As you’ve probably heard by now, pro-wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes died after falling in his home last week. He was 69.
Before I get too far into this, I should say I don’t consider myself an authoritative source on wrestling (and I assume you probably don’t, either). I don’t order the pay-per-views or buy the video games or watch Raw every Monday night.
I am, however, a fan of the sport — if we can call it that. My knowledge is limited to what I’ve seen in YouTube clips, but I love the Ultimate Warrior and enjoy a good Ric Flair promo as much as next guy (probably more). The characters are incredible, the storylines are melodramatic, and the matches are ridiculous. When it comes to pure entertainment, wrestling is tough to beat.Even without knowing a lot about pro wrestling, I’d still heard of Dusty Rhodes. “The American Dream” was the goofy everyman who was built like a hog but could strut like a rooster. He was authentic, charismatic, and pithy. He was a country boy with some serious soul (just look at that Jheri curl). Rhodes was the perfect blue-collar, good-ol’-boy foil to Flair’s pretty-boy opulence, and his feud with “Nature Boy” and the Four Horsemen spawned plenty of YouTube gold, if not classic matches for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. His wrestling career continued through the ’90s, and he made occasional appearances until the mid-2000s.
But even when Rhodes wasn’t in the ring, wrestling was his life. During his career, he worked as a producer, booking agent, trainer, and writer, and both his sons followed him into the business. But you could find most of that information in a typical obituary or retrospective, so I’ll stop before I begin to bore you. Instead, we’ll scour YouTube for the best Dusty Rhodes moments the internet has to offer. While I certainly don’t suggest this is a comprehensive list, I’ll try to hit the big ones and throw in a few obscurities for good measure.
Let’s go to the film:
This is the quintessential Dusty Rhodes moment, so I’ll knock it out first. A little background: Rhodes found himself sidelined after suffering an injury at the hands of the Four Horsemen — Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard. Once he healed, though, he was rip-roaring-ready for revenge and unleashed this famous promo. (I realize that’s not much background, but it’s really all you need.) Side note: Apparently no one noticed the irony of a wealthy pro wrestler explaining the difficulties impoverished people experience in everyday life. Or, more likely, his persona — a self-made “Son of a Plumber” — was just too ingrained into the audience to allow them to recognize the disconnect. Regardless, it’s still a great promo.
This is something called a Texas Bullrope Match. A rope and a cowbell are involved. I don’t really have any idea what’s going on, and I won’t attempt to explain it.
No one has ever been so psyched to do manual labor. At least not since his last job. Or the one before that.
There was the time Dusty showed up to cut a promo looking like this.
Or the time he likened himself to a “cold-blooded sausage maker.”
Or the time he wore this.
Or this.
I really could do this all day.
It’s easy to get caught up in the peripheral parts of wrestling. Sometimes the soap opera narratives get in the way of the real reason people watch: the matches. Sure, as sports fans we need an emotional connection to really invest in the outcome. But if the game itself isn’t entertaining, we tire of it pretty quickly. It’s the same thing with wrestling. The greatest feud of all time can fizzle out if the match doesn’t deliver. And if there’s one thing you better remember about Dusty Rhodes, it’s that he delivered. You best believe that, daddy.
