Dusty Rhodes

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Johnny Sorrow]

One of the greatest of all time. Great promos, incredible entertainer, great in ring pro wrestler, legendary matches, held audiences in the palm of his hand. Easy top ten.

[goodhelmet]

Top two talker of all time. Top 200 wrestler. I'll split the difference and say he would be my 101.

[JerryvonKramer]

So you chaps are considering promo ability in your criteria?

[goodhelmet]

No.

[JerryvonKramer]

Hmm, it sure looked that way.

[Timbo Slice]

So is the Texas Outlaws stuff any good? I liked the Superstar feud at MSG and I liked his JCP stuff some of the time, but I think the Texas Outlaws stuff will be the determining factor for me.

[goodhelmet]

Hmm, it sure looked that way.

 

It was a nice way of saying he won't be on my list but he is an awesome promo.

[MJH]

What Will said. To use the same comparison as Dylan, Hogan has a shot in the lower part of my list, Dusty doesn't.

[BillThompson]

Nope, Dusty is a guy I never got. Maybe there's some footage out there that could change my mind but he's a wrestler that never clicked with me. Even his promo work never truly engaged me, so no Dusty on my list, for anything.

[cheapshot]

Been watching a load of Dusty stuff this last 12 hours and I'd easily have him in my top 100.

[Karl]

Easily in my top 100 also...

[Ricky Jackson]

If you haven't seen them before check out his WWWF promos from 77-78 on the Dusty WWE DVD immediately. If that Dusty turned up in WWE today he would be the most over guy on the roster within days of his debut

[Jimmy Redman]

I love Dusty as a promo and a character, but sadly not in the ring. I WANT to like him in the ring, because I like him so much outside of it, but whenever I see him I just don't.

 

He's a weird guy to say "recommend me some matches" about, but honestly I'd like to know what recommendations there are. He's not a guy who's best matches are immediately obvious to someone like me.

[Loss]

He's better as a worker than he's being given credit for here, even if he's not elite. I don't think he's making my list, but he'd definitely be in my top 125 or 150, and it's possible with more viewing, I would have him in my top 100. The most recent match I watched of his was a title match against Flair in St. Louis on 01/01/82, which shows that he had a surprising amount of range as a wrestler.

[Matt D]

I think we'd be way higher on Dusty if we had his 70s heel work, from the tiny glimpses we do get.

[JerryvonKramer]

What glimpses are they? Don't think I've ever seen him In the Outlaw run. Is this early 70s AWA stuff?

[Matt D]

[Loss]

Dusty is an interesting one because he was definitely a gigantic star who was part of some successful and memorable moments after footage became more common, but we really caught his best days more than 60% joined in progress. There is footage of him when he was younger and of his babyface turn, but not nearly as much as I'd like to see.

[WingedEagle]

Not sure I could point to many Dusty classics, but do think the Flair match at Starrcade and perhaps a couple others are in that range. But I also enjoy just about every Dusty match I come across. His charisma kicks just about everything he touches north of watchable and is an underrated part of a slew of multi-man matches and brawls in Crockett and Midsouth. Absolute lock on my list. One of the few wrestlers, fair or unfair, where its near impossible to separate the in-ring from the out of ring because of sheer force of personality.

[Jimmy Redman]

For where I'm coming from, I really enjoyed the Flair Starrcade '85 match, but that's about it as far as liking Dusty matches. Didn't like the '84 match as much. I remember a Tully U.S. Title match being so-so. And I have this memory stuck in my head of a hideous Barry Windham match during his black glove phase that was so bad it turned me off both guys for a good while, and maybe I still haven't recovered.

[elliott]

Dusty snuck on the last list at 92. Not much discussion about him. What do people think about Dusty as a candidate this time around?

[joeg]

He's a lock to again be on the bottom half of my list. 

[BruiserBrody]

As mentioned above, his widely viewed stuff is after he was 39-40. He made the most money when he was 44 doing a comedy gimmick where he needed others to bump for him to make things watchable.  

Dusty is Top 10 all time for overall package.  Promo, commentary, angles, selling, booking, in ring charisma, etc 

[MichaelZ]

I can’t say I am prioritizing Dusty for and feel like I have seen enough to say I don’t think I will rank him. 
 

When I am watching a run of TV Dusty jumps off the screen, runs memorable angles, and is basically the greatest promo of all time. I had never seen this arm wrestling storyline he did with Nikita in 1984 until this year and Dusty was amazing. 
 

But those strengths are not really at play in this project. Charisma should count for something and some of his matches have their moments, but I have seen too many stinkers. That Windham match referred to above is one of the worst I have ever seen. 
 

If we had a fuller picture I might feel different but we have what we have.