publicly traded company decades later, owned by TKO alongside legitimate fighting entity UFC. Business is booming, with sell-out crowds packing into areas all across the world in the lead up to the 2025 instalment of WrestleMania, fans having to fork out mighty amounts to be a part of it. WWE themselves have never been shy on stumping up cash for the sake of the show – as far back as the late 1980s they parted company with a sizable sum for the prop of all props. The villain of the day back then was one Ted ‘Million Dollar Man ‘ DiBiase, who had been unsuccessful in his quest to snare the WWE title from Hulk Hogan – his ‘win’ over the Hulkster in 1988 effectively quashed after he’d recruited Andre The Giant to do his dirty work for him. DiBiase’s arrogant character decided that if he couldn’t pay his way to the WWE title, he’d simply make his own – leading to the birth of the Million Dollar Championship. Such was the need to establish DiBiase as a figure fans could detest, McMahon was prepared to go to the extreme to ensure that what was effectively a prop still looked the part. Classic vignettes were filmed at the prestigious and luxurious Betteridge Jewellers in Greenwich, Connecticut, where WWE paid a legitimate $40,000 for the creation of a title belt purely for DiBiase to carry to the ring and gloat with. Boasting a weighty and staggering 700 cubic zirconias, the pricey piece took over a month to make, according to the man who oversaw its painstaking completion. Making the title was a painstaking processWWE The prestigious title would cost a staggering sum to make these daysWWE Seeing the item again decades later in a 2024 WWE feature, the store’s owner, Terry Betteridge, said: “It’s good to see this old friend of mine again. The Million Dollar title was one of the hardest things to produce we’ve ever made. “We produce multi-million-dollar jewels here but, when Ted DiBiase came buy and explained what he wanted, it honestly confounded us… nobody had ever made anything like this before.” “I lived with this, from its first designs on paper until the last stone was set. It was about a month in the birthing. “You have 24-carrat cold on the surface. All of the dollar signs that run all the way around are hand-forged in sterling silver. I think there’s over five pounds of sterling in it. There’s over 700 cubic zirconias, every one of them hand set.” At the time of its original making, the title belt cost $40,000, Betteridge claimed. But decades later? “Today, I could image it being over $200,000,” he added. “We’ve had great commissions, literally multi-million-dollar jewels. This, I think, was the single greatest I’ve ever had.” Virgil was the first man to win the Million Dollar title in a matchWWE Long before he raised hell in the Attitude Era, Stone Cold Steve Austin was The RingmasterWWE The Ringmaster said very little, but Stone Cold Steve Austin was a different animalWWE The Million Dollar title was an icon of WWE’s late 1980s and early 1990s era and, to fans of the time, a truly unforgettable part of the company’s programming. While DiBiase was indeed established as one of the company’s top villains, the eye-wateringly expensive title lived a precious shelf-life. It was contested in wrestling matches just a handful of times, The Million Dollar man losing it to former bodyguard Virgil in the summer of 1991 before winning it back shortly after. It was effectively mothballed for years before briefly reappearing as a prop for The Ringmaster in 1995-96 that grappler going on to enjoy a fair amount of success as Stone Cold Steve Austin. The gold was polished again and awarded to DiBiase’s own son, Ted DiBiase Jr in 2010, but wasn’t wrestled for again until 2021 when current WWE star LA Knight, then in NXT, won it at Takeover: In Your House. He would lose it to NXT rival Cameron Grimes just two months later who swiftly gave it up again. DiBiase oversaw an NXT feud between LA Knight and Cameron GrimesWWE History would suggest that, to get proper return on their investment, WWE might have to bust out its least used but most expensive title a few more times yet – ma
Since its explosion in popularity in the 1980s, WWE has rarely been short on cash.
Legend has it that former WWE chief Vince McMahon was prepared to risk it all to make a success of the family entity he effectively took over from his father.
At that stage, what became WWE existed only a small scale as a localised promotion in the US, before the first WrestleMania fired a warning shot around the globe that things were going to get bigger.
From there, McMahon and co began to dominate not only the States but also Europe and the rest of the globe as the grunt-and-groan era of ‘rasslin’ gave way to the bright and colourful character-driven world McMahon developed.
It became a lucrative business, with WWE a publicly traded company decades later, owned by TKO alongside legitimate fighting entity UFC.
Business is booming, with sell-out crowds packing into areas all across the world in the lead up to the 2025 instalment of WrestleMania, fans having to fork out mighty amounts to be a part of it.
WWE themselves have never been shy on stumping up cash for the sake of the show – as far back as the late 1980s they parted company with a sizable sum for the prop of all props.
The villain of the day back then was one Ted ‘Million Dollar Man ‘ DiBiase, who had been unsuccessful in his quest to snare the WWE title from Hulk Hogan – his ‘win’ over the Hulkster in 1988 effectively quashed after he’d recruited Andre The Giant to do his dirty work for him.
DiBiase’s arrogant character decided that if he couldn’t pay his way to the WWE title, he’d simply make his own – leading to the birth of the Million Dollar Championship.
Such was the need to establish DiBiase as a figure fans could detest, McMahon was prepared to go to the extreme to ensure that what was effectively a prop still looked the part.
Classic vignettes were filmed at the prestigious and luxurious Betteridge Jewellers in Greenwich, Connecticut, where WWE paid a legitimate $40,000 for the creation of a title belt purely for DiBiase to carry to the ring and gloat with.
Boasting a weighty and staggering 700 cubic zirconias, the pricey piece took over a month to make, according to the man who oversaw its painstaking completion.
Seeing the item again decades later in a 2024 WWE feature, the store’s owner, Terry Betteridge, said: “It’s good to see this old friend of mine again. The Million Dollar title was one of the hardest things to produce we’ve ever made.
“We produce multi-million-dollar jewels here but, when Ted DiBiase came buy and explained what he wanted, it honestly confounded us… nobody had ever made anything like this before.”
“I lived with this, from its first designs on paper until the last stone was set. It was about a month in the birthing.
“You have 24-carrat cold on the surface. All of the dollar signs that run all the way around are hand-forged in sterling silver. I think there’s over five pounds of sterling in it. There’s over 700 cubic zirconias, every one of them hand set.”
At the time of its original making, the title belt cost $40,000, Betteridge claimed. But decades later?
“Today, I could image it being over $200,000,” he added. “We’ve had great commissions, literally multi-million-dollar jewels. This, I think, was the single greatest I’ve ever had.”
The Million Dollar title was an icon of WWE’s late 1980s and early 1990s era and, to fans of the time, a truly unforgettable part of the company’s programming.
While DiBiase was indeed established as one of the company’s top villains, the eye-wateringly expensive title lived a precious shelf-life.
It was contested in wrestling matches just a handful of times, The Million Dollar man losing it to former bodyguard Virgil in the summer of 1991 before winning it back shortly after.
It was effectively mothballed for years before briefly reappearing as a prop for The Ringmaster in 1995-96 that grappler going on to enjoy a fair amount of success as Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The gold was polished again and awarded to DiBiase’s own son, Ted DiBiase Jr in 2010, but wasn’t wrestled for again until 2021 when current WWE star LA Knight, then in NXT, won it at Takeover: In Your House.
He would lose it to NXT rival Cameron Grimes just two months later who swiftly gave it up again.
History would suggest that, to get proper return on their investment, WWE might have to bust out its least used but most expensive title a few more times yet – maybe a million.
