The American Dream Was Wrestling For Me

I don’t get to write regular columns much these days, my work at 411 is such that I review a lot of wrestling, and I make sure that there is content for the fine readers of this site to check out each and every day. I wouldn’t change that at all because I love my job but I felt that I had to write something today. Many of you that have followed me for my tenure here at 411 know that I am older than many of the writers, and have been watching pro wrestling for a long time. Sometime in 1983 I started watching wrestling with my brother and never looked back. I also watched along with my grandmother until she passed, this was a women who used to attend studio wrestling in Pittsburgh and was the biggest Bruno Sammartino fan you’d ever meet and would curse at the TV at the heels from her hospital bed. Wrestling was always a part of my life, and Dusty Rhodes was an important part of that.

While my wrestling fandom has evolved and grown over the years, I started out a huge fan of the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions; that was wrestling for me. It felt real, it felt gritty and I never missed it. I loved so many of the performers during my younger years, Flair, the Horsemen, the Road Warriors, the Rock and Roll and Midnights and many others; but Dusty Rhodes made me a wrestling fan and kept me as a wrestling fan. Dusty Rhodes was my hero as a kid, I played sports but wasn’t a kid that looked like an athlete. I wasn’t the popular kid. If I loved something I worked hard to succeed at it even when people said that I couldn’t. I know that this will sound silly to this new generation of wrestling fans, but Dusty Rhodes not only made me a wrestling fan, but he served as an inspiration to me. Here was this man, the common man, that didn’t look like an athlete. That didn’t have all of the money and fame of Ric Flair and the Horsemen, but he fought because he believed and that fight, that attitude and that charisma made a young Larry Csonka believe that he could do anything. Hell if Dusty Rhodes would have called me personally and said we had to march through the gates of hell I would have said when and where because I believed. Dusty could have talked me into anything. He made me believe in him and he made me love wrestling.

It’s easy for fans today to look back on Dusty Rhodes and not get it, because the art of the promo and more importantly the “money promo” is pretty much a lost art. They don’t get the appeal of “the fat man” and they don’t “buy him” as a main event guy. Dusty Rhodes, as a performer, was more popular than most realize. In the late 70s this was a man considered one of the top three US draws along with Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino. His gift of speech connected on so many levels, to the “poor common white fans” with his hard times promo to the African American fan base with his jive talking. Dusty Rhodes knew what to say, when to say it and what buttons to push to make you believe and to get an emotional response. If Dusty was involved on a show, I would be there.

There is a generation that only knows the man for his “wacky” WCW commentary, horror stories of him booking himself on top, his polka dot run in WWE and “the Dusty Finish”. But the man was one of, if not the biggest star in the history of the Florida territory and his early booking of the Crockett promotion set the territory on fire in 1985 and 1986. But Rhodes, as a performer, is an all time great. The ultimate babyface, the man that could talk you into the building, and the man that could make the fans believe that no matter how bad things were that there was hope because he believed he could.

Some of his greatest accomplishments may be things that people do not think of. Looking back to 2007 when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, with his sons inducting him was such a tremendous moment. Dusty on stage with his one some who had found success in wrestling and his younger son that was about to really start his journey in the business. The angle when he came back to corner Goldust and Cody was such a great moment for them as a family, they all had their issues over the years but by all accounts they had mended all fences and were a happy family. They had their moment on WWE TV and PPV, and it was such a great thing to see.

But even more importantly is his work behind the scenes with the WWE behind the scenes. Dusty worked with the WWE’s NXT brand as a promo coach and judging by the outpouring of love from WWE developmental talent, was loved there more than we can imagine. Dusty Rhodes loved the wrestling business, and was taking his knowledge and giving back to the next generation of performers because it was what he loved. There may never be another Dusty Rhodes, but the business will be better because he tried to pass on the knowledge that he had gained during his great career.

When I got the news today, I was completely devastated. I consider Dusty Rhodes one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time. The promo skills, the fact that he did deliver in big matches, a character that was second to none and the way he drew money; he did it all when it comes to the big check list of accomplishments. But most importantly for me, without Dusty Rhodes I am not a wrestling fan, I am not here at 411 in any way and I do not have a job I love. It all goes back to him because for me Dusty Rhodes wasn’t just the American Dream, he was pro wrestling.

Rest in peace good sir, I can never thank you enough for making me a fan…