I once wrote there were only three groups of people who could successfully wear a cowboy hat; cowboys, strippers and The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. Sadly, as of today, we’re down to just two groups of people.
Dusty Rhodes, who was born Virgil Runnels, died Wednesday at the age of 69 of kidney failure. If you never watched wrestling as a kid, or you are a kid today, you might be wondering why outpourings of love and respect are flowing to this professional wrestler who more resembles a truck driver than a former World Champion. You’re used to seeing men carved out of marble wrestle other men hewn from steel. You’re thinking this guy, Dusty Rhodes, looks like a plumber.
That’s because he did look like a plumber. That was the point.
Dusty Rhodes had massive fan base among poor Blacks and whites in south east of United States. McMahon hated him for reaching that audience.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) June 11, 2015
I’m 41-years old and as a kid, even into my teenage years, I loved professional wrestling. Growing up in East Tennessee, my dad, my sister, my brother and I would go to what was then National Wrestling Alliance events any time they came close to where we lived. I always preferred the NWA, which became WCW, to the WWF (now WWE) because it was grittier, the characters more real even when they were wearing make-up and masks. And in that era, the Captain of the Good Guy team (or the babyfaces, I would learn later they were called) was Dusty Rhodes. All it took to turn away from being a heel to a babyface was to make an alliance with Dusty. That was it.
Saddened to hear the passing of Dusty Rhodes. Legend, teacher, mentor, friend…Love you Dream #BookinAintEasyKid pic.twitter.com/ZxlGSgKB8J
— Triple H (@TripleH) June 11, 2015
It worked for Ole Anderson and even worked for Nikita Koloff. Want to make the turn to heel? You betrayed Rhodes. Those were the rules then and everybody knew them.
One thing that does still interest me about wrestling is all the behind the scenes shenanigans, betrayals and feuds that actually impact what happened in the ring. Dusty was old school. So old school that his forehead looked like San Francisco roadmap after all the times he’d cut it to bleed during a match. In addition to being one of the premier draws for the NWA, Rhodes was also a booker and executive producer. When the NWA was purchased by Turner Broadcasting and renamed WCW, they had a “no bleeding rule.” Rhodes, with his forehead already in tatters, didn’t stand for that.
Words can't describe how much @WWEDustyRhodes taught me/how much he meant to my career. He was a genius & he WAS wrestling. #DreamsNeverDie
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) June 11, 2015
So in a 1989 match against Animal from the Road Warriors, Rhodes bladed himself while Animal was jabbing a metal spike into his forehead. It was a huge and dramatic moment, one that Rhodes had made work so many times before. It did again.
Turner fired Rhodes after the match.
Rhodes kept wrestling for a few more years in the WWF, still playing as the common man, even when it didn’t work. At that point I’d lost interest in wrestling. I may have seen Rhodes make his WWF debut, but the clown version of the fake sport didn’t interest me much. He continued wrestling off and on until this year, even showing up on a WWE event back in February.
Dusty Rhodes, ‘Hard Times’ promo. Legendary. http://t.co/XEbIk1EbxT#RIPDustyRhodes
— Rusty Redenbacher (@rustymk2) June 11, 2015
Rhodes crossed over all eras because his gimmick worked. He was the everyman, the working man. His fanbase spanned generations, class and race specifically because he didn’t show up wearing the diamond rings and necklaces. He didn’t represent “The Man.” That was Ric Flair’s job, to exemplify Wall Street, your boss and so many rich bastards in the world. It was Dusty Rhode’s job to kick that guy’s ass.
No exaggeration to write that if you were trying to find points of unity in post-Jim Crow south in 70s-80s, Dusty Rhodes on the short list.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) June 11, 2015
He looked like your dad, your uncle, your football coach and that’s why you liked him. If he ever took a steroid, you couldn’t see it on his body. Rhodes wore trunks that you could parachute out of a C-130 with. Rhodes was big, he was loud, he made up fake words, he was out of shape, he was funny, he didn’t care to get bloody, he was a showman and when he had it all working together, he was on the side of the angels. That sure sounds like The American Dream to me.
