ECW Region, Indianapolis Subregion, First Round: (16)Ted DiBiase vs. (17)Jake Roberts

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the ECW Region, Indianapolis Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under ECW Rules, meaning anything goes. It will be held at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

#16. Ted DiBiase

Vs.

#17. Jake Roberts

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Now this is a great match. Two of the most evil men in wrestling history face off. I'm leaning toward DiBiase since, in a match where neither man was ever a World Champion, he was much closer, even being in possession of the physical belt for a brief period. I'm not 100% sold yet, but if I had to choose now, I'd go DiBiase.

 

[Master JM]

The stipulation is kind of telling me to vote for Roberts. This is a hell of a close matchup, as a case could be made for both men being the greatest superstar to never hold a World Championship. Roberts, though, seems like the more devious man despite DiBiase being one of the greatest heels of all time.

It seems that, however, DiBiase is the ''arrogant devious'' type while Roberts is the ''calculated devious''. The man could probably do more vicious things with a chair/table/ladder/pipe/whatever than DiBiase could, which could propel him to a victory here.

Right now, Roberts in my pick. I might be swayed, but the stip seems to be favouring him at the moment.

 

[El Rev sXe]

A really difficult call, both men were the biggest heels the WWF had to offer. Now there is an interesting twist here, the match is under ECW rules, anything goes. How does this plays in favor for each men? Like the poster above me said, I can see Roberts using in his favor something like a chair or even one of his dear snakes. Dibiase would see the snake, freeze and who knows, Roberts could prably win with a quick roll-up.

At this moment I'm about to vote Roberts, but I'm open to debate in order to change my vote. Who knows, maybe Dibiase buys ECW and wins every single match in this region or whatever...

 

[Brewski]

This is a really really close match. If it were in the other regions I honestly don't know who I would pick but ECW rules give the edge to Roberts. While Ted is downright evil he isn't the dirty snake thrives best in hardcore matches. If this were a 7 match series it goes to game 7 though. Jake wins that one.

DDT on a steel chair and a pin for Jake Roberts. Then he'll handcuff ted to the ropes and have Damien bite him.

 

[Tastycles]

A tough one. Neither won anything, both were immensely over. I'm sure these two actually fought each other, but I think the hypotheticals are more interesting in this case. Roberts was mostly over for his finisher, and cool mind games promos. DiBiase had one of the best characters in history.

I'm going with DiBiase, because I think ultimately, he was the biggest heel in the company at one stage, and his character was played perfectly for years. It'd be close though, and obviously there'd be shenanigans.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I can't decide who I like more, so I'll have to go to the in-ring record these men share.

DiBiase never pinned Roberts, at least not from what I can remember, or from what I've read. Roberts, however, pinned DiBiase at least three times. If the record were closer, I'd consider DiBiase. But, he hasn't shown he can beat Jake, not even once.

Two great, great wrestlers. I'm going Jake The Snake, though.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

I can't decide who I like more, so I'll have to go to the in-ring record these men share.

DiBiase never pinned Roberts, at least not from what I can remember, or from what I've read. Roberts, however, pinned DiBiase at least three times. If the record were closer, I'd consider DiBiase. But, he hasn't shown he can beat Jake, not even once.

Two great, great wrestlers. I'm going Jake The Snake, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9OorK7TJs <--- DiBiase pinning Roberts

He also had various wins over him throughout, but Jake had the bigger wins out of the feud. Most of the time whenever DiBiase would win it would be in an underhanded way or Jake getting himself DQ'd trying to use his snake.

---

This is a hard matchup to choose because both guys are equal in that they were both big draws that never held the big one. DiBiase drew more money working Hogan and Warrior. DiBiase was also able to re-invent himself as a manager and stay relevant longer than Jake... So in a tie-breaker of all time greats I have to go to the relevancy well and throw a coin into the Million Dollar Man's already stacked coffers.

DiBiase wins this, but not cleanly, as per usual.

 

[The Brain]

This is an interesting match. We have two guys that worked for the same company at the same time during their prime. They also worked a long program together. I'm going with Dibiase. While their positions on the roster were pretty similar Dibiase was usually ahead of Roberts. Dibiase would make the occasional trip to the main event while Roberts never really reached that level. They had a year long feud that ended with Dibiase beating Roberts at WrestleMania VI. Sure it was a count out win but it was still a win at the biggest show of the year to end the feud.

 

[deem]

Woah. They've had 91 singles matches with each other, the only person Roberts feuded with for longer is Rick Rude. So surprising when you consider that all three men have been heel for vast periods of their career.

Anyway, so the record between Jake and DiBiase? 71 wins for Jake Roberts, 18 wins for DiBiase with two draws. That's a CRUSHING advantage towards Jake within kayfabe. Absolutely crushing. Just to put into perspective, Jake Roberts is THE WRESTLER with the best win/loss ratio against Ted DiBiase.

Of course, it doesn't mean it would happen here. 91 matches is a ton of house shows, where repeat results are pretty standard. Here the variables are - it's a tournament, it's the first round to determine the best ever, and it's extreme rules.

Ted DiBiase has good tournament experience - this is first round though so less of a factor than it becomes in a one day tournament such as quarter finals onwards here.

Ted DiBiase is certainly a more valuable commodity in pro-wrestling than Jake Roberts and would therefore probably be booked stronger.

Jake Roberts is probably a slight favourite due to extreme rules, but this match is definitely having a messy finish. Tons of variables and legal snakes could be exactly what DiBiase needs to find a chance for a rollup. Super tough in my opinion. ECW means there's gotta be a pinfall or submission to end this - that favours Roberts for me as a chunk of the ways DiBiase goes over here is countout or DQ imo.

I don't know how much emphasis I want to put on this, but next round the winner faces Cena. Ted DiBiase makes a lot more sense to face him than Roberts imo, not that either would be a bad match.

Ok head says I'm voting within kayfabe this tournament and everything favours Roberts. Heart says DiBiase is too good a heel to leave in round one, especially with a huge babyface waiting in the next round for a classic.

I'm taking DiBiase in an upset. Jake dominates and gets Ted playing the chickenshit heel, before going for the snake way earlier than it's usually legal. Ted pounces for a rollup and flees the ring and onto Cena in the 2nd.

 

[Con T.]

I assume everyone is talking about how this is an awesome match between two guys who were never World Champion, so I tell you all;

Look at the damn Dibiase picture. It's the world title.

Anyway, both had pretty much the same run in WWE, which leaves me no choice but to look how they did in the teritorries they came from.

And son of a bitch, they both won the same belts. But as far as I can remember, Dibiase carried the load for Mid South, and was the top babyface, who bled gushers and carried the territory in it's absolute prime.

Oh, and he won it before Jake. So Ted it is

 

[Mighty NorCal]

roberts may have won plenty of house show matches, but Dibiase always won when it counted. That, and Dibiase has a far stronger resume. damn shame Roberts has to go out so early.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

I voted Roberts here based on who I liked better... and Roberts was someone who did more damage in promos and after the match than in actual matches that counted. As NorCal and Brain pointed, Dibiase usually won the blow-offs for feuds with the exception of being in the Andre/Hogan feud.

Mind you, Dibiase had the WWF title because he BOUGHT it... yet Jake Roberts didn't hold a singles title that I'm aware of... if he did, someone can point it out. Also, their work in the NWA territories would have Dibiase go over Roberts by a bunch as Ted was the National Heavyweight Champion, a precursor to the US title and was defended as rigorously as the Worlds Heavyweight Title.

Ultimately, I voted Roberts... for really no apparent reason./

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

It's a shame that two underrated wrestlers during WWE's golden years had to face off in round one. It doesn't matter though since the Cena Offensive Explosion Tour is going to light DiBiase up like a stick of dynamite in the next round.