wrestling / TV Reports

411’s The Legendary Stories of Dusty Rhodes Report

July 7, 2015 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.

WWE Network Exclusive: The Legendary Stories of Dusty Rhodes

-RAW has just ended and we are now live on the WWE Network with a special tribute show to Dusty Rhodes. I was busy with work all day so I wasn’t even aware of this show until I got a message from Larry asking if I could do a recap.

-Great opening video package as you would expect.

-The host for this special is Jerry “The King” Lawler and he is joined by Michael Hayes, JJ Dillon, Arn Anderson, and Ric FLair. With Flair there telling stories this could go on for hours, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.

-Hayes asks Lawler if her eve beat Rhodes in Memphis because he beat everyone else there. He says he always tried to be partners with Dusty and brings up when they went over Ole and Arn. Hayes says he bets that Arn took the fall and Arn answers, “who else?” Awesome!

-To Flair as they bring up him breaking into the business with Gagne in Minnesota. He tells a story of Dusty letting him know that he and Murdoch were going to be on Johnny Carson that night. He told Flair not to let anyone else know. Flair watched the entire episode and no Dusty as he was in Hawaii. Ric then tells the story of how he was 300 lbs and wanted to be “Ramblin” Ricky Rhodes. Verne and Dusty both told him he needed to find his own niche. They sent him to Japan in 1973 and he was miserable there, and that ends that story.

-Dillon tells a story of how he first met Dusty. He was working a TV match in Michigan and he and a partner were booked against Rhodes and Murdoch. Hayes asks what the difference was between “Outlaw” Dusty Rhodes and “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. Flair shouts in that there was no difference, and that Dusty just woke up one day and wanted to change his gimmick and get rid of Murdoch. Flair them rambles a bit about a story involving a donkey and then segues into a story about Dusty telling him a female wrestler wanted Flair to come over, and they cut the story off there.

-Arn talks about his first meeting with Dusty. He says he was only 3 years in the business and thought Dusty was a big deal. He was practically Elvis and then he gets a in a jab about how he even thought Hayes was a big deal when he met him. Dusty had him waiting over an hour before finally speaking with him. Arn does a pretty good Dusty impression and all Dusty told him was that he loved his gimmick and to “go get over.” Arn wasn’t sure what that meant and he asked people what it meant.

-JJ says he had worked with Dusty in Florida and tried to be a booker down there, but realized how tough it was. That led to Dusty coming back and he wanted JJ to stay on and work with him. JJ gives a lot of the credit for his own success to Dusty Rhodes. He says how Flair is the “Nature Boy” 24/7 and that Dusty was the same as he was “The American Dream” 24 hours a day. He talks about how the people in the audience could relate to him.

-Hayes says that Dusty loved the business, and the business loved Dusty. He also jokes that Dusty loved Dusty and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. Now Michael does his Dusty impression and it is pretty solid. He relates how Dusty would put guys over, but immediately follow with putting himself over just a bit higher. Awesome! Michael then relates how Dusty would tell him old war stories from Florida while they would be on the WWE plane or in meetings for SmackDown.

-JJ says that “The American Dream” character was an extension of Virgil. His dad really was a plumber and he came from a humble background. They put over how good Dusty was at baseball and football.

-Hayes wants to dive into the Flair/Rhodes rivalry in the 80s as he heard stories that it wasn’t just inside the ring. He mentions how they had to top each other with houses and cars they would buy. Flair pleads the 5th, so Arn says that everyone had new cars, but admits Flair and Dusty would try to top each other. It leads to a hilarious story of Dusty squeezing into a tiny car and how everyone started showing up in Vegas in fur coats because they couldn’t let the other guy top him.

-Flair piggybacks off that story and tells how they got the fur coats in Vegas. They were waiting at a bar and Ric saw Dusty come out a fur coat dealer with a coyote coat even though it was 100 degrees. Ric says screw that and goes in to get a $12,000 full length fur coat. His second wife then wants a piece of the action and she also goes in to get a mink coat and before you know it Ric is dropping $40,000 on coats they never wore again.

-Hayes brings things back to the ring, and asks if Flair was jealous of Dusty’s success. Flair says he was pissed that he was the World Champion and Dusty wanted him losing to him in a Bunkhouse Stampede after going an hour earlier in the show. Arn says that he would often have to get into a Flair/Dusty match 40 minutes in and ended up taking the fall without even being in the match.

-Arn continues as he talks about heading into the face locker room, and walking in on Dusty naked. Wow! He just stood there talking to Dusty and did all he could to keep from accidentally looking. He says that he doesn’t think Cody has ever heard this story, but knows Dustin has.

-JJ brings up War Games and how Dusty always paid Arn the ultimate compliment by having Arn always start it with him each time. Arn says he had a gift of getting his ass beat for 40 minutes and Dusty realized it. Once he let Arn enter 4th and the place went crazy as he dropped The Road Warriors and Dusty with a DDT. After the match Dusty told Arn he is back to starting the match as he got a little too over. Nice!

-Lawler with a story of him feuding with Funk in Memphis. At the show Dusty demanded he went on last and left Lawler a signed program saying he was sorry he made Lawler go on before him.

-Hayes tells a story about how his payoff from Watts always went to Dusty or Andre the Giant. He says that when Mania breaks records next year in Dallas, it will break his record, and the same thing happened with Mania in New Orleans. Hayes would then ask HHH who got the payoff with all those shows, and Dusty would butt in that he did. Tremendous!

-Ric says Dusty knew where to draw a line when out partying like JJ and Arn did. He can’t say the same for himself and Michael Hayes. He says Dusty’s favorite thing was hanging out with David Allen Coe and Hank Williams after matches. Dusty would usually drink scotch and water while teaching the younger guys.

-Lawler says that when they brought Dusty into Memphis he learned that you could draw fans to see a match, and now that you could also draw fans to see a star. He tells a story of Dusty cutting a promo on TV in Memphis and how he thought it was a train wreck, but come Monday night the building was sold out. JJ says the reason is because Lawler can still remember that promo all these years later.

-Arn says the moments you will never forget are the night the Horsemen broke Dusty’s leg in The Omni. It was the first time Arn was scared to death as the crowd wouldn’t let them leave the cage. It took them twenty minutes to get out of the ring as they fought the crowd. Then he remembers the 6 man against Dusty and The Road Warriors in Philly when Dusty was painted up and his heart sunk as the 3 of them made their entrance.

-Dillon brings up the ambush where they broke Dusty’s arm with a ball bat and how Dusty famously said “make it good.” JJ says that people think that was Dusty’s ego talking and he says it was not true. He tells a story of Dusty loving movies and he stole the quote from a movie featuring Marlon Brando.

-Flair says that while in Philly that night the WWE was across town with a sell-out of 19,000 and they had their own sell out of 10,000. He then tells a story of how they all had to feed for Dusty’s bionic elbow and it was just like guys doing the same for any other huge star like Hogan and Austin.

-Arn says that anyone who says they hated Dusty was a liar. People may have been jealous of his success, but nobody can hate Dusty. Ric mentions that if Dusty spoke first on TV it motivated everyone else to play off him. Hayes brings up the “Hard Times” promo and asks Ric and Arn what it was like to be there. Ric goes off on a tangent without giving a real answer before King cuts him off.

-Lawler asks Flair what Dusty’s legacy will be. Flair calls him the most charismatic guy in the history of the business. He brings up how people say Dusty couldn’t make it in today’s WWE because of his physique. He says to just look at Kevin Owens and see how big of a star he is becoming. He says if Dusty was 35 and was given 5 minutes to speak on RAW he would be the hottest act in the company. He isn’t trying to disparage Owens, but Dusty would be 5 times as over because of his charisma. He says Dusty would sell all night long even though in the end he was going to win.

-Hayes says that Dusty was best for Dusty Rhodes, but he also helped create stars and concepts in this business. Flair talks about how Dusty presented HHH with the piece of paper he wrote the idea for War Games on and now he keeps it in a glass case. JJ says the best thing was that they weren’t crying through this and were laughing which is what Dusty would want.

-Arn says that he wouldn’t be where he is without Dusty and there would be no Horsemen without Dusty Rhodes. JJ says it was a great honor to have Dusty induct the Horsemen into the Hall of Fame and that ends this rather entertaining round table discussion.

article topics :

Dusty Rhodes, WWE, Robert Leighty Jr.