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PWInsider.com is saddened to report the passing of Michael Jones, aka former WWF Million Dollar Belt Champion Virgil and Vincent in WCW's New World Order.
Jones was 61 years old and had been dealing with a number of health issues in recent years, including dementia and several strokes.
While Jones played several different characters over the course of his run in professional wrestling, he was eternally Virgil. To a legion of fans growing up, he was the muscle behind one of the all-time great heel WWF characters, Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Man. With a scowl on his face, Virgil was the ever-suffering valet to DiBiase's evil millionaire, who bought his way into everything and out of trouble, all the way to purchasing the WWF Championship from Andre the Giant. Virgil would run interference, dole out the cash, and even act as a valet in public for DiBiase, carrying luggage and opening doors and things of that nature to keep the gimmick alive when they were in public. It was one of the all time best WWF acts of that era, making DiBiase the antagonist that plotted and actually succeeded to take down Hulk Hogan and setting DiBiase up to work the Wrestlemania IV main event against Randy Savage to crown a new WWF Champion.
Before we can get there, Michael Jones was a football star and amateur wrestler from Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. After entering bodybuilding competitions, Jones met WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas. Atlas suggested professional wrestling, which led to Jones training under Afa Anoa'i of The Wild Samoans. Jones, who was a math teacher, moved onto professional wrestling for the rest of his life.
Jones started working events for Afa in PA and did a tour of Egypt early on but like so many, Memphis Wrestling was his first regular territory. Billed as Soul Train Jones and decked out in red, white and blue garb similar to Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, Jones worked as an undercard talent for the two years he was there, but did go all the way to the end of a tournament for the AWA Southern Championship before losing to Austin Idol. He and Rocky Johnson held the Southern Tag Team belts and at one point, he even challenged Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Championship.
He was brought to the WWF in 1986, wrestling as Lucius Brown, but not on television. He was cast as Virgil for DiBiase, appearing as his second, who, depending on the scene, was either menacing someone as he paid them off for Ted DIBiase or was himself forced to do demeaning acts, such as massaging DiBiase's toes. Virgl would interfere liberally in DiBiase's matches and would get a ton of heat for it, to the point that one night in Madison Square Garden, a fan hopped the rail and climbed up a steel cage to try and stop Virgil from interfering in DiBiase vs. Randy Savage.
Virgil would be the path to DiBiase. If you could beat him, you'd get a shot at DiBiase. If you were wrestling The Million Dollar Man, chances were Virgil was going to be involved. The duo were one of the great WWF tandems of the late 1980s, riding the momentum all the way to 2/5/88 when Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan on a live primetime NBC special to win the WWF Championship. For fans who grew up with Hogan as champion, it was unthinkable. The story began with Hogan being offered the chance to sell the title and dramatically turning it down in an interview with Gene Okerlund, leading to DiBiase hiring Andre to win the belt in a Wrestlemania III rematch. DiBiase then fixed the match by replacing referee Dave Hebner with his twin brother Earl, who counted Hogan out even though his shoulder was clearly up. It was a great scene.
DiBiase, flanked by Virgil, appeared for a weekend of events as WWF Champion until the title was ruled vacant. Hogan had been pinned, Andre had willingly given up the title and DiBiase wasn't the real champ. That led to the Wrestlemania IV tournament where DiBiase and Virgil interfered to insure Hogan didn't advance. Hogan, eliminated from the tournament, took out Virgil in the aisle and later interfered to help Savage become the new champion.
Over the years, DiBiase would humiliate and degrade Virgil, including leaving him for dead at Wrestlemania IV. It was all designed to be a slow-burn babyface turn that was finally executed in 1991. It all began with Virgil finally having enough, even though DiBiase's promos revealed that Virgil had degraded himself all those years because he needed the money to help his ailing mother.
Assisted by Roddy Piper, Virgil finally turned babyface and defeated DiBiase in the highest profile singles match of his career, winning DiBiase's coveted Million Dollar Belt at the 1991 Summerslam. Although DiBiase would regain it several months later, Virgil was soundly on the babyface side and worked as an undercard babyface for the rest of his WWF run, even once challenging Bret Hart for the WWF title.
Leaving in late 1994, Virgil worked the independent scene, including a memorable match against Terry Funk for the Las Vegas NWC promotion that was probably one of the best of his career:
As Virgil, he also made a few WWF house show shots in 1995.
At the height of the Monday Night War, landed in WCW, once more with Ted DiBiase, but this time as the NWO's Head of Security. Rebranded Vincent as an obvious knock on Vince McMahon, Jones was back in his old role of interfering in NWO matches and being one off the lower card members of that heel faction left to take the beating from babyfaces as the stars escaped unscathed. He would sometimes team with Scott Norton or Stevie Ray and when the NWO split into separate factions, he remained loyal to Hulk Hogan's black & white side, feuding with the NWO Wolfpac. This all led to a secondary storyline where the NWO's B-Team members got competitive over who was the true member of the group.
After the NWO disappeared, Jones was billed as Curly Joe and became part of Curt Hennig's group, The West Texas Rednecks, who gained some slight buzz with their "Rap is Crap" song. Jones, who always tossed himself into whatever role he was cast in, was now playing a cowboy, which was as far from the Pittsburgh scene as you could get. He later became Mr. Jones, a bodyguard for Ernest Miller, before leaving WCW in 2000.
From that point on, Jones was still wrestling on the independents, but perhaps most infamous for being everywhere and hustling for money. He would be at every convention. He'd be seen in NYC's Grand Center Station setting up a table. He'd be at local community events, pushing autographs as Virgil. He was at tons of indy shows, some that he wasn't even booked but would show up and get himself space. It became a meme in the Internet age ("Lonely Virgil") but the reality is you couldn't knock the guy for trying to make the money and play off his notoriety.
Jones was always trying to make his money. I recall once taking a train back from Rahway, New Jersey to NYC after a show and he was sitting in the same car as me. A few stops towards NYC, someone got on the train and recognized Jones as Virgil. They had a nice conversation I could overhear and when the men went to get off on his stop, he asked Jones for a selfie. Jones immediately responded with a price and if I recall correctly, he got the cash.
On the independents, Jones gained a reputation for being willing to do whatever was asked of him, no matter how ridiculous. As long as he was getting the agreed upon pay, he was willing to dive into whatever was asked of him to pop the crowd or help someone else get over.
Jones also became an online character, with internet posts from him allegedly making grandiose claims while going on and on about his love for Olive Garden's unlimited breadsticks and/or meat sauce, which would have been a weird marketing confab, but it was memorable as a way to keep Jones out there in the eyes of the fans, if it was even him to begin with.
Jones as Virgil, returned to WWE for a 2010 episode of Raw, where he again was DiBiase's partner and valet, only this time it was Ted DiBiase Jr., wrestling and losing to Big Show and Raw guest host Mark Feurstein. DiBiase walked out on Virgil, then apologized, and then fired him, replacing him with Maryse. It would be Virgil's last appearance on WWE programming as a character.
It was not to be his final appearance on national television, however. Billed once more under his old Memphis ring name Soul Train Jones, he appeared on AEW programming in conjunction with Chris Jericho, making several cameos. Those would be his final appearances on professional wrestling television.
Beyond pro wrestling, Jones appeared in several films, including the Jason Michael Brescia movie Bridge and Tunnel and (Romance) in the Digital Age.
On behalf of everyone at PWInsider.com, I send our deepest condolences to Mike Jones' family, friends and fans.
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