DUSTY RHODES (WRESTLER)

'Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr.' (born on October 12, 1945), better known as "The American Dream" 'Dusty Rhodes', is a semi-retired American professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment. He makes occasional on-air appearances on the ''RAW'' brand, and works as a backstage booker/producer on the ''ECW'' brand.
He is also the father of wrestlers Virgil Runnels III (Dustin Rhodes/Goldust/Black Reign), and Cody Runnels (Cody Rhodes).

Career

Rhodes started his career as a rule-breaking heel, tagging with fellow Texan Dick Murdoch to form the tag team 'The Texas Outlaws' in the American Wrestling Association.^[2] In 1974, Rhodes turned face after turning on tag team partner Pak Song and manager Gary Hart during a match in Florida against Eddie and Mike Graham, leading him to break out as a solo babyface superstar, primarily in Florida, referring to himself as "Stardust", the "White Soul King",
and the "American Dream", a working class hero. Rhodes ascended to the top of several National Wrestling Alliance promotions in Florida (where he also wrestled wearing a mask as The Midnight Rider), Georgia, and eventually with Jim Crockett Promotions in the Mid-Atlantic, which was the forerunner of World Championship Wrestling. Here, he formed teams with Manny Fernandez, Magnum T.A. as "America's Team", and Nikita Koloff as The Super Powers. Rhodes was a World 6-Man Tag Team Champion with the Road Warriors. Currently, Rhodes is working as a booker and making occasional appearances for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Feuds

Rhodes had legendary feuds with stars such as Abdullah the Butcher, Pak Song, Terry Funk, Kevin Sullivan, Blackjack Mulligan, Nikita Koloff, Harley Race, "Superstar" Billy Graham, "Crippler" Ray Stevens and most notably, The Four Horsemen (especially Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard). Rhodes, Flair, and Race each fought each other many times over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Rhodes won the NWA World Title three times; twice by defeating Race (in 1979 and 1981) and once by defeating Flair (1986).

Booking

Rhodes was also a booker for WCW (which was then known as Jim Crockett Promotions) while they were competing with the World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) after he won the Television Title in 1985. He is credited with inventing many of the WCW pay-per-view names and gimmicks, such as ''War Games'', ''BattleBowl'', and ''Lethal Lottery''.
The term Dusty Finish refers to one of Rhodes' favorite techniques, ending a match in controversy after the referee is knocked unconscious.

Dismissal from JCP

He was fired from Jim Crockett Promotions at the end of 1988 because of a taboo on-screen bloodletting (laid down by Turner Broadcasting following their purchase of the company) during an altercation with the Road Warriors. Rhodes booked an angle where Road Warrior Animal pulled a spike out of his shoulder pad and jammed it in Rhodes' eye busting it wide open. Rhodes was then fired from WCW. Following this, Rhodes returned to Florida to compete in Florida Championship Wrestling, where he captured the PWF Heavyweight title, and also returned to the AWA for a few appearances.

World Wrestling Federation

Rhodes came to the WWF as the yellow polka-dotted "Common Man" Dusty Rhodes, a gimmick some felt was intended to humiliate him, although it would later come out in the words of Dusty himself that the gimmick and outfit were his own ideas. He was managed by Sapphire. During his time in the WWF, Rhodes was embroiled in a heated feud with Randy Savage and his manager/partner Sensational Queen Sherri who in turn found a rival in Sapphire. After a particularly intense confrontation between the two couples, Savage's girlfriend Miss Elizabeth allied herself with Rhodes and Sapphire and was instrumental in helping them win the WWF's first mixed tag-team match during WrestleMania VI. However, Sapphire left Rhodes during SummerSlam 1990 for The Million-Dollar Man's money, which resulted in a feud with the latter, which also resulted in the national debut of his son Dustin. Both would depart the WWF in January 1991, marking the end of Dusty Rhodes' career as a full-time in-ring competitor.
When Ric Flair left for WWE in 1991, taking the WCW Title with him, Dusty's old Florida Heavyweight Championship belt was used as a replacement at The Great American Bash for the title match between Lex Luger and Barry Windham until a replacement could be made.

Return to WCW and ECW

Rhodes returned to WCW shortly afterwards as a member of WCW's booking committee and later joined the broadcast team, usually working with Tony Schiavone on WCW Saturday Night. He would be paired with Schiavone and Bobby Heenan on pay-per-views.
Mike Jones's Virgil character in the World Wrestling Federation was named, at the suggestion of Bobby Heenan, as an inside joke on Dusty's real name. When Jones jumped to World Championship Wrestling, Heenan continued the joke by suggesting Jones's WCW character's name be made "Vincent", in reference to WWF owner Vince McMahon. The joke continued later in WCW when Jones changed his name again, this time to Shane, the same as Vince's son's, Shane McMahon.
In 1994, Rhodes would return to the ring to team up with his son Dustin along with The Nasty Boys versus Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, Terry Funk, and Col. Rob Parker. The angle occurred after Anderson turned on Dustin during a tag team match at Bash At The Beach '94 and Dusty, admitting to being an absentee parent who should have been at his son's side instead of Anderson, put on the trunks one more time in order to help his son gain his revenge.
Rhodes was originally on the side of WCW in its battle with the nWo began in 1996. At Souled Out 1998, Larry Zbyszko asked Rhodes, who was working the PPV broadcast, to accompany him to the ring for his match against Scott Hall. Zbyszko won the match by disqualification due to interference by the nWo, but in the postmatch melee Rhodes turned on Zbyszko and joined the nWo in a shocking moment that actually forced Schiavone off the broadcast in shock; he would later return, ripping Rhodes for his actions for most of the rest of the night (kayfabe).
He eventually left WCW and went to ECW where he put over former ECW Champion, "King of Old School" Steve Corino. Rhodes returned once more to WCW, re-igniting his feud with Ric Flair.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

He appeared on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling shows, becoming the Director of Authority at their November 7 pay-per-view, TNA Victory Road 2004. At the same time, Rhodes acted as head booker and writer. In May 2005, TNA President Dixie Carter asked Rhodes to move onto a creative team, which would have included several other names, including Jeremy Borash, Bill Banks, and Scott D'Amore. Rhodes resigned as booker, waiting out the rest of his contract with TNA, which expired soon after.

Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling

For several years, Rhodes operated Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, a small Georgia-based promotion, featuring wrestlers trained by himself alongside veterans such as Steve Corino.^[3]

WWE Legends and Hall of Fame

In September 2005 Rhodes signed a WWE Legends deal and was brought onto the Creative Team as a "creative consultant". He made an appearance on the October 3, 2005 ''WWE Homecoming'' in which he, along with other legends, beat down Rob Conway, to whom Rhodes delivered a signature 'Bionic elbow'.^[4]
Dusty Rhodes was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2007
by his two sons, Dustin and Cody. During his acceptance speech, Rhodes asked Ric Flair and Arn Anderson to hold up the "sign" and induct he and Harley Race into the Four Horsemen. ²
During an interview on WWE's ''The American Dream'' DVD set, Rhodes claims that his most popular promo of all time was his "Hard Times" interview during his feud with Ric Flair. The promo -- which references out-of-work steel workers, factory runners and other blue collar individuals -- apparently resonated so strongly with wrestling fans that people came to him in arenas in tears to thank him for "honoring their plight."

Return to the ring

A few weeks before WWE's 2007 broadcast of the Great American Bash, Dusty Rhodes returned to WWE television to feud with Randy Orton. At ''The Great American Bash'', Randy Orton defeated Rhodes in a Texas Bullrope Match after Dusty was nailed in the head with the cowbell. The following night on ''RAW'', after Randy Orton defeated Dusty's son Cody Rhodes, Orton delivered a vicious kick to his head while "The American Dream" was trying to tend to his son.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

:
★ 'Bionic elbow'
:
★ '''American Elbow''' (Elbow drop with theatrics)
:
★ '''Piledriver'''
:
★ Bulldog
:
★ Elbow drop
:
★ Sleeper hold
:
★ Figure four leg lock
:
★ Various dancing and no-selling to embarrass his opponent, usually against jobbers
:
★ Flying Crossbody

Nicknames

★ '"The American Dream"'

Championships and accomplishments

Books

Autobiography: ''Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream'' 2005 ISBN 1-58261-907-7

DVDs

''The American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story'' 2006 (World Wrestling Entertainment)

In popular culture

★ Outkast's André 3000 makes a reference to Dusty Rhodes and his signature ''Bionic Elbow'' on the title

References

1.
Dusty Rhodes' biography
2. Home > Superstars > Hall of Fame > Dusty Rhodes > Bio
3. On The Rhodes Again - wrestler Dusty Rhodes - Interview Brad Perkins
4. A Stunning Homecoming

External links

★ TRIBUTE PAGES for Legends of Mid-South Wrestling also UWF & 1980's WCW

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