Former WWF Tag Team Champion, Mike ‘I.R.S’ Rotunda, has spoken about his legendary Money Inc. partnership with Ted DiBiase and why they still resonate today.
On paper, the mischievous millionaire and the cold hearted tax man willing to take a bribe in order to divert his attentions away from his partners accounts made sense. But when the bell rang, it was clear to see why both men were made for each other.
In 1991, it had become clear that ‘The Million Dollar Man’ had run his course as a serious singles competitor. In the intervening years, he had gone from the biggest heel in the company, opposing Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage at the top of their game, to creating his own championship and warring with his butler Virgil.
The writing for DiBiase’s character was on the wall when the company paired him with ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes and instead of letting two of the finest professional wrestlers have a match that could have blown people away, the direction was all on the millionaire attempting to bribe Sapphire away from her polka-dotted suitor.
No longer a vital singles star – despite there being a plethora of new babyfaces to occupy his time – the decision was made to pair DiBiase with I.R.S under the name Money Inc. and the pair soon found success when they paid Natural Disasters manager Jimmy Hart to join their plight and hand over the WWF Tag Team Championship opportunity the colossal duo had earned.
Now, Irwin R. Schyster himself has sat down with WrestleZone to talk about his iconic pairing with DiBiase and why the team are still fondly remembered as one of the most memorable teams in the history of the industry:
“Sometimes, when you team up with somebody, it just clicks. It was the same with Barry Windham and I. Dusty Rhodes put Barry and me together and we did the US Express, and then when I met Ted, it was just like a perfect match. The rich guy and the crooked I.R.S. guy – it was easy to get heat. First of all, with Ted’s persona, you know, being a rich guy that didn’t care about anybody, and then you have a crooked I.R.S. guy – and nobody likes the I.R.S. to begin with. So it was a natural heat-getter, calling people tax cheats and whatnot. And like I said, we just clicked together as a team and that happens sometimes when you get a new partner you kinda know what the other guy’s gonna do and it just meshes well. So it was a perfect fit and it got a lot of heat so it was fun. It was a fun time in my career because going in front of people, we were doing our job well if they hate you, and that’s what we were shooting for.”
Money Inc. captured their first WWF Tag Team Championships from The Legion of Doom on February 2, 1992, after Hawk had failed a drugs test and the company needed to switch the gold in a hurry. With the popular Road Warriors temporarily out of action, the lavish duo immediately entered a rivalry with The Natural Disasters.
Following the events of the beginning of 1992, DiBiase and Schyster would war with the returning Legion of Doom and The Nasty Boys before partaking in two of their most memorable feuds as a duo against The Mega Maniacs and The Steiner Brothers.
Losing the services of Jimmy Hart following a brutal attack on the surgically reconstructed face of Brutus Beefcake on Monday Night Raw, the duo encountered the wrath of a rapidly fading Hulk Hogan and met the red and yellow team in a choice effort at WrestleMania IX which the heels won via disqualification.
With DiBiase eyeing a move away from the company and professional wrestling in general, the pairing stepped up against The Steiner Brothers in summer of 1993 and the teams traded the WWF Tag Team Championships until Money Inc. quietly called it a day with DiBiase departing the company and stepping away from active in-ring duty and I.R.S entering a WWF Intercontinental Championship rivalry with Razor Ramon.
Credit for the interview and transcription: WrestleZone