Another hero of my youth is gone. Dusty Rhodes
Dusty was a major player in the 60s through the 80s, and remained part of the business well into the 2000s. Epic feuds with Ernie Ladd, Ole Anderson, The Four Horsemen, The Assassin, Kevin Sullivan, Billy Graham and many others.
BONG
Dusty could cut a promo like no other, and moved surprisingly well considering his shape (or lack thereof). I remember the Road Warriors gouging him with the spike on their costume, the Midnight Cowboy gimmick, and who can forget the “Dusty finish”. A legend.
Bad day for icons of yesteryear.
We have a whole thread dedicated to wrestling
You guys should join 
Dusty earned his own thread. Here’s hoping he hits St. Peter with the Bionic Elbow.
(I do check into the other one from time to time)
I was just going to say the same thing. Even with his immense girth you could see that he was an athlete. I’m sure Dickie Murdoch was waiting for him at the Pearly Gates with a cold one.
I don’t think I qualify for that thread, judging by the title. I’m not a WWE fan, and most of the stuff I like happened well before the “WWE” even existed. I haven’t paid much attention to modern wrestling since the Katie Vick incident years ago. I watch videos from the kayfabe era, some shoot interviews, but that’s about it anymore.
I was surprised when I first saw Dusty in his WWF heyday, after he had gained a lot of attention down in Florida. I had no idea he had gotten so big … uh, er … well known.
I grew up watching the local wrestling here in San Antonio back around 1968 or so. We had most of the greats here at one time or another – Texas was the breeding ground for a lot of big names of the later years.
At that time, Dusty was known as “Dirty Dusty Rhodes from Austin, Texas”. He was basically a jobber. He would come down to SA and fight the new guy, put him over, lose, the go back home. I’m sure he was just starting out and learning his craft and paying his dues, but he revealed nothing that would indicate what he would become.
There wasn’t any real mike work at that time, but there were interviews and promos for the bigger stars and matches. Don’t recall ever seeing Dusty do anything like that, but then again, he was not yet a star. He performed quiet (!), methodical (like Johnny Valentine, at the time), and was basically there for his $50 or whatever. He was heavyset, portly you might say, and not yet near as big and heavy as most people ever saw him. Back then, the standard match was best 2-out-of-3 falls with a one hour time limit. He could easily put in an hour match with no problem, but then again, there wasn’t any real jumping and rope work being done.
Seeing him later when wrestling became hot and mainstream, he was almost unrecognizable. Like many of his contemporaries, he eventually became a wrestling legend in his own time.
He wasn’t a great booker, and he was capable of far better wrestling than what most people ever saw him do, but he was a master at the mike and always put on a hell of a show.
I have to disagree that he wasn’t a great booker. He came up with very creative ideas and had an eye for talent, and was good at building a core team of players that made money. Exhibit: Florida went right into the shitter when he jumped to Crockett.
The 3 knocks on Dusty as a booker were the same three things that kill even the greatest of them: 1)making himself world champion and over-pushing himself 2) getting too much power with no one getting veto power over his ideas 3) was around as booker waaaaay too long, by 1987 you could start to see the wheels come off the bus (Bill Watts would change bookers every six months----Crockett let Dusty book for 6 years!).
As for the “Dusty finish”, screw job finishes were around long well before he booked Crockett, he just over used them and took them to a new level. Part of the problem was he did the finish early on at Crockett and they actually drew a lot of money, but he went to the well one too many times.
I used to watch the NWA from the early to late 80’s. Dusty had some epic battles and legendary matches. He was talented enough that he could make anyone a better wrestler. He shone in promotions filled with stars. His mike skills were always memorable and entertaining (I still remember some of them almost word for word), and he was truly one of the great wrestlers of his era.
I remember an article in a magazine that claimed the skin on his forehead had so much scar tissue on it that it had the consistency of silly putty. Dedicated to his craft like few others.
Rest in Peace Dusty. The American Dream has gone but will not be forgotten.
I’m happy he made it past 50 at least. 69 is positively ancient for a pro wrestler
These sure are hard times for the common man, daddy!
Dusty did the Midnight Rider thing several times. First in Florida against Kevin Sullivan, and later against the Four Horsemen. He also appeared as the Rider in the Global promotion, capturing the tag belts with Magnum T.A., but I don’t know the story behind that.
And then he did variants of the concept…appeared as Ulvade Slim in Georgia teaming with Bill Watts against Ole Anderson and partners. May have done the Ulvade Slim thing again in Florida at some point.
He and Magnum T.A. appeared as “The James Boys” against The Midnight Express as well.
I have long stopped being a Pro Wrestling Fan, but in my youth the big man in the ring was the mighty Dusty Rhodes, I remember watching him throw down the the elbow on all that knelt at his feet. I was privileged to meet him twice once when I was young and once when I introduced my son to him… Goodbye to one of the greatest legends and to one of the guys who never gave up the honor of being what he was…We will miss you Dusty:)
Since there already was a thread on the subject in the Game Room, I have moved this post here from General Questions.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I got to see Dusty live once, at an otherwise unremarkable spot show years ago. My town was not a regular stop for Mid South, but we’d get a show 2-3 times a year, maybe. Dusty appeared in an upper-midcard match against The Grappler (Len Denton). There was no angle, no feud, no storyline–just two guys having a meaningless match in a small town, but those two tore it up in the ring. Dusty got a huge pop for his entrance, and another when he won.
SuperStation WTBS. From 3:05 to 5:05 on saturdays, you couldn’t pry this kid away from the TV. Mid-South, The NWA, Florida Championship Wrestling…the names blur together now but one thing never changed. Amidst the squash matches and promos for shows across the country from me, there was The American Dream pledging to destroy his one time friends (The Road Warriors) who wronged him or vowing to take back the title from his arch-nemesis (Ric Flair) who stole it.
An older, jaded DESK knows about Kayfabe, behind the scenes politics, and the real world of “fake” sports. Dusty, however, made a kid believe that you must always fight the good fight and bad guys never win in the end. Even after moving to the WWF and being saddled with a gimmick many think McMahon gave him to embarrass The Dream, he beat the bad guy by getting ridiculously over.
For you, Dusty
Peace - DESK
Marlon Brando’s estate should hand over his Oscar. Dusty is a better Col. Kurtz.
He sure did. He added a wrinkle once. The heat was on that he was Really Dusty. So in a match he gets thrown out of the ring and rolls under it. Uvalde rolls out and eventually gets unmasked… as Steve Kiern. Fun night.
RIP Dusty. One of my childhood heroes.
IIRC, he beat Flair in Florida in what was announced as a world title match, but they said that there was an “NWA rule” that says masked wrestlers can’t hold titles (presumably so they can’t just switch from one wrestler to another), so either he had to unmask or forfeit the belt, and he handed the belt back to Flair.
Somebody on Busted Open pointed out the irony that the last PPV before Dusty died ended with a Dusty Finish.
Watch some Dusty Rhode videos on Youtube this morning. One of my favorites was him announcing a match. He said it was going to be a slobberknocker. Only Dusty could have come up with that word.
RIP Dusty.