Andrew Lutzke
The Man: In mid-1983, Dusty Rhodes was riding high in Florida as their top star, while making frequent stops in many other southern promotions, but his career trajectory was about to take a dramatic twist when Jim Crockett Jr. came to Dusty and asked him to put together a supercard for JCP to rival their success from the previous spring when “The Final Conflict” cage match between Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernoodle defending their titles against Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood drew a massive crowd with hundreds, if not thousands of fans supposedly turned away at the gates.
I’m not sure why Crockett didn’t trust their own booker, Dory Funk Jr. to put together such a show, but then again this was perhaps Crockett’s way of getting Dusty into the JCP fold…slowly. Rhodes conceptualized an event that he eventually dubbed “Starrcade”. For this inaugural event, Dusty kept himself on the sidelines – merely giving a short interview to challenge the winner of the main attraction that evening: World Champion Harley Race and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair – both men having beaten Rhodes in the past. Starrcade was presented to not only the live audience, but was offered to several other arenas via closed circuit TV and this resulted in a total attendance of over 55,000 fans. The Crocketts were ecstatic and soon after Dusty was offered a lucrative deal to become JCP’s full time booker and in ring top star.
Dusty remained in that position until late 1989 and throughout that period Rhodes made sure that he would be in the mix of a money angle and often this meant Dusty was holding or chasing a championship. His titles he booked himself to win over this 5 year period were: World TV title, National Heavyweight Title, United States Heavyweight title, World 6 man Tag Team Champion, World Tag Team Champion and eventually after Crockett gained full control of the World title, Dusty also briefly won it a third time in 1986.
Dusty spent his early JCP days by chasing Tully Blanchard over the TV title as well as dealing with Ivan Koloff and his monstrous rookie nephew Nikita Koloff, along the way making sure the fans knew he had his eyes on Ric Flair’s World title. Rhodes would keep Flair and Tully in his sights for basically the next four years – a fact that made the product feel stale by late 1987 and into 1988, but for now these were fresh exciting match ups.
Dusty and Flair would collide at Starrcade 1984, with the gimmick being that the promoters had put up one million dollars in purse money for the rights to this mega match. Former boxing great Joe Frazier was special guest referee. It was essentially babyface versus babyface as Flair was still beloved at this point in JCP, having not yet turned heel. The event drew 42,000 fans live and via close circuit but the match itself was considered a disappointment by fans as it went just over 12 minutes and ended when Frazier stopped the match due to Rhodes having a bloody cut on his head. This was to lead to a Frazier versus Rhodes match supposedly, but if such a deal was on the table it never came to pass.
On the Starrcade undercard, JCP mainstay Ricky Steamboat failed to win the TV title from Tully Blanchard, and given that he was booked to fail in the lead up matches as well, Steamboat felt slighted and gave his notice after 6+ successful years in the territory as one of the top stars. Conveniently Rhodes started to chase Tully’s title again shortly after Starrcade, so it would appear Dusty sacrificed the credibility of one of his top guys in order to set himself up for another title chase. It should be noted that heading into the Starrcade main event, Rhodes was already one half of the World tag team champions. The Rhodes and Tully feud would culminate this go around with a steel cage match that headlined the “Great American Bash” that July – a match that saw Dusty capture the TV title.
1985 saw Rhodes’ begin to groom the man he saw as the next great babyface: Magnum TA. Rhodes had already teamed with TA in 1983 in Florida, and since then Magnum was one of Mid-South Wrestling’s top acts – having done a mentor/student angle with the legendary Mr. Wrestling II which saw II eventually turn on his protege and instigate a feud. Magnum was pushed up the cards quickly by Dusty – winning the US title and facing World Champion Flair at Comiskey Park in Chicago in front of 21,000 fans by that September at an event promoted under a joint NWA/AWA banner in an effort to compete with the WWF juggernaut that had just made millions with “Wrestlemania 1” and snagged an NBC contract that allowed them to appear on national TV. Magnum and Rhodes would form “America’s Team” and would battle the Horsemen, The Russians and The Midnight Express at various times over the next two years. Magnum’s story of course ends with tragedy as an October 1986 car crash left him partially crippled and never able to fulfill Dusty’s intended destiny for him, which most people believe to be the perennial World Champion of the late 80’s and beyond.
Rhodes’ old enemy Ole Anderson entered the area in 1985 after McMahon had swallowed up Ole’s prominent Georgia Championship Wrestling promotion in 1984 and Ole’s follow up promotion flat lined quickly thereafter, leaving him as a valuable free agent for JCP to utilize. Ole and Dusty were part of a fantastic angle in 1980 that saw Ole turn babyface for several months and eventually then he convinced Dusty to be his partner in a steel cage match against the Assassins – with each team having a friend as a special referee for this match. The Assassins picked Ivan Koloff to be a ref, and Dusty and Ole picked Ole’s brother Gene. The night of the match, it looked like a 3 on 3 affair – instead Ole and Gene turned on Dusty- leaving him FIVE on one and locked in a cage with no means of escape!
Now in 1985, Dusty lifted this angle for his next great idea which saw babyface (tweener really) Ric Flair defending his title against Nikita Koloff in a cage. Flair was victorious and afterward Ivan Koloff charged the cage and the Koloffs beat down Flair 2 on 1, until Dusty charged in himself and made the save – only to have Flair’s “cousins” Ole and Arn Anderson enter the cage and help Flair break Dusty’s leg! This incident led to the famous “Hard Times” promo that Dusty delivered soon after. It also marked what was essentially the formation of the Four Horsemen and succeeded in turning Flair into the top heel in JCP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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The wounded Rhodes was granted a NWA World title match at Starrcade ’85 against Flair. The event was held from two different arenas in the south, (a move that apparently irked Vince McMahon as shortly thereafter Wrestlemania 2 was held live from 3 arenas) and drew 45,000 fans and nearly one million dollars at the gates. The main event saw Rhodes pin Flair after a ref bump and the Horsemen interfering – the title win was later reversed to a Rhodes’ DQ win after the original ref came back to consciousness.
Dusty would chase Flair through the summer, capturing the World title during a stop on the “Great American Bash” tour. This tour was ambitious and you can’t fault Dusty for dreaming big: many Bash cards were held in stadiums, with a live music act being booked to supplement the card as well. Stadiums and music stars added deficits to the bottom line, and the Bash bombed more than it succeeded. RFK Stadium only drew 6,300 fans, Riverfront Stadium drew only 3,900, and Memphis’ Liberty Bowl drew only 1,900 fans (!). The only true success was in the home town Charlotte Stadium, which drew 23,000 fans.
Dusty reignited his feud with Tully in time for Starcade ’86, as both men rotated injuring one another- Dusty took out Tully’s leg and the Horsemen retaliated by breaking Dusty’s wrist. Starcade saw Rhodes lose via chicanery to Blanchard under “First Blood” rules after J.J. Dillon aided Tully in the win.
The main event of Starrcade was a masterstroke of Dusty’s booking as Rhodes’ best friend Magnum TA was taken out by the previously mentioned accident- Rhodes’ reaction to this was to take Magnum’s top enemy (Nikita Koloff) and align him with Dusty out of respect for Magnum fighting spirit. This led to Nikita receiving a World title shot at Flair at the event and that helped Starrcade draw 30,000 fans.
1987 saw Dusty and Nikita form an alliance known as “The SuperPowers” and together they dueled with both the Horsemen and the team of Ivan Koloff and Vladimir Petrov. Dusty and Nikita entered the 2nd Annual Jim Crockett Memorial Cup Tournament and defeated Bill Dundee and Konga the Barbarian, Manny Fernandez and Rick Rude, The Midnight Express and Lex Luger and Tully Blanchard in the finals. Right before the final match, the fans witnessed an emotionally charged scene as Magnum TA came down to the ring for the first time since his accident and hugged both Nikita and Dusty – offering them the emotional jolt needed to win their final match and capture the million dollar cash prize.
The Horsemen weren’t through with tag matches with the Superpowers though as that summer saw some tremendous challenges from The SuperPowers aligning with The Road Warriors for some 8 man action, and on July 4th at the Omni this was escalated to Dusty’s next great gimmick idea: WAR GAMES!. 10 men, 2 rings, 1 massive cage – the match goes until somebody submits or surrenders.
After dominating the multi-man matches, Dusty focused his attention on Lex Luger, who had just cheated Nikita out of the US title. Rhodes brought in Mid-Atlantic “legend” Johnny Weaver to teach him the “Weaverlock” sleeper hold, Luger countered with his trainer Hiro Matsuda who was to take Weaver out. Dusty also started to tease retirement as part of this angle, and Dillon finally had a stipulation added to Luger and Dusty’s US title steel cage match for Starrcade ’87 that Dusty would have to leave the sport for 90 days if he lost.
Starrcade was moved out of the south for the first time ever in ’87 and it proved to be a bad move as only 8,000 fans came to the Chicago based event – a far cry from the large crowds of the previous years. Worse yet, Vince McMahon had essentially blocked JCP’s PPV availability through hardballing the cable companies as well as creating his own PPV event for the same night. All factors which killed the company’s chances to make some much needed cash flow in the coffers. Dusty would have a successful night at least and overtook Luger to win the US title.
Dusty floated around the mid card a bit in 1988, first defending his US title against tag team specialist Bobby Eaton, who was following Mama Cornette’s orders to capture singles gold. Then Larry Zbyszko started running around with Baby Doll – a valet who had previously aligned herself with Tully Blanchard, then switched to Dusty before turning on him and returning to the Horsemen. Now here in 1988 she returned and was holding an envelope which contained something that would “embarrass” Rhodes. The angle never had a conclusion as Rhodes switched gears when his longtime friend Barry Windham turned to the darkside and joined the Horsemen. On top of that Magnum TA was assaulted by Tully and J.J. Dillon while giving an interview, which lead to an enraged Dusty charging the scene with a baseball bat and accidentally hitting promoter Jim Crockett who was trying to break up the melee.
Crockett felt compelled to suspend Rhodes and strip him of his US title. Windham would win the tournament to fill the vacant championship spot. Rhodes meanwhile donned the “Masked Rider” mask once again to harass the Horsemen while under suspension.
Rhodes and Windham would clash at the “Great American Bash ‘88” on PPV, a bout that saw Rhodes’ friend Ron Garvin come in and knock Dusty out with his “Hands of Stone” punch. This appeared to set up a Garvin/Rhodes feud, but Ronnie left the NWA almost right away and nothing came of it.
Behind the scenes, booker Rhodes was butting heads with champion Ric Flair, with Rhodes trying to convince Flair to lose to Lex Luger and JCP owner Jim Crockett was informed he was broke and he sold the company to Ted Turner. Dusty remained on as creative head but now had Turner suits to answer to. One of the first rules laid down was “no blood”, which went against Rhodes blood and guts style. This would come into play during Dusty’s next angle, which saw Dusty miss a scheduled tag match with his World Six Man tag championship partners The Road Warriors. Rhodes was replaced by Sting, which didn’t end well as the Warriors turned on Sting. The Warriors doubled down on their heel turn by attacking Dusty Rhodes on TV and shoving a spike from their shoulder pads in his eye. This gory scene cost Dusty his booking job for blatantly ignoring the Turner brass. Rhodes stuck around long enough to team with Sting against the Road Warriors at Starcade ’88 but was gone a few weeks after.
Dusty attempted to start a new promotion up in Florida, with his rookie son Dustin, Al Perez, Mike Graham, Dick Slater, Scott Hall, The Nasty Boyz, Steve Keirn, Johnny Ace, Bam Bam Bigelow, Big Steel Man (Tugboat) and even a few appearances by Terry Funk. After a few months, Dusty grew tired of losing money and signed with the WWF.
Rhodes was graced with one of the all-time great theme songs in the WWF, and debuted in a series of goofy vignettes that portrayed Rhodes as a plumber, a garbage man, a butcher and other “common man” jobs. Rhodes’ reputation and charisma got him over, even when he was given yellow polka dotted shirts to wear to the ring.
Dusty re-debuted on June 2nd of 1989 in the WWF and started an angle with his JCP rival Big Bubba Rogers – now dubbed the Big Bossman. Dusty stole Bossman’s nightstick and added a police cap to his ensemble to mock the lawman. Dusty would go on to include a chubby black woman named “Sweet” Sapphire to be his manager and apparent love interest. Dusty and Bossman would feud until November when they settled their issues at that year’s Survivor Series.
Rhodes’ next feud saw him, the commoner, clash with wrestling royalty in the form of “Macho King” Randy Savage. Savage’s valet “Sensational” Sherri also got into it along the way and this led to the first ever inter-gender tag team match in WWF history at Wrestlemania 6. At that event, Savage and Sherri bumped around like pinballs to make their older, chubby opponents look good and it made for a very entertaining match. Dusty and Sapphire took the win with the help of their surprise “crown jewel” – Savage’s former valet Miss Elizabeth.
Dusty and Savage would feud into the Fall with Dusty having great success until Summerslam 1990, where Dusty lost to Savage quickly due to not having his head into the match as right before the match could begin, Ted Dibiase came out and revealed he bought Sapphire off.
This of course led to the Million Dollar Man and the “American Dream” to feud. Dusty’s son Dustin got involved in the mix as Dibiase attempted to buy out the entire front row of a WWF event, and Dustin happened to be one of the people in the seats and refused Dibiase’s offer and things got physical. This led to a 10 minute challenge match between Dustin and Ted – which Dustin “won” by surviving the time limit. Dusty and Dibiase collided on opposite teams at Survivor Series ’90 but Dibiase’s mystery partner The Undertaker pinned Rhodes to send him out of the match without settling things up with Dibiase, so a tag match was made for the Royal Rumble ’91 with Dusty and Dustin facing Dibiase and his bodyguard Virgil. Ted pinned Dusty to effectively send Dusty out of the WWF and into retirement.
He popped back up in WCW soon after as a commentator and host of a interview segment called “The Bull Drop Inn” where Rhodes would torment heels with the question “Am I retired or only resting?”. Dusty started an angle with his old enemy and fellow retiree, The Assassin in 1993. The two men exchanged threats until the Fall when the two men cornered Dustin and his opponent Paul Orndorff at a “Clash of the Champions” event. Dustin won the match and the Rhodes Family won the ensuing melee.
Dusty next came to Dustin’s aid in the summer of 1994 when Dusty stepped up to team with Dustin against Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk- stable mates of Arn Anderson, who had recently turned on Dustin in a tag team match.
The Studd Stable versus Rhodes Family feud culminated that September in a “War Games” match with the Rhodes teaming with the Nasty Boys against Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, Terry Funk and Col. Robert Parker. Dusty forced Parker to submit to earn the win for his team.
Rhodes was honored by WCW in May 1995 by being inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame – a tribute to a long and successful career. Dusty’s next major angle occurred in January of 1998, when Dusty bucked tradition and joined the nWo. A few months later Dusty and WCW parted ways.
Dusty wouldn’t stay out of the spot light for long as he started to appear on ECW TV and house shows – embarking in a feud with Steve “The King of Old School” Corino. Corino delivered an awesome heel line during this feud accusing Dusty of cutting the brake lines on Magnum TA’s car out of jealousy of TA’s popularity. Dusty won a bullrope match against Corino at Living Dangerously 2000 and stuck around for a few months before fading away.
Dusty would pop up in the dying days of WCW and once again teamed with Dustin to battle Jeff Jarrett and Ric Flair. Jarrett had been mocking Dusty and thus this tag match was signed – with the loser having to kiss the winner’s “ass”. Flair ended up kissing a donkey’s behind after losing.
With WCW out of business Dusty took independent bookings and fought his old enemies around the United States. Rhodes also started up his own independent promotion called “Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling” – booking his son, Barry Windham, Glacier and others.
Dusty would make some appearances for TNA during the Vince Russo booked Sports Entertainment Xtreme (SEX) vs. tradition feud. Rhodes was granted the opportunity to team with his old tag partners The Road Warriors:
Dusty would eventually become an on-screen and off screen booker for TNA – a position that only lasted a few months due to TNA asking Rhodes to be part of a booking committee instead of the lone head man. The main memory I have of this run is of Dusty receiving oral sex in his pick up from one of the TNA Knockouts who was trying to garner a favor from Dusty during a TV vignette.
Dusty wound up in the WWE and participated on their booking committees and eventually as a trainer/creative member behind the FCW territory developing the next generation of WWE stars. At last word, Rhodes still booking for the WWE’s latest developmental group NXT – along with making occasional on screen appearances on RAW and Smackdown.
Rhodes was rightfully inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.
On a final note, I wanted to point out that a man of Dusty Rhodes’ popularity and unique jargon inspired many other wrestlers to mimic Rhodes – sometimes as a heel move and other times as seemingly a loving tribute to the man, so to end this career over view I wanted to showcase the men who took on the Dream’s persona in one way or another:
Dusty was already a World Champion and nationwide attraction when Troy T. Tyler started doing a complete copy of Dusty – from the verbiage to the lisp to the cowboy hat:
Meanwhile in Memphis, “The Dream Machine” was Jimmy Hart’s stooge who apparently tried to claim he was actually Dusty under a mask:
In 1984 in Florida – with Dusty off in JCP, “Maniac” Mike Davis declared that he was the actual Dusty Rhodes and the other man was named Virgil Runnels and was an imposter:
The WWF created “Virgil” in 1987 to be the subservient black man who happened to share the real name of Vince’s opposition’s jive speaking booker. Later in 1988, One Man Gang asked for time off and as punishment, Vince gave him the gimmick of a jive talking, break dancing, southern accented man nicknamed “The African Dream” – another obvious dig at Rhodes.
In the mid 90’s Vince briefly had Bruce “Brother Love” Pritchard dress as a cowboy and do a Dusty Rhodes impersonation named Reo Rogers:
In 1998, Dustin Rhodes and his father were not on speaking terms and in a mocking tribute to his dad, Dustin portrayed the polka dot era version of his daddy on an episode of RAW:
Finally, in the early 2000’s in my local independent wrestling federation, ACW, hardcore wrestler Peter B. Beautiful took on a new persona as “The Wisconsin Cream” Busty Loades: (Seen at the 10:30 mark of this video)
Part 2 of The Shoot:
Eddie Gilbert was the UWF booker after JCP bought them out. Rhodes says he didn’t do UWF versus JCP because he already had the WWF to fend off without adding a fictional group to oppose.
Luger, Flair and others gave Dusty a lot of heat for booking himself to win the “Bunkhouse Stampede” battle royal annually.
Rhodes defends putting himself over by saying “I was the bull of the woods – I created all this”.
Sting had some horrible interviews but could be gold at times too.
The old days had a lot more guys who you’d have to rough up in order to get them to do a job in the ring.
Turner’s suits wanted Rhodes to turn heel, and he refused – which is Dusty’s version of why he was fired from the NWA. (Of course the truth was Dusty bladed on TV after being told not to and thus he lost his booker’s position)
Dusty tried to start a new Florida territory but lost 150,000 dollars personally before going to the WWF in 1989.
Rhodes wanted Pat Patterson’s booking job and was less interested in being World Champ there.
The Polka Dots gimmick didn’t bother Dusty as he used to wear all kind of crazy stuff on TV in the NWA.
Instead of Sweet Sapphire Dusty wanted a black hooker to be his manager.
Rhodes went back to WCW because he was disgusted with being fired from there originally.. Dusty credits himself with booking WCW to a successful place that allowed Eric Bischoff to bring Hogan in and springboard business.
Vince Jr. would send Dusty letters reminding him how much money he was losing by not being part of the WWF merchandising machine.
Dusty didn’t want to do the famous promo where he came to Dustin, admitted he neglected him as a child and asked to be his partner instead of Dustin getting another partner whom Dustin couldn’t trust. It was too real for Dusty.
Rhodes blames JCP’s accountant for being unable to catch the financial short comings quicker – and JCP needed a media marketing expansion.
JCP also gave out contracts which Rhodes felt made guys lazier and unwilling to work through the pain.
Goldust should have been on every talk show possible and made World champ.
Rhodes defends the “Dusty Finish”. He claims that towns can’t be killed with a finish.
Fabulous Moolah took a guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett in ‘99 and Dusty spends around 5 minutes talking about the angle and laughing.
Jim Ross is talented but knocked Rhodes constantly in WCW because Ross wanted the booking position.
Dusty thinks he possibly should have pushed himself harder in the 80’s so that he could have been as main stream as Hogan.
Interviewer Rob Feinstein chimes in and says he feels WCW will catch up with the WWF in the ratings again since RAW is “getting stale”. (Oops..)
Dusty says he has written two movies and wants to direct and star in them. (!)
ECW is Rhodes’ prediction for the next great wrestling success.
Dusty Rhodes and Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Victory and Steve Corino is shown – Typical late 90’s garbage match – crowd brawling, plunder, punchy-kicky stuff. Dreamer of course is the face in peril as Dusty awaits the hot tag. I have to laugh at the ECW rule book, where a ladder can be used liberally in the ring – but Dusty can’t come in the ring without a tag. Dreamer and Rhodes hit stereo DDTs and then dual bionic elbows for the win. Nothing match. Rhyno attacks both faces after until “Enter Sandman” hits and Sandman slowly walks out as his “friends” continue to be abused. I have to admit I marked out for the music hitting though.
We get the famous clip of the Horsemen breaking Dusty’s arm in the JCP offices parking lot. (I wonder if any cars drove by and wondered what the Hell was going on) “Make it good!”
Next is a clip of The James Boys (Masked Magnum and Dusty) trying to hog tie Cornette and drag him behind a truck. Dusty wearing a cowboy hat on top of his mask is kind of funny. “We drink booze, chase women and cause a special brand of misery!” Awesome promo from Big Dust!
Next clip is a crippled Magnum being confronted by Tully and TA is “gently” attacked (Dillon slowly guides him to the cement after a punch). Dusty runs out with a bat and plows into Tully and Dillon – then accidentally hits Jim Crockett who is trying to break up the melee. They do an unintentionally hilarious board room scene where Rhodes is suspended – the cameras flash to Dusty’s hands, JJ’s face, Rhodes’ Vaseline covered face and random board members in ultra-quick cut scenes that take away any semblance of reality in the situation. Much like the Rock’s “reaction” shot during the Halftime Heat match with Foley many years later.
Up next is Windham laying out Dusty with Arn and Tully’s help until Sting, Dr. Death and Koloff make the save. Then we get Windham and Dusty in the ring with the faces keeping Windham from escaping. Rhodes busts out the Hogan no selling–punches only make him stronger spot, then Windham is whupped.
Condrey, Eaton, Big Bubba vs. Morton, Gibson and Dusty – Bunkhouse rules- They let the bumpers do their thing as the Bubba/Rhodes encounter is teased several times until it is finally delivered on. Rhodes is great here with his facials and jive hands. The heels try and use powder only for it to back fire. Bubba has one move in this match and it’s bear hugging Dusty – he keeps going back to it…Ricky Morton basically no sells a “Alabama Jam” from Eaton, I don’t like that…Bubba climbs to the top rope for some reason, gets slammed off by Dusty and given a terrible looking piledriver for the pin. Crowd was rabid – match was fun, but not a mat classic by any means.
Vladimir Petrov and Ivan Koloff lay out Dusty Rhodes then attack Nikita. Dusty saves him before being laid out again. Petrov is a giant muscle head and looks like a million dollars, but clearly couldn’t move a lick. The Nikita/Petrov face off before the brawl is broken up was a good moment though.
Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and THE ROAD WARRIORS vs. Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson and Ole Anderson(!)… 8 way brawl to start of course as the crowd goes BONZO GONZO…The Warriors are just jacked to the gills, crazy bodies…They do a cute spot where Flair suplexes Hawk and jumps up and celebrates in the faces of the good guys, who all point behind him where Hawk awaits – having no sold the move…Of course the World Champ Flair is the schmuck in peril…TV time limit cuts the show off…
Final Thoughts:
Dusty being full of himself aside, this was a fantastic watch! Fun stories, burials of excellent workers, a few raw emotional moments and an hour or so of classic footage to top things off. Does anyone have any idea what his heat with Funk was at this point? That was the strangest part of the shoot for me. Anyway…if you can find this version second hand on ioffer.com or ebay, I suggest you check it out!
