MONEY INC.
Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster
1992 - 1993
WWF World Tag Team Championship (three times)
Written by Adam Zimmerman
Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Mike Rotunda) were already fairly well-established veterans by the time the WWF creative team decided to team them up in early 1992. Both men had also previously been a part of other classic tag teams and stables prior to this team forming. DiBiase was part of The Brat Pack in the UWF alongside Jim Duggan and Matt Borne and Rotunda had previously been a WWF tag team champion in the 80s with his partner, Barry Windham, as the U.S. Express. He was also a part of one of my all-time favorite stables in Jim Crockett Promotions - The Varsity Club.
By the beginning of 1992, DiBiase had already been using an arrogant, millionaire heel gimmick for a few years calling himself "The Million Dollar Man". Rotunda had more recently debuted in his gimmick of Irwin R. Schyster or IRS, for short. As wrestling logic can only dictate, since the characters initials were IRS, of course, he happened to be an "evil tax accountant" of some sort. Seriously, by the way; people give Disco Inferno such a hard time for some of his booking ideas that didn't see the light of day like Bill Ding (the evil architect) but IRS (the evil tax accountant) is perfectly acceptable. Go figure.
Since both characters' gimmicks were based around money; obviously they had to form a team and make the lives of the plebeians and peasants of the WWF miserable. They started this by bribing Jimmy Hart and in return, Hart gave Money Inc. the "rights" to his team's (The Natural Disasters) upcoming title shot against The Legion Of Doom. This caused The Natural Disasters to turn on Jimmy Hart so Hart then began to manage Money Inc.
Money Inc.'s initial title shot was a success and they began to defend their title against the likes of LOD and the aforementioned Natural Disasters. They later went on to have feuds and classic matches with the likes of The Mega-Maniacs and The Steiner Brothers. All in all, DiBiase and Rotunda walked away being 3 time WWF Tag Team Champions before DiBiase had to retire from in-ring competition in 1993 due to a back injury.
After the original team run, DiBiase and Rotunda reunited a few times over the years. First, in 1995, when IRS became one of the first members of DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. In 1996, both men were briefly members of the NWO at the same time. In more recent years, Money Inc. has reunited a few times on WWE television and they always bring a nostalgic smile to my face.
They will always remain one of the best villainous, gimmick-based tag teams of all-time, in my opinion.