Who is Dusty Rhodes: Wrestling's American Dream, Legacy & Unforgettable Matches

Dusty Rhodes (Virgil Runnels Jr.) is the father of Cody Rhodes. He is an American Professional Wrestler, Booker & Trainer, who has worked for a number of big professional wrestling promotions. He is known as a star wrestler, who represented every American, through his character and got the name “American Dream”.

Dusty has worked for National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (WWF/WWE), Jim Crockett Promotions, Professional Wrestling Federation (PWF), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and so on. Here is a detail on his legacy and key matches.

Dusty Rhodes’ Legacy

Dusty Rhodes made his pro-wrestling debut in 1967 at Big Time Wrestling in Boston, without any prior wrestling experience. He then moved to Texas and worked for National Wrestling Alliance territories during the initial days.

Throughout his career, Dusty was criticized for not having the physique of a wrestler. But he compensated with his personality, charisma and mic skills. Rhodes’ “Hard Times” promo is claimed as one of the best interviews in the industry. He is a great promoter in WCW, which had great competition with WWE. His bookings are praised and is known as “Dusty Finish”.

In 1989, Rhodes moved to WWE and McMahon took revenge on him for competing against the company. McMahon made him perform under “Common Man” gimmick, where he appeared as a plumber, butcher, gas station attendant, taco cook, pizza delivery man, trash collector and so on.

Dusty Rhodes is the founder of the WarGames Match, he is better known as the great booker. He introduced his sons to pro-wrestling. In the early 2000’s he became the Director of Authority, head of booker and writer in TNA Wrestling. In 2007, Dusty was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

From 2010 to 2015 Dusty was the creative head and the director of WWE’s developmental brand NXT. He trained a number of WWE stars in NXT including Kevin Owens, Becky Lynch, FTR, and more. On June 10, 2015, he died at the age of 69 due to Kidney Failure. WWE paid its tribute to Dusty Rhodes by a ten-bell salute with the entire roster along with McMahon standing silent on the Rampway.

Further WWE honored his legacy by announcing the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. In AEW, Go Position is announced as an inspiration for The Dusty Position.

Dusty is an inspiration for many wrestlers and a number of legendary wrestlers acknowledge him as one of his idols. Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him as the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 1978, 1979, and 1987. He also received an award for Best Booker Award in 1986, Most Charismatic Award in 1982, Stanley Weston Award in 2013, Wrestler of the Year in 1977 and 1978.

Key Matches

In the late 1970’s he adopted the name “The American Dream” by aligning himself with Eddie Graham. He moved to World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) owned by Vince McMahon and main evented a couple of shows challenging for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. Where he won the WWWF Championship, but by count out, for which the title was taken away from him. This is the exact moment, Cody Rhodes has been claiming in his story.

In mid- 1980’s, Dusty Rhodes at Jim Crockett Wrestling teamed up with Magnum T.A. under the name America’s Team had a long term feud with Four Horseman and The Russian Team until 1986. Dusty Rhodes vs Ric Flair cage match at The Great American Bash in 1986 received match of the year. In 1990, he feuded against The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and fought against their team, which was billed as  “The Dream Team” vs “The Million Dollar Team”.

In Royal Rumble 1991, where Dusty Rhodes teamed up with his son Dustin Rhodes (Goldust) to face Virgil and Ted DiBiase.

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