“Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase was “really sad” to hear about the death of Virgil.
Virgil (real name Mike Jones) passed away at 72 years old this week after years of declining health. Virgil had been diagnosed with dementia and suffered multiple strokes in 2022.
Virgil was best known for his pairing with DiBiase in the WWF. After originally playing the role of DiBiase’s bodyguard, Virgil turned babyface and went on to win the Million Dollar Championship from DiBiase at SummerSlam 1991.
On his Everybody’s Got A Pod podcast, DiBiase reflected on Virgil’s passing and some of the difficulties they had in their friendship:
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.’ [laughs]
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.
“I just hope that Virgil’s at peace, regardless of anything else,” DiBiase’s co-host Marcus DeAngelo said. “I know that you and he didn’t always see eye to eye but were ultimately always friends. Regardless of all of it, I’m glad that he has a legacy that’s forever been cemented in professional wrestling.”
“Yeah, me too,” DiBiase added.
Virgil and DiBiase also worked together in WCW when they were both members of the nWo. Later in life, Virgil had a resurgence as a comedy character that included multiple cameo appearances for AEW.
