Original subtitles

We are here in Dallas, Texas, of course,

for WrestleMania weekend.

And some breaking news whilst we're here--

Facing a mystery opponent of Mr. McMahon's--

His opponent's getting picked by Vince McMahon.

Better be somebody good.

[crowd chants]

Cody Rhodes right here.

Anything can happen.

But who knows?

He may show up tonight.

We have no idea.

I think this place would pop its ass off if he came out tonight.

We can only hope, man, that we get something

that good at WrestleMania.

To see him come back home would be a whole other thing, man.

I got to see the statue for his father

last night at the superstore.

It was fantastic.

I always loved Dusty Rhodes, man.

So hopefully we see his son here tonight.

[phone rings]

Uh oh.

Big Mama.

Hey.

Hey, D.

Up close and personal.

Where are you at?

I'm sitting outside where the rehearsal dinner is.

But where are y'all staying at?

Right now, we're staying on the bus.

I'm going to stay here until they drag me out of it

because I have been sequestered as a surprise for tomorrow.

I know you're going to do great, Cody.

I know you're going to do great.

I'm so proud of you.

And I know daddy would have been so proud of you.

And I know-- I know he's watching you.

I just know it.

Thanks, mama.

Love you.

Tell everyone I said, hey.

All right, bye.

[vehicle beeps]

I do get asked about Dusty in everything that I do.

And I have avoided the specter of Dusty Rhodes

when he was living and since he passed because it was so big.

How could I ever do anything like he did?

But fate has it that I get this opportunity to make

the walk at WrestleMania in front of sports

entertainment's biggest crowd.

My dad would have loved that.

And the roar of the crowd now is for the American dream.

And it's for Mr. Dusty Rhodes.

Dusty could make people feel.

He showed that the average son of a plumber could rise up.

He could be your next door neighbor.

He could be the guy you work in a factory with.

But he could go out there and kick ass.

I came from nowhere.

And it will take a hell of a man to knock me off.

He was a dreamer of epic proportions

and the architect of what we now see as a global empire.

God, he was entertaining.

Dusty looked at pro wrestling just like a movie.

You don't know what hard times are, daddy.

I've been hooked forever on Dusty Rhodes

because what you got was real from him.

To get to the top, you have to sacrifice in every aspect

you can imagine.

Definitely became hard times.

Dad was a mentor.

He was a hero and the best damn father on the planet.

Woo, that's funky.

[music playing]

His real name was Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. Never ever heard

anybody call him Virgil, not even my mom or pop.

He got nicknamed dusty because of the street that he lived on.

It was a dirt road, a dusty road.

Dusty Rhodes is born into an America that

is coming out of the Great Depression,

is coming out of World War II.

A kid from Austin, Texas, east side, Black community,

Mexican-American community, lucky to be

part of that community.

I was running around, just thinking

I was no different than anybody else.

My dad was a hard working plumber, disciplinarian, not

a lot of education, just a hard working guy.

We were very poor financially.

But I was not aware of financial problem.

It was just life for us.

It was the way things were.

We never really felt sorry for ourself

or felt like we'd gotten a bad shake

in life, a bad deal in life.

Growing up in East Austin, coming from nothing,

my dad created things out of nothing.

I've heard things about him being teased as a child

because he was bigger.

But the adversity part of it was just him overcoming obstacles

in his life to get him to where he wanted to be.

My mom was the driving force behind the American dream

pursuing, and reaching, and trying

to obtain whatever you could was such a big deal with her.

My dad more or less was that if you're going to do it,

do it right.

If you're going to reach for it, then be the best at it.

Friday nights, my dad would cash his check,

we'd go to wrestling.

We would yell, and scream, and go crazy.

I grew up really loving this industry.

What an opportunity if you could make a living at this.

We come home and we'd wrestle.

We made fake masks.

We could just get as rough as we wanted with Dusty.

One thing I would say about him, you

could not make things tough enough for him.

My dad would tell you how great he

was at baseball, at football.

And he truly was a multi-sport athlete.

New York Mets, at that time, had scouted me.

I played first base.

And I caught a little bit.

He also played for a semi-professional football

team in Connecticut called the Charter Oak Buffaloes.

There's the athlete side of Dusty.

And then there's the thespian side of Dusty.

Something else was calling him.

One of his greatest characteristics

was his ability to have a vision and know exactly what he

wanted to do in his life.

He was always charismatic, even when he was young.

He had a stage presence.

He loved acting.

He would tell me, I love it.

And I'd say no, man, you're an athlete, not an actor.

You know what I'm saying?

And luckily, he found a profession

where he could combine both of those passions.

He wanted to pro wrestle.

He wanted pro wrestling.

I remember him coming in to Dallas.

And he didn't have a place to stay.

And he wrestled Fritz Von Erich that night.

Fritz just had his way with him.

I remember him kicking him right in the teeth once,

looked like he actually lost some teeth

and ended up putting the claw on him and beating him.

But I remember him telling me, I love this business.

Someday, I'm going to be the heavyweight champion

of the world.

I think he saw something in wrestling.

And there was a freedom in wrestling that didn't

exist in other spaces.

You know, Muhammad Ali, if you'd ask him

who his hero was as an 18-year-old,

he would have said Gorgeous George Wagner.

And what he loved about Gorgeous George

was that Gorgeous George brought the showmanship

of professional wrestling to a whole other level.

I have to think that for Dusty Rhodes,

it was a very attractive thought for him

to be able to be a character and develop stories.

When my mom and my dad met, they hit it off.

They had a great time.

Sandy was gorgeous.

He loved her.

The war in Vietnam had began.

And they had a rule that they were not

taking any married men.

So even though he loves Sandy and I

think they would have eventually gotten married,

it was probably sooner than anyone

expected, including himself, because all I could see

was how important it was for him to make a name in the business

and become a champion.

He had that vision of what he wanted to do

and where he wanted to be.

And he started his life on the road.

One of the discoveries of any wrestler, in terms of this job,

is it starts out real fun.

It starts out, oh my gosh, I got paid $300?

I'm going to have fun.

I'm going to be partners with Dick Murdoch and the Texas

Outlaws.

We're going to be the bad guys.

This is so much fun.

Dick Murdaugh was a character from Waxahachie, Texas.

Together, they were kind of the same mindset.

Rhodes and Murdoch first came to Florida when I was a kid.

And they had crew cuts and big fat bellies hanging out.

They were bad guys.

Were just a couple of old country boys drinking beer,

wrestling, fighting.

Dusty would say we're not going to be outraged,

we're going to be outrageous.

And they were.

We were traveling 340 days a year from one town to the next.

You had 700 miles to go to get to the next town.

Yeah, if there was a bar, we'd stop.

And we had a good following, territorial wise.

Did a movie called The Wrestler.

[music playing]

That was not far fetched by any stretch of the imagination.

Murdoch would get in a fight every Friday night.

It's fun.

And then you realize the layer of work

that it takes to get to the next block.

And that's where it goes from being just this silly vocation

to your life's work.

A lot of people don't know that my grandfather, dad's dad,

died the day before I was born.

I did not talk to him a lot about that.

There's absolutely no way that I can imagine that.

For him to lose his father and then, oh my God, now I

have a baby boy, that would send anybody into overload, man.

Dusty told me he was so excited about having a grandchild.

And Dusty took some cigars that said it's a boy.

And he put them in his pocket in the coffin.

And you know, I mean, that's hard.

My dad never saw him wrestle.

But when my dad passed away, one of the belongings

he had in his wallet was an old program from an event

that my brother had been in.

It's hard for me not to get emotional.

But Dusty was always able to put those things in perspective.

He could have all of those kinds of things going on in his life

and seemed to know what to do and how to do it.

I think Dusty had a knack for knowing when it's time.

Probably one of the hardest decisions

he made and, I think definitely, the most important decision

he made was when it was time to leave Dick.

His tag team partner from Austin, Texas, weighing 280

pounds, dirty Dusty Rhodes.

He loved Texas outlaws.

And he loved doing what they were doing.

But I think in Dusty's mind, he was scratching the surface.

He felt like he had more tools.

He had more in the tank.

I don't think that the promoters recognized the fact

that I was a great in-ring worker or performer.

They recognized that I had charisma.

I had to find a way to grow it into becoming

the American dream.

And there's an elbow drop by Dusty Rhodes.

And a count of one, two, three.

It's all over.

Dusty Rhodes does it his way.

If you stick your nose around here, I'm gonna bust ya.

Sooner or later, I'm going to bust ya, baby.

I'm going to get you good in a spoiler.

I had that one element that you cannot give anyone, charisma.

The greatest rap master, the greatest wrestler,

the greatest super heavyweight in the world.

It's about winning.

You either have it or you don't.

[inaudible] January the 1st, it's the new year.

It's new razzmatazz.

There's new titles and such.

You understand what I'm saying?

It's going to be dynamite.

[inaudible] the American dream.

I have studied all the tapes.

I think this was at my Christmas party.

I figured out right away I can sell more tickets talking

to them in the building than actually what they

were seeing in the building.

Was it worth the damn pain?

Was it worth the pain?

When I look back at characters that

were developed before the American dream,

Thunderbolt Patterson was one of my guys.

I like the finer things in life, you

know, like diamond rings and Cadillacs.

You follow me?

I dig, yeah.

Seemed to be like music.

There was a rhythm to it.

When I was growing up, I sure didn't

think 265 pounds of blue eyed soul

would captivate a country like I am.

The people drive me.

He's somebody that gives off complete comfort

around Black people.

I think it gets a bit subversive in a way

that I think brings comfort to certainly me

and I think a lot of his Black fans.

Dusty made everything by being Dusty Rhodes cool.

And if you was from the neighborhood,

Dusty was like the only Black wrestler

that we had to look up to.

[laughs]

Because of Dusty Rhodes growing up in a part of Austin,

that was multiracial, I see him as somebody

in a line with an Elvis Presley or a Jerry Lee Lewis, people

who were white who were greatly influenced by the Southern

Baptist Black Church.

And one thing I will be is up to you.

He took a Black experience and translated it

to a white audience.

You can look up in this building in a matter of a few hours

when it's full.

And you can see a Black man and a white man

need now the same popcorn box.

Woo, that's funky.

Dusty's appeal was the fact that Dusty was just

like the audience.

I'm just one of you, baby.

I'm just like you.

So come help me because I need you.

And you felt, when Dusty was in the ring,

that you were right there with him.

It's about winning for my people, baby.

Until I heard him talk, I couldn't

see what the attraction was because, I mean,

I saw this m didn't look like an athlete,

but judging a book by the cover with him

would be a great mistake.

[MUSIC - BO DIDDLEY, "YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER"]

You can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

Oh, can't you see?

Oh, you misjudge me.

I look like a farmer, but I'm a lover,

Can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

The greatest athlete, the greatest rapper,

the greatest singer, or the greatest sleeper.

Yeah, I can sleep cool, brother.

Go and cheer in the new year 1977, the razzmatazz.

287 pounds of sweet soul.

[MUSIC - BO DIDDLEY, "YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER"]

Can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

Dusty was kind of like a Pied Piper.

Dusty would just bring everybody.

And they would follow him.

Everything I am, I owe the American way of life.

What is more of an American dream

than being able to make it on your own terms?

So you have a lisp.

You're overweight.

Your clothes are ill fitting.

You get to be you.

And you still get to make it.

There was a lot of patriotism and rah rah USA at the time.

And he is wrestling against, at that point,

the evil Korean, Pak Song.

Pak Song with one single purpose in mind,

to rid the wrestling world of the American Dream.

The Korean assassin versus the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes.

And somehow, the son of a plumber overcomes.

There is only one dream.

I am the man.

Go home with it, baby.

It's that rivalry between himself

and Pak Song that really branded him and created

the American Dream.

I've been hooked forever on Dusty Rhodes.

Mimicked him all through high school.

And then when I first had a little bit of a break

up in Memphis, you can hear in my promos.

I'm going, let me tell you something, baby, Terry Boulder.

I was trying to be Dusty Rhodes.

I'm gonna put the Super 7 Squeeze on you, daddy.

And I'm going to turn you over to these people in Memphis

and let them rip on you a little bit after you're down and out.

It was just such a poor imitation of Dusty Rhodes,

it's embarrassing now.

Dusty Rhodes must have thought, oh my God, this guy is just

the [bleep].

[music playing]

This industry is very tough.

You have to sacrifice.

You have to sacrifice your body.

You have to sacrifice your mind.

You sacrifice those that you love.

When I'm looking back at everything,

people would be like, oh my gosh,

I can't believe your father is the American Dream,

Dusty Rhodes.

That's the coolest thing ever.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

But at the same time, he was just our dad.

We're having to share him with the world.

Sometimes I thought about that.

And I just thought that was just kind of weird.

But back in the day, when he was first starting out,

I didn't see it that way.

I was so young.

We saw our dad a couple of times a year.

And when we did, it was the greatest time of our lives.

But Justin and I have a completely different

perspective on when my father was first starting out.

Honestly, man, it just-- it hurt.

And I wanted him.

I wanted to be with him.

And I wanted it so bad, desperate, desperate for it.

My dad just had that vision.

And he went after it.

And yes, he wasn't home a lot.

Yes, he was gone a lot.

But there was no lack of love there.

My father was our father.

At the same time, my mom lost her husband.

They divorced when Kristin was two years old.

It was the way it was.

If you wanted to make a living, you

had to go to the different territories.

You had to work.

I was young.

And I didn't understand what kind of a star he was becoming.

A boy needs his dad.

In 1977, he was in Florida.

The Imperial Lounge was where you could

go to listen to country music.

That was his favorite place to hang out.

And that's where I met him.

He was the American Dream at that point, very popular there.

I had asked Dusty for an autograph

for my little brothers and sisters.

And he said, well, if you come next week, I'll

have some photos.

I'll bring you those.

So I went next week.

And I started thinking, yeah, you know, I like this guy.

So it wasn't love at first sight.

But I fell in love with him very quickly.

Just absolute madness comes with the American Dream,

Dusty Rhodes.

And she was game.

A man who has figuratively set the wrestling world

on fire, Mr. Soul, Mr. Charisma, Mr. Dusty Rhodes.

287 pounds of sweet soul.

I have wined and dined with kings and queens.

But I slept in an alley and dined on pork and beans.

And everybody here's dined on pork and beans

one time in their life.

I reach for a star, reached for a dream.

Talk about the American Dream, superstar Billy Graham,

the gold around your waist will be mine.

In the late '70s, Dusty had proven himself

as an attraction.

And all promoters wanted to be able to bring

that draw to their town.

Dusty worked primarily in Florida.

But he had started doing different shows

around the country.

We have another capacity crowd, some 22,000 people

jamming Madison Square Garden.

You want to headline Madison Square Garden.

Madison Square Garden is the Mecca.

Here comes superstar Billy Graham,

the reigning Worldwide Wrestling Federation

heavyweight champion.

And the roar of the crowd now is for the American Dream,

and it's for Mr. Dusty Rhodes.

[music playing]

Superstar Billy Graham and Dusty Rhodes,

two of the most charismatic individuals,

clashing for the first time in Madison Square Garden.

That was magic.

Graham has never seen moves like that before.

[crowd cheering]

The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, sort of a roly-poly type

statuesque compared to Superstar Graham.

Whoa, baby.

Physically and aesthetically, couldn't be more opposite.

However, they both played an integral part

in just the evolution of the business,

where it went to a little more entertainment.

Dusty Rhodes was my only reason at the time

to want to be a wrestler.

But then when superstar Billy Graham

climbed on the second rope and hit that double bicep,

I went, whoa, I want to be just like that guy.

So now, I wondered what the possibilities

would be to end up looking like that,

but wrestling with Dusty Rhodes's charisma.

I wonder if that could be possible?

It is possible.

The three matches with him there, so special.

The matches were amazing.

Graham with a rope wrapped around the throat

of Dusty Rhodes.

Andy Warhol, Steinbrenner, Halston, Cheryl Tiegs,

Peter Beard, all in attendance in the audience,

Edgar Winter, Bette Midler, all in the audience.

[bell dings]

Didn't want to leave the ring because of the goosebumps

and what I was feeling at that moment.

After the matches, we went out to celebrate with all

of our new friends, lot of fun.

When you went to Studio 54, there

was just this crazy cast of characters, artists, singers.

And they loved Dusty.

Back then, it was the rare soul who liked pro wrestling not

only for who would win or lose, but also for the joy

of the spectacle of it.

And it says so much about Dusty Rhodes's talent and his ability

to connect with an audience.

Dusty met Andy Warhol a couple of times,

and you know, birds of a feather.

I liked the lifestyle.

I wasn't a conventional kind of girl.

So it appealed to me.

We dated for a while.

Then we moved in together about a year.

What was important to me wasn't the fact

that he'd been divorced.

I was more concerned about what kind of father he was.

You can't love a man if he's a crappy father.

We had gone out to Austin to visit Dustin and Kristin.

And just out of the blue, he asked me to marry him.

And I said yes because I did want to get married.

But up until that point, I really hadn't thought about it.

I was happy with things the way they were.

So we got married.

My mom was suddenly a step mom.

I think that was natural for her because in her family,

there's lots of people.

When we got married, Dustin and Kristin were very young.

We would see them whenever we could.

We would have them on holidays and in the summer.

But it was a long distance relationship, absolutely.

That's how it went.

Getting there to Tampa, seeing the horses, seeing the pool,

swimming in the pool, seeing dad occasionally, not a lot.

I didn't want to go somewhere else

and me not be around him anymore.

I wanted to go where he was going.

No, he wasn't home a lot.

But in some strange way, I had an understanding.

And I think, again, it goes back to me just

admiring the vision that he had and what a great person that he

was.

Dusty Rhodes has achieved victory her

at Madison Square Garden.

The notoriety that came from Superstar Billy Graham Dusty

Rhodes matches helped me prepare myself for Harley Race.

The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight title

was the ultimate goal.

NWA World Heavyweight champions held the championship

for several years.

And to defeat the champion and actually

lay claim to being a World Heavyweight Champion

was a huge deal.

Dusty, what was going through your mind at that moment?

Well, it was serious pulling out all his stuff.

He felt that at this point, he was going to put me away.

And it fell into a bionic elbow.

Right here, I will reach back and become World's Heavyweight

Wrestling Champion with that blow right there.

That is history.

[crowd cheering]

In that moment, you're riveted.

And you do think that winning is possible

when all the odds tell us that winning is not possible.

That is activated by Dusty Rhodes

being able to embody the American Dream.

He considered the world championship

to be the highest honor.

Can't get him to say that wrestling was fake.

You can't.

And it's because it's not.

That moment wasn't.

And when you take it that seriously,

the fans take you seriously.

And they support you.

They're crying with you.

They're cheering with you.

And that would parlay in the next big step in his career.

This is an example for every man, woman,

and child, believe in a dream.

Have a dream.

Have a way to get it.

Hold on to it.

And shoot for the sky.

Because I have been to the mountaintop and it

will take a hell of a man to knock me off.

To my left, the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes.

And it's most unusual that we're here in an empty arena

because Dusty Rhodes fills arenas.

The man of the hour, the man with the power.

I am the hitmaker, the record breaker.

In the early '80s, he'd become a big star.

Who are you hoping to win the World Title tonight?

Oh, I want Dusty.

The little plumber's son who come out of the ditch

and became so sweet.

Can you dig it?

Became so sweet, yeah, it's on fire.

You better believe it's on fire.

When Vince was looking at his expansion,

Vince looked at Dusty Rhodes and saw Dusty

as the guy to make what it has become today.

That is electrified funk.

One of Dusty's biggest attributes,

and I don't know if this is the proper term these days,

but just balls.

Because for him to say no, walking away

from that top spot, he just had a gut feeling.

Dusty always wanted to produce wrestling.

So he went to the Carolinas for Jim Crockett.

This is the most down home situation

in the world of wrestling today, the National Wrestling

Alliance.

He got to produce TV shows, promote

matches, and got to wrestle.

There was just more opportunity for what Dusty wanted to do,

even though when we moved to Charlotte, it was a wasteland.

At the time, Crockett Promotions was kind of

like a mouthful of oatmeal with no sugar.

There were some good, quality people there.

But they didn't have something to spice it all up.

And Dusty, he was a dreamer of epic proportion.

He saw things on a huge scale.

This is a night everybody will remember,

wrestling history will be made.

He really was a genius.

All the [bleep] he invented over the years, from The War Games,

to Starrcade.

Starrcade '83, this is the wrestling event of all time.

Then of course, Great American Bash, on tour, man.

And we hired everybody from George Jones

to Waylon Jennings.

I'm looking forward to being a part of the Great American

Bash.

Went on the road.

And it worked.

We sold out everywhere.

Rock and roll.

Oh, baby.

The business started taking off.

And then they got on TBS.

So their show was going in more and more homes.

All of a sudden, you're reaching a mass audience.

So a kid in New York City like myself

could watch this very regional carnival enterprise.

And I remember being 10, 11 years old watching

Dusty Rhodes versus Ric Flair.

And I'd never seen anything like this before.

And this is the moment that we've all

been waiting for right here.

It's the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It's Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

It's one of the great rivalries in the history of sports

entertainment.

He doesn't like me getting ahead.

And that hurts me right here for him to get ahead.

The ultimate bad guy and the ultimate blue collar guy.

We just had that magic, man.

We loved to interview against each other

and became a real competition.

I don't put values in the same thing Ric Flair does.

The Rolex wearin' diamond ring wearin'--

I'm the son of a plumber.

I was raised in Austin, Texas.

Kiss stealing, woo, wheeling, dealing.

--had anything unless I fought for it.

Limousine riding, jet flying son of a gun.

Unless I got down on my knees and went for it.

It is so hard to be humble when you're looking like Ric Flair.

There goes Flair over the top rope.

Both of them wanted to be the number one entertainer.

The one upsmanship, definitely, definitely, it's there.

Smashed into that steel ring post.

He has got a bad cut.

He could depict knowledge that was not common today.

It was very much a part of the craft

of what we did for the most theatrical effect

that we could get.

He has stopped the match.

He has stopped it because of the cut on the eye.

Wait a second.

Ric Flair, if you call this a victory,

you need to go home and kiss your mama.

This ain't no victory.

This ain't over.

Dusty looked at pro wrestling just like a movie.

It was cinema.

It was this long tale that didn't just include the moment.

Look what Ric Flair is doing.

He is padlocking that cage.

So Dusty Rhodes is helpless.

Not only that, he cannot be held by anyone from the outside.

Seeing the adult nature of these conflicts,

this felt like adults were fighting with their fists

over big issues.

I was at ringside, Bob.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Down he goes on Dusty Rhodes.

And right now, everybody is in a panic

right now, because see, Tony, too, a lot of concern

for this injury.

It was real.

And I believed in it.

They broke my dad's leg.

That's how they portrayed it.

And they weren't going to have anybody saying this was phony.

This is why wrestling in the '80s

was so awesome because everything was real.

Dusty Rhodes brought that sensibility

that you needed to not just what was happening in the ring,

but what's happening in the locker room, what's

happening in the parking lot.

It was like a reality series.

And you needed to see this week because it explained last week.

And then you needed to watch next week because it

would explain this week.

So really, it sounds like Dusty, if you want to be ready,

you're going to have to do exactly what he tells you

when he tells you.

There's no doubt, David, that I have to do what he tells me.

One day, I saw the cast in his closet.

And I'm like, what the--

and it's got a big slit down the middle.

And that's how he would get it on

and wore it around the house.

And he kayfabed his own kids.

Ladies and gentlemen, you all know that Dusty Rhodes

has been injured.

Well, we want to welcome back tonight Dusty

Rhodes for his first interview since his injury.

Here is the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes.

And Dusty, your fans welcome you back, man.

Think about that period in the '80s, what

was happening in US society.

The biggest shows were Dynasty and Dallas.

But there was an underbelly underneath that in US

society at the time.

And that was working class people, Black and white,

particularly union, who were seeing their lives

and living standards utterly eviscerated, if not destroyed.

He put hard times on Dusty Rhodes and his family.

You don't know what hard times are, daddy.

Hard times are when the textile workers around this country

are out of work.

They got four or five kids and can't pay their wages,

can't buy their food.

Hard times are when the autoworkers are out of work.

And they tell them go home.

And hard times are when a man has worked at a job 30 years,

30 years, they give him the watch, kick him in the butt,

and say, hey, a computer took your place, daddy.

That's hard times.

That's hard times.

We're at this point where companies

are thinking about how do they replace unionized labor.

And the reality is the idea of achieving the American dream is

starting to slip away.

And Ric Flair, you put hard times on this country

by taking Dusty Rhodes out.

That's hard times.

Dusty was the son of a plumber.

I was the guy born with the golden spoon.

And it's basically the truth.

My dad was a doctor.

His dad was a plumber.

Dusty was just saying [bleep] to me.

Nature Boy Ric Flair, the World Heavyweight Title

belongs to these people.

I will reach out right now.

I want you at home to know my hand is touching your hand.

What makes that promo so special,

it dips into the anger and the disillusionment that we feel.

But it also asks us to reach for something

greater, to reach out to him, but also to reach out

to each other.

Let me leave you with this.

One way to hurt Ric Flair is to take

what he cherishes more than anything in the world.

That's the World's Heavyweight Title.

I'm gonna take it.

I've been there twice.

This time, when I take it, daddy, I'm

going to take it for you.

Let's gather for it.

Don't let me down now.

For an interview to be amazing, the person

giving that interview has to believe it.

And that is really the secret to his success.

Is he really was the American Dream.

I can't say that I'm going to walk through my house

and show the camera all the fine, great things

that I've earned in this profession.

But there's one thing when I walk through my house

that I see every day of my life.

She's about that high.

She's two years old.

And I got two other ones, too.

Dusty had missed out on so much and Dustin and Kristin's life.

He never talked about it.

But I know it's something that just weighed heavy

on his heart.

When Teil was born, her birth was like a second chance

at fatherhood.

And when Cody was born, we never went anywhere

that we didn't take our kids.

Dustin came to live with us the summer

before his junior year of high school.

He just wanted to be around his dad, period.

But he wasn't doing well in school.

I think Dusty saw Dustin as being like this great football

player.

He had been offered some football scholarships.

But you've got to have the grades as well.

And that bothered Dusty.

Dusty wanted his kids to go to college.

He was worried about what Dustin was going to do

and did not want Dustin to get in the wrestling business.

He was trying to keep me away from it

because it's a tough life.

You're looking at the greatest wrestlers alive today, three--

oh, what do we got here, huh?

Ric Flair versus Dusty Rhodes, this was years of struggle

by Dusty Rhodes.

Look at this, the World Heavyweight Championship.

1986, Great American Bash, Ric Flair

is legitimately the man, the man.

And Dusty, throughout their rivalry, it's loss, after loss,

after loss.

But from a wrestling perspective,

those weren't losses.

That is the definition of the chase.

Dusty was like an open nerve.

Dusty was your pain.

Dusty was vulnerability.

Here he goes, Ramsay, right into the fist.

Down goes Ric Flair.

People needed to see him come out on top.

They needed to feel like they were coming out

on top, finally.

Small package, hands Ric Flair-- he did it.

Dusty did it.

Dusty Rhodes has just won the match.

Ladies and gentlemen, the winner and new World Heavyweight

Champion, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

People are losing their mind because they

were in on the chase with him.

They loved Dusty so much.

To have him finally beat Ric Flair, to have him do it

in a steel cage, I mean, it did amazing things

for Dusty Rhodes's legend.

You see them working these huge arenas and huge stadiums

and selling them out.

They're on top of the world.

Very important that the NWA stayed in lockstep

with what the WWE was doing.

Depending upon which side you're on is how you view things.

In the South, looking at it from that point of view,

it's like, man, we're doing great.

We've got a hell of an opportunity here.

Then when you get up to New York and looking

at the scope of that, you realize,

oh my God, they don't have a chance.

There's a whole other world out there

that had never heard of Jim Crockett Promotions.

And what Jim Crockett Promotions failed to recognize

was that other audience.

It was a family-owned business.

And we're running around like rock stars

and should have had a much greater accounting principle.

Crockett sold the business to TBS.

And Dusty got the call from Vince to come work for him.

Dusty Rhodes coming in.

Now what right does this guy have to step in the ring?

Dusty Rhodes starting to come out and prevent what was

going to be an interrogation.

It was a little difficult at first

because Dusty saw himself as Hulk Hogan.

Dusty looked in the mirror and saw Hulk.

We didn't have that eyesight Dusty had.

We looked at him and went be the common man.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

At that juncture in his career, he

was no longer a spring chicken.

He wasn't on the top of his game.

So I wanted to go with more fun.

We did some vignettes of Dusty, so entertaining.

Have no fear, the son of plumber's here.

What's going on, baby?

Thank God you're here.

Woo.

Hey, aren't you?

This man is America.

Dusty Rhodes.

[music - "common man boogie"]

He's just a common man working hard with his hands.

He's got the polka dots.

Oh, I love it.

Vince said polka dots.

What?

Dusty, we need-- he needs polka dots, yellow polka

dots everywhere.

We think he's nuts.

What can I say?

I'm into polka dots, the Dream getting down.

It was the difference between seeing

somebody I looked up to and respected and seeing a cartoon.

We lost an authentic working class voice.

That ended the day the yellow polka dots came on.

I'm just a common man.

I was mixed about seeing Dusty Rhodes in the polka dots.

I was kind of heartbroken.

Because I wanted the American Dream Dusty Rhodes

with band-aids all over his head, bleeding like a pig

every night, doing the hard times promos.

He didn't care.

He was so glad to get the call to come to the WWE.

He would have worn a diaper.

As long as he was getting a big check, polka dots are great.

There are fans to this day who will

try to convince me that they made

a mockery of the American Dream.

And maybe it was even punishment for having

been in the opposition or not coming

the multiple times that he had been presented the opportunity

to go.

I don't see that at all.

Whether it started out as a rib, I was from that school of I

want to make this work.

I want to put this back in somebody's face.

It was a time the WWE was really breaking through major pop

culture.

And Dusty was absolutely a part of that.

He was always that guy, you give it to me,

and I'll make it something.

And Dusty's role was to make the people jump,

to make the fans get up out of their seats.

When he was playing the polka dot role,

everybody still gravitated to Dusty Rhodes.

It was just 18 months of his career.

And it was likely the most money he'd ever made.

And I don't think it was a practical joke at all.

And if it was, he threw it back in their face.

And they were smart enough to let him throw it back

in their face and run with it.

He's got more than sapphire in his corner.

He's got his son Dustin.

And right there, I love that.

I was there for all these moments, man.

And yes, of course I want to be a pro wrestler.

And I really want to do this.

And I'm going to do this, whether you like it or not dad.

And he did not want that for me.

He wanted me to go to college.

But you know what I wanted more?

I wanted to be like my dad.

And he said, Dustin, you want this business,

I'm going to let you do it.

This is my son.

And the legacy of the American Dream

lives in this kid's heart.

And what he don't know, we're going to teach him.

And because Dustin Rhodes right here

it's getting ready to get funky like a monkey in Florida.

He breaks me into the business.

This is the first time that I am hearing what pro wrestling is

from the inside.

Dustin had been in Florida and felt

that Dustin had the chops at that point

in his career, young, still had a lot to learn.

But why not?

Let's give him a shot and bring him in as Dusty's son.

It was real.

Wait a minute, what is this?

We've got Ted DiBiase on one side.

We've got Virgil on the other side flanking Dustin Rhodes.

Wait a minute.

Whoa, did you see that?

Oh no, oh no.

Mark, look what they're doing to Dusty Rhodes' son, Dustin.

My first thought was like, this could get very interesting very

quickly, will Dusty Rhodes be granted the freedom

to tell the story of his odyssey with his son, Dustin Rhodes.

He swings at me like this, straight onto my head.

And the two corners hit me in the head and busted me open,

I mean, wide open.

But I felt so alive.

Oh no, Dusty Rhodes is covering his son, trying to protect him.

I'm just underneath him, oh, my boy.

And he's acting it out.

And he's crying.

And people are feeling it in the arena.

And he's right there with me, you know?

He missed a lot of Dustin's young life.

And there was things he needed from his dad

that he didn't get.

For the first time, I think, in my life,

I felt connected to him.

It was probably some of the most fun I ever had

because I went outside the box.

But as time went on in that year and a half, I got tired of it

at the end because it wasn't me.

Boy, it's great to be back with WCW.

I'm talking about the--

'91, '92, '93, Dusty's the head of creative.

He wrote the stories.

He hired the talent.

He set the direction of the company

from a creative perspective.

He had just stepped out of actively

being a full-time wrestler.

And he was more of an executive producer.

And it meant he was with me a great deal of my childhood.

He was our football coach when I was in middle school.

He supported me in everything.

He made me feel like the most special girl.

It was an easy relationship.

But there's no balance to having the world and having a family.

We didn't suffer for it.

But I think on that climb, my sister Kristin and Dustin,

I think that they did.

My father loved us all.

And he loved his kids first and foremost.

It's the time and space between all of us that's the enemy.

Come here, Dustin.

I want everybody to bear with me just for a minute.

I want to talk to my son.

Dustin and Kristin could have not spoken to me again as long

as they live.

And I would not have blamed them.

I did nothing whatsoever to be a part of their lives.

I made no attempt to be that at a young age.

When you were born, I went off to seek my fame and fortune.

I neglected you.

My favorite Dusty Rhodes interview I cannot watch

without being too deeply affected is the interview he

had with my brother.

He lays it on me with this promo that

is just hair standing on your arms type stuff

to make you feel something was real.

I'm terrified.

I mean, you know, you're thrown into national television.

You're young.

You're greener than goose [bleep],, yeah, terrified.

My dad's been doing this for 20 something, 30 years.

It's easy for him.

But all these people are staring at me now.

And my dad's talking to me.

And I'm listening.

How do I act?

I don't know what to do except just listen.

When you walk behind and you're not a leader,

then the view never changes, baby.

The view never changes, baby.

The view never changes.

You have the ability to be the World's Heavyweight Wrestling

Champion.

There is not a great athlete at your age in this sport.

To bring that to life within the context of a story

and the real emotion that manifests because of it, wow.

I'm asking you if you can carry this old out of shape,

old bent out, old spindly-legged man--

I want to be your partner.

To offer to be his partner--

that's like every kid wants that.

And Dustin deserved that.

He did.

I can't watch it.

But it's very special.

The Rhodes are blood.

I don't need a handshake.

What I need now from you is just a hug and a kiss

to seal the deal, baby.

[crowd cheers]

I had a ton of people over at the house.

And I felt like he was going to cry.

And I could hear it in his voice.

And I thought, oh, this is bad.

I don't think I want to watch--

I don't think I can watch this.

And I had to leave the room.

And I remember them being like, it's not real.

It's not real.

It's fake.

I'm like, OK, buddy.

I got it.

I mean, it's really just beautiful.

There were plenty of people in that

crowd who had problems with their dad or their dad

had problems with the son.

And I don't think there was anything

my dad was ever that proud of.

Here he comes.

Here we go.

Dustin will tell you, I always wanted to be like my dad.

Those are hard shoes to fill.

And I think he always felt a tremendous amount of pain

and pressure that just built, and built, and just stayed

with him.

Dustin got married to Terry.

Dusty thought it was a very bad decision

and was very vocal about it, which

I think is where they went their separate ways at that point.

I think that Dustin had a lot of resentment

from when he was growing up.

And his wife just played into all of that.

I was made to choose a woman over my father.

And I chose the woman.

I was mad.

And I was angry.

I didn't want anything to do with my father.

I didn't talk to my dad for five years.

It was heartbreaking because he suffered greatly because of it.

During those five years, I wanted nothing else

than to do something different.

I was tired of being Dustin Rhodes.

[breathes in]

Goldust.

We're sitting there watching Dustin.

And Dusty is just floored because he didn't have a clue.

All he knew was that Dustin was going to go to work at the WWE.

And we all just looked at each other.

Dustin was Goldust.

What does American Dream think of Goldust?

Well, I really don't have any idea.

It's been about 2 years, 2 and 1/2 years

since I've talked to him.

Because of some mistakes he'd made with Dustin,

Dustin was right in being upset with Dad.

He was.

Where he wasn't right was letting the entire world know.

I know you guys haven't talked.

Maybe it's not a bad opportunity to say

what you got on your mind, say what, at least,

you want to say.

About what?

I can-- what's to say?

My initial impression of that character

was that it was a slap in the face.

It was an insult to Dusty and to Dustin.

It's the dream.

It's a nightmare.

[inaudible]

He's been-- I guess he's Dust Dust tonight.

Look at that.

The danger going into a real life back story

is they go into a story and everybody's

willing to pull back the curtain this much.

Everybody is cool with that.

But after a certain amount of time,

you want the audience to lean into with you,

you go from that much of the story

to that much of the story.

And now, you're exposing things and talking about things

that you never really thought you would or intended to.

And you don't realize how much it's going to affect you

or the other people involved until after you do it.

And by then, it's too late.

Oh, here we go.

Woo!

Those things were way too far.

It was not easy because deep down I wanted him.

And I know he did too.

But we're both hardheaded.

And we both didn't pick up the phone.

My dad was depressed.

He was-- he seemed really low.

I'd find him sitting out on our porch, just like so down.

And he'd say, you know, I was never a good father to Dustin.

I should have done this.

I should have done that.

It was really painful time, very painful time in our life.

During that time, my mom just kind of instinctively

knew that she wasn't going to get to see Dustin's daughter

Dakota.

I remember the last time we saw her.

I remember she cried on the way home.

This falling out meant he also cut me and Teil out.

And that creates the same resentment

that you were fighting against.

This young fellow, when he was eight years old,

was digging ditches for his dad who was a plumber out in Texas.

And he told our next inductee there is

and can be an American Dream.

The American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

[crowd cheers]

I remember as a kid, we would have

conversations where he treated me like one of the boys

in wrestling.

And when you're the biggest fan of your dad, I mean,

that's like the ultimate gift on Earth to have that.

Cody was dressed in the boots, and the jeans,

and the Western shirt.

And it was important to Dusty to hand that to him.

That was his boy.

I'm just standing there holding this Hall of Fame trophy.

And I thought it was the greatest thing ever in my life.

Part of the reason I went on this vision quest

with Amateur Wrestling and had such success,

I loved that we were together with wrestling.

Eventually, I fell in love with pro wrestling.

There was nothing else that I would ever want to do.

I want to thank my children, Teil, and Cody, Kristin,

and Dustin Rhodes.

You want me to elaborate?

It wasn't on my radar, honestly.

I just-- I wasn't there.

And then grow up, you see what truly is

important to you in your life.

After not speaking to my dad for five years,

we go with Barry Windham to Jacksonville.

And I pull up in the parking lot.

And Barry says your dad is here, you know that right?

I'm like, OK, whatever.

He walks up to me.

And I don't know what to expect.

And he walks up.

And then at the last like six feet, he walks a little faster.

And he puts his--

he basically tackles me.

And he hugs me.

And I hugged him.

And we hugged and didn't say a word.

Immediately, everything that was on his shoulders and mine-

dropped.

I was little.

So I know that there were issues of pops and dad.

But there was never anything bad that I knew of.

I didn't learn about that until I was much older.

But he was so happy that he was back.

And I don't think that either of them

wanted to think too much about what happened.

They just want it to be over that.

He loved us all the same.

He really did.

And that was a hard lesson for a young--

going into his teenage years me to learn.

But my dad wanted his son back.

That was it.

This is where the big boys play, let me tell you something.

There is no better anywhere in the world than WCW.

As head of creativomething br

than most people saw when he looked at the wrestling

product.

He got him in a Power Slam.

We got it!

Simmons got it!

Simmons has won the match.

Simmons is the champion.

He worked for Ron Simmons to be the first Black champion.

He was pretty true to this vision that

made it possible for us to expand

this idea of the American dream.

And that right there just tells you

a whole lot about Dusty Rhodes.

Dusty was the guy to step up front

and say, no, this is the guy who should be our champion.

Opportunity knocks for WCW, the showcase

of professional wrestling.

But Dusty had a hard time adjusting

to a corporate environment.

Dusty just really didn't do the best

with not being his own boss.

And he had his hands in cuffs a lot

because of the corporate structure of Turner and World

Championship Wrestling.

But Dusty was a part of the team that

was finally beating WWE from '96 until about the end of '98.

That was a fun ride.

And then Vince McMahon started to turn it around again.

That was less fun.

And ultimately, led to the end of WCW.

I think at that point, Dusty was kind of just done.

One of the things about growing up in a culture of poverty,

it instills within you a value of being really present

oriented.

He never had that ability to look to the future,

to plan for the future, to prepare for the future.

My dad's motto was always if I have one dollar in my pocket,

I'm spending two.

Spend your money, you'll make more later.

You don't need to do that.

Don't do that.

My dad always said, you come through life one time,

you might as well pass by on a Cadillac.

And buddy, I passed by a Cadillac.

Overspending, got behind the IRS.

I'm talking about a dollar in my pocket.

We were very broke.

And he did everything in his power

to make it so that we didn't know.

I do know it was incredibly difficult on him and my mother.

I know that they almost didn't make it.

My mom had gone back to school to be a nurse,

and to get a job, and to work in a hospital.

And I thought at the time, she just wanted a career.

Her kids were older.

I didn't realize how dire it was.

This is ECW!

Paul Heyman gave me a job when I was broke.

And he knew I was on my ass.

The one, the only, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

The worst part is where a wrestler loses the business

completely.

He's used to being out in front of a crowd.

Used to making a consistent living.

It's not an easy ride when you're down in wrestling.

It's really hard to pull the nose back up on it.

He did some work for Paul's promotion.

He did independent promotions.

And things were just getting worse, and worse,

and worse financially.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time

to induct the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

Please welcome his two sons, Dustin Runnels and Cody Rhodes.

He didn't need a pit.

He didn't need a parlor.

He didn't need a shop.

All Dusty Rhodes needed was a mic.

And one thing that he passed in myself, my brother,

and my family is that nothing or nobody

is bigger than this business.

I do remember Cody at the Hall of Fame

and realizing right then and there

that we had a future superstar.

Stay away from my dad.

You got a feisty one here.

What's the matter, Dream?

You can't stick up for yourself?

Even back then, you could see that he had the Rhodes family

magic.

There is this respect factor for this lineage.

At that point, I was not ready for the mantle

of responsibility that comes with being

a member of this family.

But he knew I was going to make it on the level

that he had made it on.

Too often than not, some of our old timers, some

of our Hall of Famers, they get a bad rap

for not necessarily being the best family men.

And I am here to tell you that is a grave misunderstanding.

And if there was a Hall of Fame for fathers,

you could bet he would be in that one as well.

Our father, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

[cheers]

When you go back and you look at our industry,

you look at driving down the road, night

after night, trying to make a town, getting $25.

That's hard times.

But if I do that to make it good times for the fans

that pay their money to see us perform each and every night.

[cheers]

Wrestling industry is about people brought really high

and then brought really low.

In that regard, Dusty Rhodes's story is not exceptional.

But that he was able to have another act after that,

that was incredible.

At the time, we were trying to find

the next generation of talent.

And we knew that Dusty could be very helpful with that.

It was so surreal.

Here's Dusty Rhodes interviewing with me, like, of course, you

should have a job here, Dusty.

He was really excited to develop and train our talent,

not only to be able to perform in the ring,

but to be able to cut a good promo,

to be able to tell a good story.

Dusty was really the first person

to ever talk to me about promos.

There is an escape.

And I'm going to find it.

No matter what it takes.

We've cultivated a different side of my personality

that I didn't know that I had.

Dusty was always about being himself.

And he made me understand from the get go that you're fine.

You're perfect the way you are.

I didn't feel like I belonged.

But Dusty loved his broken toys, as he called them.

And he really took the time to really nourish me.

When you think of the great women's wrestlers

who have changed the times, you have

to talk about the American Dream Dusty Rhodes and his ability

to mold this generation of talent.

A lot of people deserve credit for it, without question.

But Dusty Rhodes is one of the people who made that happen.

But don't do it all four times.

You know what I'm saying?

Just a little bit.

Just enough.

He loved that job.

He loved working with those kids.

When he was coaching at NXT, him and my mom

both seemed so much happier, so much more settled.

Later in life, when I look at their relationship,

she brought him to a place that I never

thought he would ever be.

Just a deep appreciation for family, and I

think he saw an opportunity to right some wrongs.

What was important to me was the relationship

that I had with him at that moment.

He would call me every single day.

He didn't like being an old man.

But he really did like being a grandpa.

Being grandparents you just do all the fun

stuff, which was kind of his lane, anyway,

whatever you want all the time, Christmas every day.

That was kind of his brand.

He was a great man who circumnavigated through life

and found his path, and found his way, and figured it out.

But no matter what, he still wanted to go out and conquer

the world.

[crowd chants]

Having two sons you are proud of,

two sons that you love with all your heart

is what's best for business.

We recognized that we had this amazing opportunity

to have Dusty, and Cody, and Dustin all in the ring

at the same time and have a storyline that

really did pit two families against one another.

I mean, it doesn't get much more real than that.

You can give this job to your glorious baby boy,

the one who's always done everything absolutely right.

Or you can give this job to the son

that you neglected all those years, traveling on the road.

Stephanie, you can go straight to hell.

[cheers]

I was worried about him.

He was starting to look really frail.

Stay down.

But he was excited to be in the ring with both his sons.

It was a dream come true.

There is no length I will not go to protect this family's

future.

And yeah, we're not the perfect family.

Tonight, we fight for our lives.

Tonight, we fight for our family.

My dad didn't like being seen on camera

when he got older because he didn't want to be remembered

as a fat, old man.

He wanted to be young.

The Dream is going to stand in there.

And he got the belt loose.

It was the first wrestling moment

I'd had in years where I was like, this is great.

This is so good.

It was magic.

[inaudible]

Goldust.

It was crazy, crazy loud.

The people were all about it.

And the match was fire, man.

Here comes Cody.

Cody Rhodes.

Me and Dustin are in there, trying

to have this five star classic.

And it is.

You can feel the tension.

You knew it was special.

But the crowd literally comes up off their feet

when he threw his hat at Dean Ambrose.

It's the American Dream.

Come get you some right here.

Yo!

The American Dream.

Funky like a monkey.

Dusty Rhodes has got this place standing.

Do you believe in miracles?

He did what he does best.

He drew people in and made them feel.

And he's the best at that.

Goldust.

It's up to you, Cody.

Cody's got him!

Crossroads!

Crossroads!

This is for your family.

The Rhodes have done it.

The Rhodes have done it.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust.

The Rhodes family is home again.

The biggest victory in the history

of this legendary family.

I play it back in my head, and I wasn't feeling really well.

I was dealing with some issues, fighting them off.

But my God, it was just amazing.

It's something that I will never forget.

It was a very huge moment.

It was like watching this great performer

have one last stand, one last moment.

That was the one and only time the Rhodes were a whole.

And I didn't know that that was it.

He loved this place.

He definitely did.

Yeah.

Look, we have some friends today.

Always the longhorns.

I never told you this story.

But he got me a cattle chart.

And I studied it.

It was probably this big.

And it had every Charolais.

It had--

Oh my gosh, I think I remember that.

I had to learn every breed of cattle.

Oh my God.

And he tested me on it constantly.

I think, secretly, he wanted me to be--

He wants you--

Some bull rider or some [bleep].

Yes.

I miss him, honey.

I know, sweetie.

I know.

I go to this event in New York and everyone's there.

And when I seen Dusty, I couldn't believe.

He'd probably lost 60, 70 pounds at that time

from what I knew him as.

Something was going on.

But he never told me what it was.

He was having these mysterious signs of illness.

But he hated doctors.

And he felt like if he didn't go to the doctor,

he wouldn't get sick.

It's like he hadn't aged in forever.

And then it was like all those years just

beating his body just did catch up with him.

Tonight, I wined and dined with kings and queens

and slept in alleys and dined on pork and beans.

Dusty, thank you so much.

To see him kind of fall apart in front of us was hard.

I didn't know yet just how bad it was about to get.

One day, he woke up really early in the morning.

He said, something's wrong.

And he collapsed.

He just collapsed.

I was frantic.

Doctor comes in and says that he has an infection.

And it was just eating his liver up.

I remember talking to the--

I said, y'all need to come.

You know, I got there.

And it just all went downhill so fast.

He called Dustin and I into the room.

And he asked if he could sit up.

And I couldn't pull him up by myself.

And my brother stood on the other side and pulled him up.

And as much as I'm hard on Dustin,

there's not a better son.

I knew what that moment was.

He was awake.

So I said, are you OK?

Yeah, I love you.

And you know, I said all my things

that I needed to say to him.

And he said them back.

And I go get Kristin in the airport.

And I drive back and he had already closed his eyes.

When I got to the hospital, he was already in that state of--

he had already--

I mean, I didn't get to speak to him.

So no, I didn't get to make it there to have words with him.

He died.

It was 30 hours from the time I called

the ambulance until he died.

It was awful.

It was just awful.

[music playing]

This week, this industry lost a legend, the American Dream

Dusty Rhodes.

He gave everything he had.

It was his passion.

To everybody on this stage, we lost family.

[bell rings]

It's over.

Dusty Rhodes has achieved victory here

in Madison Square Garden.

The winner and new World Heavyweight Champion,

the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

[bell rings]

He hated funerals.

But I do think he would have been touched by all the people

that came.

These giants that you grew up with.

And you haven't seen them in so long.

And they're all there.

I've always been impressed with how revered he was from--

even from the old days.

I would go to events and I would just

watch wrestlers ask him for his advice,

I mean, internalize every word.

I miss him terribly.

But I know he is not in pain now.

And now, I guarantee it, he's getting funky

like a monkey with the angels in heaven.

His professional identity, it claims

so much of who we think he is.

But no, it's a minuscule part.

This is a cowboy of the Old Republic.

He's a master orator who spit fire.

But if you posed the question to him, fame or family,

it was always family.

I was there at the end.

And the last thing he said on this Earth was my mom's name.

And I'm glad they got that.

The important parts of our lives were not

the wrestling or any of that.

We had a family.

We had a life.

And Dusty gave us a good life.

[cow moos]

Come on, baby.

God, you just sounded like dad when you said that.

He loved this.

There's a special place out there where he visited.

It's just a field with a lot of longhorns.

And we thought it would be the perfect place to lay his ashes.

What happened to the little cross that was here?

It was right there.

We had to hang it up high.

So yeah.

I'm good.

Good.

I, of all the siblings, spent the least amount of time

with my dad.

And when you don't get that closure,

and when you don't get that time, it's not easy.

But there was no question in my mind that I loved my father.

And that my father loved me.

He knew.

He knew.

He knew.

We had differences.

But I always loved him.

It is very important to me that we, as a family,

come together and uphold our father's legacy because it

means something to this world.

It does.

Just one mystery remains.

Who will stand across the WrestleMania ring

from Seth "Freakin" Rolins?

We know it's an opponent--

My dad, it's more difficult because he won't see it.

But his thumbprints is all over.

Who's it gonna be?

[music playing]

My dad taught me so much.

And at this stage in my life, at 53 years old,

it is all about giving back.

What's up kids?

And I'm proud to teach the future superstars.

Cody Rhodes.

This is surreal.

High above the clouds, a son of a plumber

is grinning from ear to ear.

I had the best education in wrestling.

I can confidently say it's because I was Dusty's son.

When I see a change in them and they get it for the first time,

and you see it on their face, that's the payoff.

It's the payoff for me.

[inaudible]

He would love this.

He would be so proud.

I know he is.

Bionic elbow, like the American Dream.

I, in this moment, feel really connected to my dad.

That, I know he's there.

[crowd cheering]

This is a great one, too.

What's that face?

That's about it right there.

Look at those stirrups.

He was trying to prove to his dad.

No wait, what's the story?

Big Virgil cut him--

The story is that his dad cut him from his own team.

I don't believe that.

The reality is, I think--

Maybe benched him.

Maybe benched him, yeah.

Yeah, I mean you got to put your best hitters in.

Always a little bit of drama.

I've seen this one.

That was your coach.

Yeah, this is my coach.

So how was that with dad coaching?

Great motivator.

Motivator, sure.

However, his defensive scheme was genuinely very good.

So he had a second defense with all the really overweight kids,

the Jumbo World Order.

And he made them their own shirts.

That one is definitely one of my favorites.

I know we need to pick one.

For the foundation.

We just have to pick one?

As we do the website--

The Little League field.

I mean, I like that one.

The Dusty Rhodes Foundation is something

that my mom has started.

And it's perfect because one of the things

that encapsulated dusty was youth sports.

We've already given some money away to a baseball program

in North Carolina, which is an underserved community.

And we want to continue to partner with them.

But we want to do all the places that dad lived

and hopefully grow.

I mean, and it all stems back to here,

in here is what he didn't have, what he wanted.

The rules are everyone needs to be involved.

We'll all do it together.

And that's maybe his last wish, in a way,

that everyone get along and everyone carry this legacy

forward.

When I was a kid, we one day said, you're

going to be the American Dream.

You're going to fill a building.

There's going to be millions come

to see the American Dream, the greatest sports

attraction in the world today.

And that's true.

And you know it's true.

I am number one at what I do.

And it's going to be a good while, a long time, that I'm

going to stay number one.

From Austin, Texas weighing 280 pounds, Dirty Dusty Rhodes.

The fact that Dusty Rhodes is still influential

says something about his cultural resonance.

As long as people are struggling,

they will look to the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

Ask yourself was it worth the damn pain?

Was it worth the pain?

Dusty Rhodes did it better than all of us before us.

Oh, the bear hug.

When I went down, reaching up, the finger

went up, that's Dusty Rhodes all day long, brother.

I mean, when I was nine years old, I saw him do it.

I stole it then.

I used it for 30 years in the ring.

We gonna get funky like a monkey tonight, Teddy Long.

I learned a lot about having fun from Dusty Rhodes.

You know what you can kiss if you don't like what I'm saying.

Dusty had a way with people.

Dusty had a way with creating.

Dusty had a way of talking to you

that would catch you off guard, but also teach you a lesson.

Textile workers around this country are out of work.

They've got four or five kid.

Can't buy them food.

That's hard times.

That's hard times.

Greatest of all time.

We sold out everywhere.

He had a lot of respect from a lot of people and deserved.

The greatest sports attraction in the world today,

the little plumber's son who come out of the ditch

and became so sweet.

When you measure the whole work, I

don't think there'll ever be anybody to even come

close to what he accomplished.

Do I think I have lived the American dream is the question.

I would say I have.

How do you, the man, want to be remembered?

In the end, a good father.

That's the most important thing to me is a good husband

and a good father.

And that's the way I feel.

Peace out.