Priceless: Has the Career of Ted DiBiase Hit Rock Bottom?

Oh what a difference a year can make.

There was a time back in 2009, when Ted DiBiase was viewed as the poster child for an upcoming "Youth Movement" in the WWE. A member of Randy Orton's Legacy stable; DiBiase was expected to eventually turn babyface, challenge his mentor, defeat "The Viper" and ultimately become the WWE's next big babyface main-eventer.

And up until the end of 2009, that appeared to be where things were headed.

Randy Orton was, at the time, John Cena's sinister nemesis, and the biggest heel on Raw, if not the entire WWE. "The Apex Predator" ruled Monday nights with an iron fist, and with the help his Legacy cohorts, destroyed anything that got in his way. Legacy couldn't be destroyed from the outside, so the fans were looking for someone to rebel from the inside. The superstar that they were looking at was Ted DiBiase.

But things don't always go as planned.

Perhaps it was the failure of Kofi Kingston's main event push, which left Orton without an opponent to feud with outside of Legacy. Perhaps it was the sudden arrival of Sheamus as Raw's new main event heel, which gave the fans an excuse to cheer for Orton at the 2010 Royal Rumble. Perhaps it was the writers waiting too long to let the dominoes fall with a long-awaited Orton vs. DiBiase feud

Whatever the reason, by the time WrestleMania XXVI arrived, it was Randy Orton that that was the babyface, and DiBiase was one of the heels trying to destroy his rebellion. After what was really nothing more than a squash match at WrestleMania, Legacy officially dissolved, and its members went their separate ways.

Cody Rhodes went to SmackDown, and reinvented himself as "Dashing" Cody Rhodes. He has since won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Drew McIntyre, and is currently in a feud with Rey Mysterio. It's safe to say that while Rhodes may never be a main eventer, his future in the WWE is secure, and his career is far from over.

Randy Orton has ended up a top babyface on Raw, second only to John Cena. Since turning face, he's won the WWE Championship again, and is currently involved in a feud with CM Punk and the New Nexus. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Orton isn't going anywhere any time soon.

But for Ted DiBiase, the road since his Legacy split has not been paved with the yellow bricks that lead to Oz. Far from it.

In fact, for the son of the Million Dollar Man, his career seems to have been banking (no pun intended) on how his role with the former stable ended up. I guess the WWE thought so too, because in the year since the stable's dissolution, Ted DiBiase's career has gone from being a future main eventer and promising young talent to a mid-card jobber with no hope in sight.

With Plan A out the window, creative switched to Plan B – turn Junior into Senior. This proved to be a horrible move on the part of the writers, because no matter they did, "The Fortunate Son" proved to be the complete opposite of his father in every way possible.

Instead of using the money in his "trust fund" in order to advance his career, DiBiase instead used his money for stupid reasons. Enlisting the help of IRS to help steal Jerry Lawler's crown? Interrupting a guest host segment to purchase a man's fake eyeball? What the hell was someone smoking when they wrote that up?

As part of his new gimmick, Ted was given the Million Dollar Championship, out-of-place autotune music as a new entrance theme and former WWE Diva Maryse as his valet.

Now the idea of Ted holding the dollar strap was cool at first, because it had been a long time since the unauthorized title had been "active" on a superstar. The problem? Ted did nothing with the title. He didn't brag about it, or give us a reason to care about it. It was just a golden paper-weight that sat on DiBiase's shoulder for eight months.

The writers finally created a storyline to get the title off of Ted, in which Goldust, with his love for all things golden, "stole" the Million Dollar Championship from DiBiase. DiBiase attempted to get his family heirloom back on several occasions, but always came up short. Eventually, Goldust's foreign NXT Rookie, and scheming (now ex) wife, Aksana, took the title for herself. A week later, the title finally was handed back into the hands of Ted DiBiase, Sr., where it has remained ever since.

The result of the Goldust and DiBiase feud? What Goldust and Aksana did with the title on NXT for two months proved to be more entertaining than what DiBiase did with it on Raw all year.

As for Ted's on-screen relationship with Maryse, it too has been a failure. The original concept was that Maryse was simply a gold-digger that dated DiBiase for his money. But as the months went by, like the Million Dollar Championship, the presence of Maryse has done nothing for Ted. There has never been any indication that the two were really a couple. No hugs. No kisses. No on-screen romance whatsoever.

Maryse is just..there.

The pairing of the two has gotten so stale, that I actually feel sorrier for Maryse at this point. The former two-time Divas Champion has gone from being Raw's top female heel to being the unconvincing arm candy of a superstar who can't seem to get over no matter what creative throws at him.

Thankfully, Ted and Maryse are currently in a break-up angle. I say the sooner the better. These two never clicked in the first place, and the WWE Universe has never bought their on-screen "relationship" since the beginning.

We are now in 2011, and I guess the question is – when is Ted DiBiase, Jr. going to hit rock bottom?

His title run was a fluke, his romance angle has been a flop, and it's to the point now that he doesn't even win matches anymore. Is he a jobber? He might as well be. An occasional win, a US title shot with Daniel Bryan and a weekly presence on Raw may be the only things keeping him from being called that.

As for hitting rock bottom, I think it may have happened this month – courtesy of Jerry "The King" Lawler.

With the 2011 draft coming up in April, DiBiase may have the chance to start fresh. For starters, he needs to drop the Fortunate Son gimmick completely, because it has hurt his career dearly. He needs to let go of Maryse, forget he even has millions of dollars, or a father in the Hall of Fame, and move to Friday Night SmackDown.

Ted DiBiase may have hit rock bottom, but once your career reaches it's all-time low, it can only go back up. He can still have a promising future in the WWE, but his fortunes are going to have to change soon.