Often times, wrestlers leave the WWE and don’t have the best careers or lives afterward. Some have trouble adjusting to their new life, others find it hard to make work and money after they leave such a big stage.
One of those people is Virgil. Best known for being The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase’s man-servant, Virgil has made the rounds of conventions and wrestling shows and has not developed the most sterling reputation.
Luckily, someone at Deadspin collected these stories of Virgil being creepy, sad, alone, and just plain weird. Check them out and let us know which is your favorite.
Virgil Keeping Kayfabe Alive:
When the topic turned to “what he’s doing now” is when the fun started. (It should be noted that, in the timeline of pro wrestling, my convo with WS Virgil was around the beginning of the ill-fated WWE “Invasion” angle, not long after WWE purchased WCW in real-life, and attempted to merge the rosters in an angle that had a ton of potential, but ultimately went nowhere.) As for the question, he indicated that he had done a tour of Japan with Hogan and a group of other wrestlers (guessing some permutation of Hogan’s cronies), which seemed plausible enough. But then he went into a spiel where he was actually explaining to me what his real life plans were through the lens of the kayfabe (general term for the suspension of disbelief/acceptance that it’s all staged) world of wrestling, which made my head spin something fierce. (not the last time this would happen). Noting, among other things, that
A “Shane McMahon is now the owner of WCW” (Storyline, yes….real world, no)
B “Some of my best friends are no longer with the company. Vince went right up to Jeff Jarrett and said that he was “G-O – Double-N – E….GONE!” (Those were close enough to the exact words that Vince used….ON THE TV SHOW….to describe his reaction to seeing Jarrett on TV (this was during the surreal simulcast of the last Nitro stow). Because there’s a remote outside chance that conversation may have happened in real life, he gets a pass, albeit a very flimsy one, on that one)
Virgil Forever Alone
So I used to go to the Wizard World Chicago con pretty regularly. It went from being pretty cool in 1997 to being a sad pathetic thing that I stopped going to in 2008, and through it all Virgil had his booth there. Around 2004 or 2005, definitely on the down turn, I had made friends with a wrestling fan in College and decided to get him a signed Virgil picture as a look how crappy this guy was kind of joke. I went up to his table and the guy just lit up. Someone actually gave enough of a damn to buy his wares, after the better part of a decade. It was just so soul crushingly sad. It made my heart hurt to see how much this guy was happy to have any human interaction. I quickly picked a photo and was on my way.
Virgil Being Creepy
After the show, the wrestlers were available for pictures and autographs. There was Virgil, a few local guys, and a girl that participated in the show as a “manager” of the of the wrestlers – a hot young blond in a bikini. Seeing as how the audience consisted of wrestling fans and teenagers like us, everyone went to the girl’s line. Virgil stood around for awhile by himself, seemingly waiting for someone to approach him. After about 10 minutes, he seemingly gave up and came up and started talking to us. That’s when things got weird. Virgil started pressuring my friend to grab the girl’s ass when he took a picture with her. My friend laughed it off. Virgil persisted, this time telling him to stick his hand down her bikini bottoms. Creeped out, my friend told him he wasn’t going to do that. Virgil, seeming to be insulted by his response, called him a pussy and walked away. Only one person asked Virgil for a picture – the fan wanted to take a picture of him shoving dollar bills in Virgil’s mouth like Ted Dibiase used to (ouch). Virgil declined.
Virgil actually gives good advice:
After I did the ring announcer spiel for a match, I came back to my area and decided to “pick the brain” of WS Virgil. I asked him if he had any advice for how I could do better at my job of ring announcing. (Again, this was a show in a local gymnasium in front of about 150-200 people.) And this was the advice I received:
“Whenever Vince (McMahon) would bring us up to Stamford (Connecticut, home of WWE HQ, and where the post-production/feature video presentations were produced), for promos, he would tell us to love the camera, and reach through it to talk with the man, woman, or child who was watching at home, to bring him into our head, and what was on our mind for our upcoming match. (Keep in mind again….I was RING ANNOUNCING). He said our goal was to bring them into the building, to pay to see us do our thing.” (Again, they were already IN THE F’ING BUILDING!!!)
At that point, I pretty much walked away from him mid-sentence and didn’t say another word to him the rest of the night. Kind of a dick move on my part, but purely out of self-preservation….I was getting dumber listening to him.
Virgil outstaying his welcome:
I experienced Virgil for a couple of days in Las Vegas whoring himself out and trying to sell bullshit photos of himself to anybody that would listen
1. There was a sign with him outside the store stating Ted DiBaise [sic] would be appearing at the store as well.
2. Trying to get people to buy the pathetic pictures from 25 years ago.
3. Very abrasive to people who wouldn’t engage him in conversation.
4. Telling people he was in 17 Wrestlemanias.
5. Told me he makes around $150,000 in royalties from WWE.
I believe after 2 days the store threw him out.
Virgil being a jerk to fellow wrestlers
Here’s one not from Deadspin but from current NXT star Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero)
Have a Virgil story to share? Put it in the comments.
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