The Dusty Rhodes appreciation thread

my first actual exposure to Dusty was his time in the WWF. I knew him, knew of him, through magazines like PWI, Inside Wrestling, etc. , where I had learned - SHOCK! GASP! - there was wrestling OUTSIDE of Vince McMahon's circle ( we didn't get channels like TBS around here til early 1991, so I never saw any other promotions on TV until then). so I knew he was a former NWA world Champion when he came in. I would eventually see some of his matches by renting videos at my local Blockbuster in the early 90's, which carried a decent selection of NWA/WCW stuff - Starrcade 85, Starrcade 86, Starrcade 87, Starrcade 88, and a bunch of Great American Bash videos.

R.i.p dusty another wrestler gone.

Hard times just might be THE best promo of all time.

Not exactly sure when this is from but it's more Texas Outlaws, this time in Japan!




Bonus Dusty vs Andre footage from Japan. 

I just wanted to share a quick personal story on Dusty:

I attended the Big Event VIII convention back on March 7th. Dusty Rhodes was scheduled to appear as a vendor guest and I anticipated his line would be quite long; keeping this in mind, I made sure to know when Dusty was scheduled to appear and, sure enough, I saw him coming in. I immediately hopped on his line and was about 5th in line. While I was waiting in line, NUMEROUS wrestlers approached Dusty just to say hello and chat a bit. I saw this throughout the day with various wrestlers interacting with one another but Dusty had, by far, the most attention from his peers. About 10 minutes of waiting in line, I met Dusty and he was an absolute class act. I was starstruck meeting such an icon.

Next to Dusty, the Dudley Boyz were scheduled to sign. D-Von was sitting at his table a lone and there was absolutely no sign of Bubba Ray, which was irritating me. I was on a strict schedule and Bubba showing up late was really grinding my gears. About 10 minutes later, this MASSIVE human being barrels through the crowd - something REALLY irksome because the room was JAM-PACKED with people and was REALLY small to begin with. This massive, rude person? Bubba Dudley. He immediately spots Dusty and says, "DUSTY RHODES! YOU ARE THE REASON I TOOK THIS BOOKING! I'M GONNA SIT NEXT TO YOU 'AND TALK LIKE DIS DA WHOLE NIGHT IF YA WHEEL!'" The room erupted with laughter and Dusty had a wide, wide smile on his face. It was just so awesome.

Hours later, I was waiting on Ric Flair's MASSIVE line. I was about 10 people away from meeting "The Nature Boy" when security interrupted the flow of the signing by pulling Flair aside. Moments later, Dusty Rhodes walked right by me and started chatting up with Flair. Apparently, a fan either paid or won a photo op with the two great 80 rivals. It was surreal to see the friendship between Flair and Rhodes and it's a memory that will stick with me forever.

Great thread and I love the comments posted by you guys.

I Will always admire Dusty for his class. The guy had swagger before swagger was a thing. He was one of the best talkers I've ever had the fortune to listen to and I will always appreciate everything he did to help the younger wrestlers out.

I love you Dusty and I hope that I can learn to be a little more like you everyday. RIP good sir.

After breaking up a protest by Nikoli Volkoff.

Has there ever been someone so universally loved in wrestling as Dusty Rhodes?