Ring Masters and a Show of Force : Pro Wrestlers Bring Test of Good vs. Evil to the Pond Tonight

Gone are the days when folks wrestled with the idea that professional wrestling still had both feet on the mat, so to speak. But with a World Wrestling Federation event scheduled at the Pond in Anaheim tonight, and Wrestlemania XII coming to the same venue March 31, the question remains:

Why do people go to these things?

“The attraction is simple,” said Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase, 41, an erstwhile contender who now manages such top acts as the 1-2-3 Kid.

“It’s one of the few things left that’s black and white. It’s good versus evil, and in the end, the good guy always wins. These are legitimate role models for kids. When I was a kid, John Wayne was my hero. He stood for grandma, apple pie and Chevrolet.”

This from the guy whose motto is “Everybody’s got his price”? From the guy who bought his title from Andre the Giant?

“I’m part of an organization,” DiBiase explained recently at his hotel over a lunch of chicken fajitas (“Hold the guacamole, hold the sour cream, hold the cheese--for my girlish figure.”)

“For every Luke Skywalker there’s a Darth Vader,” he said. “I’m one of the Darth Vaders.”

The organization he talks about is the World Wrestling Federation, now on a “World Tour de Force,” visiting 300 cities in 20 countries. Whatever its formula for success, it works.

DiBiase reeled off some facts and figures: Of the top 60 pay-per-view events ever, 30 are WWF matches; Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan holds the world indoor attendance record of more than 90,000 people; a WWF event at London’s Wembley Stadium sold out faster than any event ever held there, and last year, Wrestlemania X was the highest grossing one-day family show in the history of Madison Square Garden.

Legitimacy--whether professional wrestling is sport or entertainment--is a nonissue.

“How long was that Tyson fight--89 seconds?” DiBiase asked. “People paid $1,500 a seat. You wonder if we’re legitimate or not?”

He addressed the issue anyway:

“Is professional wrestling a legitimate sport or entertainment? We’re both. We’re athletes and we’re entertainers, and often I think the best of both. To do what we do takes a tremendous amount of talent and skill . . .

“And a tremendous amount of conditioning. It’s not like we play a game on Sunday and then rest for a week. We play every day. We are on the road at least 250 days a year, a different city every day. . . . You think baseball is rigorous? When those guys went on strike, I laughed.”

On the road for DiBiase means waking up, climbing aboard an airplane at 6 a.m., flying to the next venue, checking into a hotel, grabbing something to eat, working out at a gym, going to the arena--”where you’ve got to be up, every night”--then back to the hotel for some sleep before getting up and doing it all again.

No wonder those guys get cranky.

DiBiase’s stepfather was a national amateur-wrestling champion, then wrestled professionally for 20 years before dying in the ring at the age of 45; Ted was 15 at the time. Ted attended West Texas State University on a football scholarship, then went straight into the wrestling business.

As to his Million Dollar moniker: A neck injury forced DiBiase to retire from the ring several years ago, but being the shrewd businessmen that his persona might suggest, he’d had a “very lucrative” disability policy with Lloyd’s of London, and subsequently invested wisely. Ted lives outside Jackson, Miss., with his wife and three sons, and was once featured on Robin Leach’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

Wealth, however, is one thing. Respect is another.

“The people who appreciate us the most are other professional athletes who understand what a pounding we take, night after night after night . . . and also professional entertainers.

“When Sylvester Stallone did ‘Paradise Alley,’ a number of us wrestlers were used for a montage scene. There were wisecracks, and Stallone stood up and said, ‘I don’t want to hear another knock about these guys. These guys are the best impromptu actors in the world. We’re doing in three days what it would take us two weeks to do with stunt doubles.’ It was a great compliment.”

According to DiBiase, just about everybody is aware of the entertainment aspect of professional wrestling. How could they not be with contenders with names such as the Undertaker and his manager, Paul Bearer--who, by the way, actually is a licensed mortician--and Dr. Yankem, a dentist character?

DiBiase says that when fans scream for blood, they’re merely playing their role in the unfolding drama.

“The line between sports and entertainment continues to blur,” he said. “Whether it’s the Mighty Ducks, or the cheerleaders at football games, people come to sporting events to be entertained.

“But the World Wrestling Federation has really concentrated on controlling violence. You’re not going to see anybody get hit over the head with a chair. You’re not going to see any blood unless it’s totally by accident.

“In the past, in the Olympic Auditorium, back in my dad’s day, it was the more blood the better, that was what the people wanted to see,” DiBiase said. “The World Wrestling Federation turned this into family entertainment.”

So what is the World Wrestling Federation, really?

“The World Wrestling Federation is whatever you want it to be,” DiBiase said. “You go to a magic show, and you say magic is illusion. You might also say, ‘Well, is it? Or is it not?’ You either believe in magic, or you don’t believe in it and you’re still intrigued because you don’t know how he does it. There’s a certain mystery there. There’s a certain mystery to what we do.”

* The World Wrestling Federation “World Tour de Force” is tonight at the Pond of Anaheim, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. 7:30 p.m. $12-$22. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).