[1994-07-24-WCW-Saturday Night] Dusty and Dustin Rhodes

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is a famous and awesome angle, but I'll recap just for those unfamiliar. Bunkhouse Buck is having a squash against Larry Santo when Dusty Rhodes calmly walks in the ring behind Buck and drops some elbows on him. Terry Funk tries running out and Dustin gets in his shots. Meng then gets in the ring and is face to face with Dusty but a bunch of babyfaces fill the ring and separate them. This is followed by Dusty doing what could possibly be the best promo in history. I'll transcribe.

 

"Come here, Dustin. I want everybody to bear with me for just a minute. I wanna talk to my son in front of the whole world.

 

"When you were born, when you were a baby, when you were born, I went off to seek my fame and fortune. I neglected you. Then later on, when I became world's heavyweight champion, I neglected you. Then lately I became this corporate cowboy if you will, in public with a suit and tie on, and I neglected you. And when it came down to choose a partner, I was off in Hollywood and I neglected you.

 

"Let me tell you something -- Bunkhouse Buck, let me tell ya, Col. Parker, they all nothin' but chicken feeds, that's all they are, brother. Let me tell you something else. Terry Funk is nothing but a lowlife, watermelon thief, egg suckin' dog! And let me tell you something about Arn Anderson. Arn Anderson, my son offered up his innocence, and you paid him back in scorn. The hell with you, Arn Anderson! Arn Anderson has never been nothin' but a walk-behinder. And 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 greater athlete at your age in this sport. But I ... I want to ask you a favor. I wanna ask you a favor in front of ... in front of God and the whole world. I know that the Clash of Champions on August the 24th, you put your name on the dotted line. I don't want you to look for another partner. I don't want you to go and find another man. I don't want you to go out and get on your knees and beg another scum-suckin' pig to be your partner. I'm asking you if you can carry this ol' out of shape, old bent-out, old spinly legged man ... *I* wanna be your partner! I don't need no handshake because up there right now tonight, there's ... there's people with their brothers and sisters and their wives. They are blood! The Kennedys were blood. The Earps were blood. 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."

 

Even the transcript doesn't do full justice to the promo, which has him commanding the crowd in an amazing way. There is this incredible moment where the crowd pops after he says he wants to be Dustin's partner. But Dusty isn't ready for it yet, so he holds up his hand calmly and they immediately go quiet. THAT is a master. The emotion and delivery of all of this is phenomenal.

[Kevin Ridge]

Meng looks so badass here. He doesn’t back down from Dusty and the rest of babyfaces. But this segment is about Dusty’s promo which is fantastic. Yes Loss provides the transcript but you have to watch this to see both Dusty and Dustin’s emotion and the crowd reaction to all this.

[Exposer]

In my opinion, the greatest promo of all time.

[soup23]

In my opinion, the greatest promo of all time

[El-P]

Quite the great promo from Dusty. The last comeback of his I would care about.

[flyonthewall2983]

 

[PeteF3]

Well, Dusty may have just locked up Best Interview on the strength of this promo alone. He speaks in his real voice for most of this, and I have a feeling a lot of this talk about neglecting Dustin and being a "corporate cowboy" is coming from a real place.

[(BP)]

Always loved this so much. Dusty might be the only wrestler to ever lift from Bob Dylan for a promo.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Never seen this before. Don't know if it is the greatest promo of all time, but it moved me to tears when he said "All I need is a hug & a kiss." Pro wrestling is the best. Dusty is the best. The American Dream lives forever!

[flyonthewall2983]

I was watching the official WWE doc on Dusty today and this promo came up. So sad that not that long after this they didn't speak for several years. I'm learning the value of the time we have left with our parents, as a man in his mid-30's who wishes he had all the more time with them when it counted. Fortunately one has always come through. One hasn't always, and now the time left there may be limited. Time that I might be taking for granted on how limited it actually is, they could very well both be gone tomorrow. It really wasn't the clip of this promo in the doc that got to me, but the look on Dustin Runnels' face when he talks about those years they weren't talking. It's a pain I know, but have probably kept it too deep inside.

 

If nothing else, moments like this promo touch on how wrestling can (or, given where it stands now, could) be cathartic. Yeah, it's pre-determined, silly and lives firmly among the lowest common denominator. But sometimes it rises above, and when it does, it's beautiful.

[JKWebb]

I'm making my way through 1994 now, and I just watched this last night.  Of course, I have seen this before, and of course it holds up.  It's hands down the promo of the year and one of the best of all time.  It's really cool watching this now and thinking about the Dustin/Cody moment from Double or Nothing earlier this year.  Obviously, they are connected, and both very emotional.  Both moments will go down as one of the best in either promotions history, and they are landmarks for the Rhodes Family.  Incredible.