re: Atlanta OT'ers - Any wrestlers in 90's, encounters or stories?

Was the Million Dollar Man you knew Ted Dibiase?

He lived around the block from my parents in Woodmore Subdivision in Clinton, MS (on Winding Hills Drive) back in those days (mid to late 1980s). He was a nice guy and not all that big, just well developed.

You would see him around town a lot - at Jitney Jungle and such.

Funny story. One night in 1989, the wife and I were standing in line at the Northpark Mall cinema in Jackson. I can't remember the movie we were going to see, but the lines were long.

Eventually, I turned to my wife and said "I have just lost all faith in Professional Wrestling." She asked what did I mean and I pointed about four people ahead of us in line to a guy with two small children at the ticket window and said,

"The meanest man in professional wrestling (Ted Dibiase - The Million Dollar Man) just bought tickets for himself and his two kids to see The Littlest Mermaid."

I met him around Clinton a few times - T-ball games, kids soccer and such. Yes, he was a nice guy.

I also met the original "Undertaker" at a Christian retreat in Sumatanga, Alabama once - maybe 20 years back. At that time he was trying really hard to pull his life back together. He came with a group of firemen from somewhere in Indiana. I remember him as being really tall, quiet and heavily tattooed (for those days). In a small group session, he said that pro wrestling was filled with drugs and bad people and that it had broken his soul. I have often wondered about him in the years since. His manager - "Paul Bearer" was not with him.

I think the current Undertaker (if there is an Undertaker now) is a different guy and not the guy I met.