Dusty Rhodes was an icon. From his epic feud with Ric Flair to his final role in NXT, there was no escaping his greatness, baby. Dusty Rhodes in his own words had a “big belly” and a “big hieny” but his heart was even bigger. That was shown in his love for his sons – Dustin and Cody, his daughters Kristin and Teil and his love for working with the NXT Roster.
Jim Crockett Promotions is where Rhodes really became huge. Feuding with the likes of; Terry Funk, Abdullah The Butcher, Superstar Billy Graham, The Four Horsemen (most notably with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson) to name a few. It’s against Ric Flair, that Rhodes passionately cut one of the most iconic promos ever – “Hard Times”. His feud with Flair was marvelous, both men drew everything out of each other every time they faced off. Both men placed their heart and soul into that feud and the result was something legendary.
Before his official run with then WWF, Dusty worked on and off for WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) under Vince McMahon Snr. It was in 89, (for WWF) that he was introduced as the ” Common Man” in a polka dot singlet, gone was the slick and heartfelt man who went against Ric Flair. The character was meant to demean Rhodes for working with WWF’s rival JCP/WCW little did WWF realise that Rhodes would make that character iconic too. Teamed with manager Sapphire (the Common Woman) he started out going against Macho Man Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri.
In 1991, Rhodes left WWF, to rejoin WCW/ECW as a member of WCW’s booking committee. He was briefly reunited with Flair, but due to a booking disagreement Flair went to WWF. Rhodes did colour commentary with Tony Schiavone and on PPV’s joined Schiavone and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. When WWF bought WCW and ECW, Dusty went to work for several other promotions including Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, Pro Pain Pro Wrestling, Ring of Honor, International Wrestling Cartel and Carolina Championship Wrestling. Rhodes even had a successful stint in TNA (Total Non-Stop Action) where he got to feud against Jeff Jarrett.
2005 saw Dusty return to the now WWE under a Legends Contract, where he had a string of matches, including taking part in Survivor Series match with Ric Flair as the leader of the team. As well as Ric and Dusty, the team consisted of Ron Simmons, Sgt Slaughter and Arn Anderson acting as manager. Fast forward to 2007 and Rhodes was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons (and professional wrestlers) Cody and Dustin (aka Goldust).
Dusty had one last feud with Randy Orton. He still worked with WWE after this, he beame NXT Head Writer and Creative Director. Rhodes still got involved with some storylines, including being in the corner for his sons Dustin and Cody as they fought against The Shield. The brothers won, and Rhodes couldn’t resist a Bionic Elbow to Dean Ambrose. Dusty become a pioneer in NXT helping future stars with their names, characters and promos. They became like children to him, and in turn they saw him a Father figure.
June 11th 2015, the devastating news broke that Dusty Rhodes had passed away did to kidney failure. The entire WWE Roster and the WWE Universe were in shock. One of the most legendary men to step foot in the ring had passed away. More that just a wrestler, he was a; colour commentator, manager, writer, director, NXT Commissioner, one of the creators of Starrcade and most importantly a Father, Grandfather husband and son. Dusty’s legacy was something beautiful, in his honor WWE created the Dusty Tag Team Classic in which a beautiful statue of him was unveiled. He was a Common Man and The American Deam. Dusty Rhodes was and still is the very definition of a legend and Sami Zayn said it best when he wrote this via Twit Longer (thank you to Wrestling Inc for allowing me to use their link):
Thank you Dusty
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