1 00:00:02,292 --> 00:00:04,000 We are here in Dallas, Texas, of course, 2 00:00:04,083 --> 00:00:06,250 for WrestleMania weekend. 3 00:00:06,375 --> 00:00:09,417 And some breaking news whilst we're here-- 4 00:00:09,542 --> 00:00:12,042 Facing a mystery opponent of Mr. McMahon's-- 5 00:00:12,167 --> 00:00:14,042 His opponent's getting picked by Vince McMahon. 6 00:00:14,208 --> 00:00:16,917 Better be somebody good. 7 00:00:17,042 --> 00:00:20,083 [crowd chants] 8 00:00:21,333 --> 00:00:22,417 Cody Rhodes right here. 9 00:00:22,542 --> 00:00:23,333 Anything can happen. 10 00:00:23,417 --> 00:00:24,083 But who knows? 11 00:00:24,208 --> 00:00:24,833 He may show up tonight. 12 00:00:24,917 --> 00:00:26,250 We have no idea. 13 00:00:26,792 --> 00:00:27,958 I think this place would pop its ass off if he came out tonight. 14 00:00:28,042 --> 00:00:29,667 We can only hope, man, that we get something 15 00:00:29,750 --> 00:00:31,208 that good at WrestleMania. 16 00:00:31,333 --> 00:00:33,833 To see him come back home would be a whole other thing, man. 17 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:35,708 I got to see the statue for his father 18 00:00:35,833 --> 00:00:37,417 last night at the superstore. 19 00:00:37,542 --> 00:00:38,833 It was fantastic. 20 00:00:38,917 --> 00:00:40,375 I always loved Dusty Rhodes, man. 21 00:00:40,542 --> 00:00:43,792 So hopefully we see his son here tonight. 22 00:00:43,875 --> 00:00:46,667 [phone rings] 23 00:00:47,958 --> 00:00:49,500 Uh oh. 24 00:00:49,667 --> 00:00:52,167 Big Mama. 25 00:00:52,250 --> 00:00:52,667 Hey. 26 00:00:52,792 --> 00:00:53,458 Hey, D. 27 00:00:53,542 --> 00:00:54,458 Up close and personal. 28 00:00:54,583 --> 00:00:55,917 Where are you at? 29 00:00:56,042 --> 00:00:59,000 I'm sitting outside where the rehearsal dinner is. 30 00:00:59,167 --> 00:01:01,000 But where are y'all staying at? 31 00:01:01,125 --> 00:01:02,500 Right now, we're staying on the bus. 32 00:01:02,667 --> 00:01:04,792 I'm going to stay here until they drag me out of it 33 00:01:04,875 --> 00:01:09,500 because I have been sequestered as a surprise for tomorrow. 34 00:01:09,625 --> 00:01:11,333 I know you're going to do great, Cody. 35 00:01:11,417 --> 00:01:13,458 I know you're going to do great. 36 00:01:13,583 --> 00:01:14,667 I'm so proud of you. 37 00:01:14,792 --> 00:01:18,042 And I know daddy would have been so proud of you. 38 00:01:18,208 --> 00:01:21,500 And I know-- I know he's watching you. 39 00:01:21,625 --> 00:01:22,583 I just know it. 40 00:01:22,708 --> 00:01:23,458 Thanks, mama. 41 00:01:23,583 --> 00:01:24,250 Love you. 42 00:01:24,375 --> 00:01:25,875 Tell everyone I said, hey. 43 00:01:26,042 --> 00:01:29,958 All right, bye. 44 00:01:30,042 --> 00:01:33,583 [vehicle beeps] 45 00:01:34,792 --> 00:01:37,375 I do get asked about Dusty in everything that I do. 46 00:01:37,500 --> 00:01:41,792 And I have avoided the specter of Dusty Rhodes 47 00:01:41,875 --> 00:01:49,125 when he was living and since he passed because it was so big. 48 00:01:49,250 --> 00:01:52,667 How could I ever do anything like he did? 49 00:01:52,833 --> 00:01:55,542 But fate has it that I get this opportunity to make 50 00:01:55,708 --> 00:01:58,667 the walk at WrestleMania in front of sports 51 00:01:58,792 --> 00:02:01,333 entertainment's biggest crowd. 52 00:02:01,458 --> 00:02:04,625 My dad would have loved that. 53 00:02:04,750 --> 00:02:08,875 And the roar of the crowd now is for the American dream. 54 00:02:09,042 --> 00:02:12,833 And it's for Mr. Dusty Rhodes. 55 00:02:12,917 --> 00:02:15,333 Dusty could make people feel. 56 00:02:15,458 --> 00:02:20,125 He showed that the average son of a plumber could rise up. 57 00:02:20,208 --> 00:02:21,667 He could be your next door neighbor. 58 00:02:21,833 --> 00:02:24,125 He could be the guy you work in a factory with. 59 00:02:24,208 --> 00:02:27,042 But he could go out there and kick ass. 60 00:02:27,167 --> 00:02:29,042 I came from nowhere. 61 00:02:29,208 --> 00:02:32,000 And it will take a hell of a man to knock me off. 62 00:02:32,125 --> 00:02:35,792 He was a dreamer of epic proportions 63 00:02:35,917 --> 00:02:40,375 and the architect of what we now see as a global empire. 64 00:02:43,208 --> 00:02:44,250 God, he was entertaining. 65 00:02:46,875 --> 00:02:50,042 Dusty looked at pro wrestling just like a movie. 66 00:02:50,208 --> 00:02:53,542 You don't know what hard times are, daddy. 67 00:02:53,708 --> 00:02:56,167 I've been hooked forever on Dusty Rhodes 68 00:02:56,333 --> 00:02:58,833 because what you got was real from him. 69 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 To get to the top, you have to sacrifice in every aspect 70 00:03:04,083 --> 00:03:05,208 you can imagine. 71 00:03:05,375 --> 00:03:08,167 Definitely became hard times. 72 00:03:08,292 --> 00:03:09,667 Dad was a mentor. 73 00:03:09,792 --> 00:03:15,542 He was a hero and the best damn father on the planet. 74 00:03:15,667 --> 00:03:18,500 Woo, that's funky. 75 00:03:18,625 --> 00:03:21,625 [music playing] 76 00:03:31,542 --> 00:03:36,333 His real name was Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. Never ever heard 77 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:41,000 anybody call him Virgil, not even my mom or pop. 78 00:03:41,125 --> 00:03:45,625 He got nicknamed dusty because of the street that he lived on. 79 00:03:45,750 --> 00:03:49,667 It was a dirt road, a dusty road. 80 00:03:49,750 --> 00:03:54,500 Dusty Rhodes is born into an America that 81 00:03:54,583 --> 00:03:56,500 is coming out of the Great Depression, 82 00:03:56,583 --> 00:03:59,458 is coming out of World War II. 83 00:03:59,583 --> 00:04:04,500 A kid from Austin, Texas, east side, Black community, 84 00:04:04,625 --> 00:04:09,167 Mexican-American community, lucky to be 85 00:04:09,250 --> 00:04:11,500 part of that community. 86 00:04:11,625 --> 00:04:13,000 I was running around, just thinking 87 00:04:13,083 --> 00:04:15,708 I was no different than anybody else. 88 00:04:15,875 --> 00:04:20,542 My dad was a hard working plumber, disciplinarian, not 89 00:04:20,708 --> 00:04:23,500 a lot of education, just a hard working guy. 90 00:04:23,667 --> 00:04:25,167 We were very poor financially. 91 00:04:25,292 --> 00:04:29,333 But I was not aware of financial problem. 92 00:04:29,458 --> 00:04:30,833 It was just life for us. 93 00:04:30,958 --> 00:04:32,542 It was the way things were. 94 00:04:32,708 --> 00:04:35,000 We never really felt sorry for ourself 95 00:04:35,125 --> 00:04:38,125 or felt like we'd gotten a bad shake 96 00:04:38,250 --> 00:04:40,333 in life, a bad deal in life. 97 00:04:40,417 --> 00:04:43,000 Growing up in East Austin, coming from nothing, 98 00:04:43,167 --> 00:04:45,417 my dad created things out of nothing. 99 00:04:45,542 --> 00:04:48,917 I've heard things about him being teased as a child 100 00:04:49,042 --> 00:04:50,542 because he was bigger. 101 00:04:50,667 --> 00:04:55,292 But the adversity part of it was just him overcoming obstacles 102 00:04:55,417 --> 00:04:59,417 in his life to get him to where he wanted to be. 103 00:04:59,542 --> 00:05:04,417 My mom was the driving force behind the American dream 104 00:05:04,542 --> 00:05:06,500 pursuing, and reaching, and trying 105 00:05:06,667 --> 00:05:10,458 to obtain whatever you could was such a big deal with her. 106 00:05:10,542 --> 00:05:14,042 My dad more or less was that if you're going to do it, 107 00:05:14,208 --> 00:05:15,500 do it right. 108 00:05:15,958 --> 00:05:18,792 If you're going to reach for it, then be the best at it. 109 00:05:18,875 --> 00:05:21,208 Friday nights, my dad would cash his check, 110 00:05:21,375 --> 00:05:23,125 we'd go to wrestling. 111 00:05:23,208 --> 00:05:25,042 We would yell, and scream, and go crazy. 112 00:05:25,167 --> 00:05:27,333 I grew up really loving this industry. 113 00:05:27,500 --> 00:05:30,500 What an opportunity if you could make a living at this. 114 00:05:30,667 --> 00:05:32,708 We come home and we'd wrestle. 115 00:05:32,833 --> 00:05:34,208 We made fake masks. 116 00:05:34,375 --> 00:05:38,083 We could just get as rough as we wanted with Dusty. 117 00:05:38,208 --> 00:05:40,292 One thing I would say about him, you 118 00:05:40,375 --> 00:05:44,250 could not make things tough enough for him. 119 00:05:44,375 --> 00:05:46,042 My dad would tell you how great he 120 00:05:46,208 --> 00:05:48,208 was at baseball, at football. 121 00:05:48,375 --> 00:05:50,792 And he truly was a multi-sport athlete. 122 00:05:50,917 --> 00:05:53,000 New York Mets, at that time, had scouted me. 123 00:05:53,125 --> 00:05:54,000 I played first base. 124 00:05:54,083 --> 00:05:55,333 And I caught a little bit. 125 00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:58,000 He also played for a semi-professional football 126 00:05:58,125 --> 00:06:02,042 team in Connecticut called the Charter Oak Buffaloes. 127 00:06:02,167 --> 00:06:03,875 There's the athlete side of Dusty. 128 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:09,042 And then there's the thespian side of Dusty. 129 00:06:09,208 --> 00:06:12,167 Something else was calling him. 130 00:06:12,333 --> 00:06:14,000 One of his greatest characteristics 131 00:06:14,083 --> 00:06:19,042 was his ability to have a vision and know exactly what he 132 00:06:19,167 --> 00:06:20,792 wanted to do in his life. 133 00:06:20,875 --> 00:06:23,917 He was always charismatic, even when he was young. 134 00:06:24,042 --> 00:06:25,208 He had a stage presence. 135 00:06:25,333 --> 00:06:26,167 He loved acting. 136 00:06:26,292 --> 00:06:27,625 He would tell me, I love it. 137 00:06:27,750 --> 00:06:30,458 And I'd say no, man, you're an athlete, not an actor. 138 00:06:30,542 --> 00:06:31,625 You know what I'm saying? 139 00:06:31,708 --> 00:06:33,250 And luckily, he found a profession 140 00:06:33,375 --> 00:06:35,583 where he could combine both of those passions. 141 00:06:35,708 --> 00:06:37,833 He wanted to pro wrestle. 142 00:06:37,958 --> 00:06:40,250 He wanted pro wrestling. 143 00:06:40,375 --> 00:06:42,583 I remember him coming in to Dallas. 144 00:06:42,708 --> 00:06:44,333 And he didn't have a place to stay. 145 00:06:44,417 --> 00:06:48,083 And he wrestled Fritz Von Erich that night. 146 00:06:48,208 --> 00:06:50,833 Fritz just had his way with him. 147 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,250 I remember him kicking him right in the teeth once, 148 00:06:53,375 --> 00:06:55,500 looked like he actually lost some teeth 149 00:06:55,583 --> 00:06:58,833 and ended up putting the claw on him and beating him. 150 00:06:58,917 --> 00:07:02,500 But I remember him telling me, I love this business. 151 00:07:02,583 --> 00:07:06,208 Someday, I'm going to be the heavyweight champion 152 00:07:06,375 --> 00:07:09,167 of the world. 153 00:07:09,292 --> 00:07:11,292 I think he saw something in wrestling. 154 00:07:11,417 --> 00:07:14,333 And there was a freedom in wrestling that didn't 155 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:16,167 exist in other spaces. 156 00:07:16,333 --> 00:07:18,083 You know, Muhammad Ali, if you'd ask him 157 00:07:18,208 --> 00:07:20,292 who his hero was as an 18-year-old, 158 00:07:20,375 --> 00:07:22,333 he would have said Gorgeous George Wagner. 159 00:07:22,458 --> 00:07:24,833 And what he loved about Gorgeous George 160 00:07:24,958 --> 00:07:28,000 was that Gorgeous George brought the showmanship 161 00:07:28,167 --> 00:07:31,333 of professional wrestling to a whole other level. 162 00:07:31,417 --> 00:07:33,417 I have to think that for Dusty Rhodes, 163 00:07:33,542 --> 00:07:36,500 it was a very attractive thought for him 164 00:07:36,625 --> 00:07:40,167 to be able to be a character and develop stories. 165 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:46,542 When my mom and my dad met, they hit it off. 166 00:07:46,667 --> 00:07:49,000 They had a great time. 167 00:07:49,083 --> 00:07:51,208 Sandy was gorgeous. 168 00:07:51,333 --> 00:07:53,417 He loved her. 169 00:07:53,542 --> 00:07:55,833 The war in Vietnam had began. 170 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,333 And they had a rule that they were not 171 00:07:58,417 --> 00:08:01,667 taking any married men. 172 00:08:01,750 --> 00:08:04,042 So even though he loves Sandy and I 173 00:08:04,208 --> 00:08:06,208 think they would have eventually gotten married, 174 00:08:06,333 --> 00:08:08,167 it was probably sooner than anyone 175 00:08:08,250 --> 00:08:11,333 expected, including himself, because all I could see 176 00:08:11,417 --> 00:08:15,167 was how important it was for him to make a name in the business 177 00:08:15,292 --> 00:08:16,458 and become a champion. 178 00:08:16,542 --> 00:08:18,458 He had that vision of what he wanted to do 179 00:08:18,583 --> 00:08:19,667 and where he wanted to be. 180 00:08:19,750 --> 00:08:22,708 And he started his life on the road. 181 00:08:22,875 --> 00:08:27,667 One of the discoveries of any wrestler, in terms of this job, 182 00:08:27,750 --> 00:08:31,833 is it starts out real fun. 183 00:08:31,958 --> 00:08:36,417 It starts out, oh my gosh, I got paid $300? 184 00:08:36,542 --> 00:08:38,042 I'm going to have fun. 185 00:08:38,208 --> 00:08:40,167 I'm going to be partners with Dick Murdoch and the Texas 186 00:08:40,292 --> 00:08:41,042 Outlaws. 187 00:08:41,208 --> 00:08:42,167 We're going to be the bad guys. 188 00:08:42,292 --> 00:08:43,667 This is so much fun. 189 00:08:43,833 --> 00:08:46,542 Dick Murdaugh was a character from Waxahachie, Texas. 190 00:08:46,708 --> 00:08:50,833 Together, they were kind of the same mindset. 191 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,833 Rhodes and Murdoch first came to Florida when I was a kid. 192 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:59,000 And they had crew cuts and big fat bellies hanging out. 193 00:08:59,167 --> 00:09:00,125 They were bad guys. 194 00:09:04,875 --> 00:09:08,542 Were just a couple of old country boys drinking beer, 195 00:09:08,708 --> 00:09:10,500 wrestling, fighting. 196 00:09:10,625 --> 00:09:13,750 Dusty would say we're not going to be outraged, 197 00:09:13,875 --> 00:09:15,833 we're going to be outrageous. 198 00:09:15,917 --> 00:09:18,167 And they were. 199 00:09:18,250 --> 00:09:22,833 We were traveling 340 days a year from one town to the next. 200 00:09:22,958 --> 00:09:25,583 You had 700 miles to go to get to the next town. 201 00:09:25,708 --> 00:09:28,000 Yeah, if there was a bar, we'd stop. 202 00:09:28,125 --> 00:09:31,125 And we had a good following, territorial wise. 203 00:09:31,250 --> 00:09:32,917 Did a movie called The Wrestler. 204 00:09:33,042 --> 00:09:36,000 [music playing] 205 00:09:40,875 --> 00:09:44,458 That was not far fetched by any stretch of the imagination. 206 00:09:44,583 --> 00:09:50,500 Murdoch would get in a fight every Friday night. 207 00:09:50,625 --> 00:09:52,292 It's fun. 208 00:09:52,417 --> 00:09:55,458 And then you realize the layer of work 209 00:09:55,542 --> 00:09:58,875 that it takes to get to the next block. 210 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,667 And that's where it goes from being just this silly vocation 211 00:10:03,750 --> 00:10:06,833 to your life's work. 212 00:10:06,958 --> 00:10:10,667 A lot of people don't know that my grandfather, dad's dad, 213 00:10:10,833 --> 00:10:13,583 died the day before I was born. 214 00:10:13,708 --> 00:10:16,625 I did not talk to him a lot about that. 215 00:10:16,750 --> 00:10:20,625 There's absolutely no way that I can imagine that. 216 00:10:20,708 --> 00:10:24,250 For him to lose his father and then, oh my God, now I 217 00:10:24,375 --> 00:10:28,667 have a baby boy, that would send anybody into overload, man. 218 00:10:28,833 --> 00:10:33,667 Dusty told me he was so excited about having a grandchild. 219 00:10:33,792 --> 00:10:39,500 And Dusty took some cigars that said it's a boy. 220 00:10:39,667 --> 00:10:43,917 And he put them in his pocket in the coffin. 221 00:10:44,042 --> 00:10:48,208 And you know, I mean, that's hard. 222 00:10:48,333 --> 00:10:50,792 My dad never saw him wrestle. 223 00:10:50,875 --> 00:10:55,167 But when my dad passed away, one of the belongings 224 00:10:55,250 --> 00:10:59,333 he had in his wallet was an old program from an event 225 00:10:59,500 --> 00:11:01,625 that my brother had been in. 226 00:11:01,750 --> 00:11:04,875 It's hard for me not to get emotional. 227 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,417 But Dusty was always able to put those things in perspective. 228 00:11:09,542 --> 00:11:13,083 He could have all of those kinds of things going on in his life 229 00:11:13,208 --> 00:11:18,792 and seemed to know what to do and how to do it. 230 00:11:18,875 --> 00:11:22,375 I think Dusty had a knack for knowing when it's time. 231 00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:23,875 Probably one of the hardest decisions 232 00:11:24,042 --> 00:11:29,250 he made and, I think definitely, the most important decision 233 00:11:29,375 --> 00:11:32,292 he made was when it was time to leave Dick. 234 00:11:36,292 --> 00:11:38,583 His tag team partner from Austin, Texas, weighing 280 235 00:11:38,708 --> 00:11:42,667 pounds, dirty Dusty Rhodes. 236 00:11:42,833 --> 00:11:43,833 He loved Texas outlaws. 237 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,500 And he loved doing what they were doing. 238 00:11:45,625 --> 00:11:50,292 But I think in Dusty's mind, he was scratching the surface. 239 00:11:50,375 --> 00:11:52,333 He felt like he had more tools. 240 00:11:52,458 --> 00:11:54,333 He had more in the tank. 241 00:11:54,458 --> 00:11:57,167 I don't think that the promoters recognized the fact 242 00:11:57,333 --> 00:12:01,417 that I was a great in-ring worker or performer. 243 00:12:01,542 --> 00:12:03,917 They recognized that I had charisma. 244 00:12:04,042 --> 00:12:06,292 I had to find a way to grow it into becoming 245 00:12:06,417 --> 00:12:08,167 the American dream. 246 00:12:08,292 --> 00:12:11,542 And there's an elbow drop by Dusty Rhodes. 247 00:12:11,708 --> 00:12:14,042 And a count of one, two, three. 248 00:12:14,167 --> 00:12:15,042 It's all over. 249 00:12:15,167 --> 00:12:17,833 Dusty Rhodes does it his way. 250 00:12:17,958 --> 00:12:20,708 If you stick your nose around here, I'm gonna bust ya. 251 00:12:20,833 --> 00:12:23,625 Sooner or later, I'm going to bust ya, baby. 252 00:12:23,708 --> 00:12:25,500 I'm going to get you good in a spoiler. 253 00:12:25,625 --> 00:12:30,667 I had that one element that you cannot give anyone, charisma. 254 00:12:30,792 --> 00:12:33,250 The greatest rap master, the greatest wrestler, 255 00:12:33,375 --> 00:12:35,708 the greatest super heavyweight in the world. 256 00:12:35,875 --> 00:12:36,625 It's about winning. 257 00:12:36,750 --> 00:12:38,292 You either have it or you don't. 258 00:12:38,375 --> 00:12:41,417 [inaudible] January the 1st, it's the new year. 259 00:12:41,542 --> 00:12:43,000 It's new razzmatazz. 260 00:12:43,125 --> 00:12:44,083 There's new titles and such. 261 00:12:44,208 --> 00:12:45,500 You understand what I'm saying? 262 00:12:45,583 --> 00:12:46,833 It's going to be dynamite. 263 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 [inaudible] the American dream. 264 00:12:49,083 --> 00:12:51,667 I have studied all the tapes. 265 00:12:51,833 --> 00:12:53,167 I think this was at my Christmas party. 266 00:12:53,292 --> 00:12:56,167 I figured out right away I can sell more tickets talking 267 00:12:56,333 --> 00:12:58,833 to them in the building than actually what they 268 00:12:58,917 --> 00:12:59,917 were seeing in the building. 269 00:13:00,042 --> 00:13:01,792 Was it worth the damn pain? 270 00:13:01,875 --> 00:13:03,458 Was it worth the pain? 271 00:13:03,542 --> 00:13:04,833 When I look back at characters that 272 00:13:04,958 --> 00:13:06,833 were developed before the American dream, 273 00:13:06,958 --> 00:13:08,667 Thunderbolt Patterson was one of my guys. 274 00:13:08,792 --> 00:13:11,542 I like the finer things in life, you 275 00:13:11,667 --> 00:13:14,292 know, like diamond rings and Cadillacs. 276 00:13:14,375 --> 00:13:15,250 You follow me? 277 00:13:15,375 --> 00:13:16,417 I dig, yeah. 278 00:13:16,542 --> 00:13:17,542 Seemed to be like music. 279 00:13:17,667 --> 00:13:18,792 There was a rhythm to it. 280 00:13:18,875 --> 00:13:20,083 When I was growing up, I sure didn't 281 00:13:20,208 --> 00:13:23,083 think 265 pounds of blue eyed soul 282 00:13:23,208 --> 00:13:25,500 would captivate a country like I am. 283 00:13:25,583 --> 00:13:26,917 The people drive me. 284 00:13:27,042 --> 00:13:30,333 He's somebody that gives off complete comfort 285 00:13:30,500 --> 00:13:31,792 around Black people. 286 00:13:31,875 --> 00:13:33,292 I think it gets a bit subversive in a way 287 00:13:33,417 --> 00:13:35,792 that I think brings comfort to certainly me 288 00:13:35,875 --> 00:13:38,333 and I think a lot of his Black fans. 289 00:13:38,458 --> 00:13:43,208 Dusty made everything by being Dusty Rhodes cool. 290 00:13:43,375 --> 00:13:44,833 And if you was from the neighborhood, 291 00:13:44,958 --> 00:13:47,500 Dusty was like the only Black wrestler 292 00:13:47,625 --> 00:13:49,667 that we had to look up to. 293 00:13:49,792 --> 00:13:52,333 [laughs] 294 00:13:52,458 --> 00:13:55,875 Because of Dusty Rhodes growing up in a part of Austin, 295 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,208 that was multiracial, I see him as somebody 296 00:13:59,333 --> 00:14:03,125 in a line with an Elvis Presley or a Jerry Lee Lewis, people 297 00:14:03,208 --> 00:14:06,875 who were white who were greatly influenced by the Southern 298 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:08,625 Baptist Black Church. 299 00:14:08,708 --> 00:14:16,000 And one thing I will be is up to you. 300 00:14:16,125 --> 00:14:20,292 He took a Black experience and translated it 301 00:14:20,417 --> 00:14:21,625 to a white audience. 302 00:14:21,750 --> 00:14:23,958 You can look up in this building in a matter of a few hours 303 00:14:24,042 --> 00:14:25,333 when it's full. 304 00:14:25,417 --> 00:14:27,625 And you can see a Black man and a white man 305 00:14:27,750 --> 00:14:29,958 need now the same popcorn box. 306 00:14:30,042 --> 00:14:32,833 Woo, that's funky. 307 00:14:32,958 --> 00:14:36,458 Dusty's appeal was the fact that Dusty was just 308 00:14:36,583 --> 00:14:37,583 like the audience. 309 00:14:37,708 --> 00:14:39,333 I'm just one of you, baby. 310 00:14:39,458 --> 00:14:40,792 I'm just like you. 311 00:14:40,917 --> 00:14:43,667 So come help me because I need you. 312 00:14:43,750 --> 00:14:46,333 And you felt, when Dusty was in the ring, 313 00:14:46,458 --> 00:14:50,250 that you were right there with him. 314 00:14:50,375 --> 00:14:54,458 It's about winning for my people, baby. 315 00:14:54,583 --> 00:14:57,042 Until I heard him talk, I couldn't 316 00:14:57,167 --> 00:14:59,500 see what the attraction was because, I mean, 317 00:14:59,583 --> 00:15:02,417 I saw this m didn't look like an athlete, 318 00:15:02,542 --> 00:15:04,958 but judging a book by the cover with him 319 00:15:05,042 --> 00:15:06,542 would be a great mistake. 320 00:15:06,708 --> 00:15:08,333 [MUSIC - BO DIDDLEY, "YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER"] 321 00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:10,625 You can't judge a book by looking at the cover. 322 00:15:10,708 --> 00:15:12,500 Oh, can't you see? 323 00:15:12,625 --> 00:15:16,000 Oh, you misjudge me. 324 00:15:18,833 --> 00:15:23,500 I look like a farmer, but I'm a lover, 325 00:15:23,667 --> 00:15:27,292 Can't judge a book by looking at the cover. 326 00:15:27,375 --> 00:15:30,000 The greatest athlete, the greatest rapper, 327 00:15:30,125 --> 00:15:32,000 the greatest singer, or the greatest sleeper. 328 00:15:32,125 --> 00:15:33,417 Yeah, I can sleep cool, brother. 329 00:15:33,542 --> 00:15:37,625 Go and cheer in the new year 1977, the razzmatazz. 330 00:15:37,750 --> 00:15:39,708 287 pounds of sweet soul. 331 00:15:39,875 --> 00:15:42,333 [MUSIC - BO DIDDLEY, "YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER"] 332 00:15:42,417 --> 00:15:45,667 Can't judge a book by looking at the cover. 333 00:15:45,833 --> 00:15:47,875 Dusty was kind of like a Pied Piper. 334 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:49,667 Dusty would just bring everybody. 335 00:15:49,750 --> 00:15:51,000 And they would follow him. 336 00:15:51,167 --> 00:15:55,625 Everything I am, I owe the American way of life. 337 00:15:55,708 --> 00:15:58,375 What is more of an American dream 338 00:15:58,542 --> 00:16:02,042 than being able to make it on your own terms? 339 00:16:02,208 --> 00:16:03,833 So you have a lisp. 340 00:16:03,958 --> 00:16:05,125 You're overweight. 341 00:16:05,250 --> 00:16:07,083 Your clothes are ill fitting. 342 00:16:07,208 --> 00:16:08,667 You get to be you. 343 00:16:08,833 --> 00:16:11,542 And you still get to make it. 344 00:16:11,708 --> 00:16:15,458 There was a lot of patriotism and rah rah USA at the time. 345 00:16:15,583 --> 00:16:18,125 And he is wrestling against, at that point, 346 00:16:18,208 --> 00:16:20,042 the evil Korean, Pak Song. 347 00:16:20,167 --> 00:16:22,917 Pak Song with one single purpose in mind, 348 00:16:23,042 --> 00:16:26,083 to rid the wrestling world of the American Dream. 349 00:16:26,208 --> 00:16:35,458 The Korean assassin versus the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. 350 00:16:35,583 --> 00:16:43,625 And somehow, the son of a plumber overcomes. 351 00:16:43,708 --> 00:16:45,417 There is only one dream. 352 00:16:45,542 --> 00:16:46,625 I am the man. 353 00:16:46,708 --> 00:16:48,458 Go home with it, baby. 354 00:16:48,542 --> 00:16:50,958 It's that rivalry between himself 355 00:16:51,083 --> 00:16:56,542 and Pak Song that really branded him and created 356 00:16:56,708 --> 00:16:59,458 the American Dream. 357 00:16:59,583 --> 00:17:01,458 I've been hooked forever on Dusty Rhodes. 358 00:17:01,583 --> 00:17:03,542 Mimicked him all through high school. 359 00:17:03,667 --> 00:17:05,958 And then when I first had a little bit of a break 360 00:17:06,042 --> 00:17:09,333 up in Memphis, you can hear in my promos. 361 00:17:09,500 --> 00:17:11,875 I'm going, let me tell you something, baby, Terry Boulder. 362 00:17:12,042 --> 00:17:13,958 I was trying to be Dusty Rhodes. 363 00:17:14,083 --> 00:17:16,333 I'm gonna put the Super 7 Squeeze on you, daddy. 364 00:17:16,417 --> 00:17:18,167 And I'm going to turn you over to these people in Memphis 365 00:17:18,250 --> 00:17:20,625 and let them rip on you a little bit after you're down and out. 366 00:17:20,750 --> 00:17:23,208 It was just such a poor imitation of Dusty Rhodes, 367 00:17:23,333 --> 00:17:24,792 it's embarrassing now. 368 00:17:24,917 --> 00:17:28,042 Dusty Rhodes must have thought, oh my God, this guy is just 369 00:17:28,167 --> 00:17:30,000 the [bleep]. 370 00:17:30,125 --> 00:17:33,292 [music playing] 371 00:17:40,292 --> 00:17:44,000 This industry is very tough. 372 00:17:44,125 --> 00:17:47,333 You have to sacrifice. 373 00:17:47,458 --> 00:17:49,167 You have to sacrifice your body. 374 00:17:49,333 --> 00:17:50,458 You have to sacrifice your mind. 375 00:17:50,542 --> 00:17:53,333 You sacrifice those that you love. 376 00:17:53,417 --> 00:17:55,792 When I'm looking back at everything, 377 00:17:55,917 --> 00:17:57,292 people would be like, oh my gosh, 378 00:17:57,375 --> 00:17:59,583 I can't believe your father is the American Dream, 379 00:17:59,708 --> 00:18:00,667 Dusty Rhodes. 380 00:18:00,792 --> 00:18:02,208 That's the coolest thing ever. 381 00:18:02,333 --> 00:18:05,458 Yeah, it's pretty cool. 382 00:18:05,542 --> 00:18:10,167 But at the same time, he was just our dad. 383 00:18:10,292 --> 00:18:12,875 We're having to share him with the world. 384 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:14,208 Sometimes I thought about that. 385 00:18:14,333 --> 00:18:16,125 And I just thought that was just kind of weird. 386 00:18:16,250 --> 00:18:18,792 But back in the day, when he was first starting out, 387 00:18:18,917 --> 00:18:20,500 I didn't see it that way. 388 00:18:20,625 --> 00:18:21,583 I was so young. 389 00:18:21,708 --> 00:18:24,333 We saw our dad a couple of times a year. 390 00:18:24,458 --> 00:18:28,292 And when we did, it was the greatest time of our lives. 391 00:18:28,417 --> 00:18:31,667 But Justin and I have a completely different 392 00:18:31,750 --> 00:18:34,500 perspective on when my father was first starting out. 393 00:18:34,625 --> 00:18:37,125 Honestly, man, it just-- it hurt. 394 00:18:37,208 --> 00:18:38,750 And I wanted him. 395 00:18:38,875 --> 00:18:40,250 I wanted to be with him. 396 00:18:40,375 --> 00:18:44,333 And I wanted it so bad, desperate, desperate for it. 397 00:18:44,500 --> 00:18:45,875 My dad just had that vision. 398 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:47,333 And he went after it. 399 00:18:47,458 --> 00:18:50,125 And yes, he wasn't home a lot. 400 00:18:50,208 --> 00:18:52,000 Yes, he was gone a lot. 401 00:18:52,125 --> 00:18:54,833 But there was no lack of love there. 402 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,583 My father was our father. 403 00:18:57,708 --> 00:19:02,167 At the same time, my mom lost her husband. 404 00:19:02,292 --> 00:19:07,167 They divorced when Kristin was two years old. 405 00:19:07,292 --> 00:19:08,500 It was the way it was. 406 00:19:08,583 --> 00:19:10,542 If you wanted to make a living, you 407 00:19:10,708 --> 00:19:13,083 had to go to the different territories. 408 00:19:13,208 --> 00:19:15,667 You had to work. 409 00:19:15,792 --> 00:19:17,292 I was young. 410 00:19:17,375 --> 00:19:20,208 And I didn't understand what kind of a star he was becoming. 411 00:19:20,333 --> 00:19:23,125 A boy needs his dad. 412 00:19:27,042 --> 00:19:30,375 In 1977, he was in Florida. 413 00:19:30,500 --> 00:19:32,375 The Imperial Lounge was where you could 414 00:19:32,500 --> 00:19:34,625 go to listen to country music. 415 00:19:34,708 --> 00:19:36,833 That was his favorite place to hang out. 416 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,833 And that's where I met him. 417 00:19:39,917 --> 00:19:45,333 He was the American Dream at that point, very popular there. 418 00:19:45,417 --> 00:19:48,042 I had asked Dusty for an autograph 419 00:19:48,167 --> 00:19:50,500 for my little brothers and sisters. 420 00:19:50,625 --> 00:19:53,167 And he said, well, if you come next week, I'll 421 00:19:53,292 --> 00:19:54,250 have some photos. 422 00:19:54,375 --> 00:19:55,708 I'll bring you those. 423 00:19:55,833 --> 00:19:57,667 So I went next week. 424 00:19:57,750 --> 00:20:04,208 And I started thinking, yeah, you know, I like this guy. 425 00:20:04,375 --> 00:20:07,125 So it wasn't love at first sight. 426 00:20:07,208 --> 00:20:11,583 But I fell in love with him very quickly. 427 00:20:11,708 --> 00:20:15,167 Just absolute madness comes with the American Dream, 428 00:20:15,250 --> 00:20:16,000 Dusty Rhodes. 429 00:20:16,125 --> 00:20:17,250 And she was game. 430 00:20:22,250 --> 00:20:24,708 A man who has figuratively set the wrestling world 431 00:20:24,833 --> 00:20:30,292 on fire, Mr. Soul, Mr. Charisma, Mr. Dusty Rhodes. 432 00:20:30,417 --> 00:20:32,792 287 pounds of sweet soul. 433 00:20:32,917 --> 00:20:36,875 I have wined and dined with kings and queens. 434 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,500 But I slept in an alley and dined on pork and beans. 435 00:20:39,583 --> 00:20:41,333 And everybody here's dined on pork and beans 436 00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:43,083 one time in their life. 437 00:20:43,208 --> 00:20:45,292 I reach for a star, reached for a dream. 438 00:20:45,417 --> 00:20:50,458 Talk about the American Dream, superstar Billy Graham, 439 00:20:50,542 --> 00:20:53,625 the gold around your waist will be mine. 440 00:20:56,542 --> 00:20:59,333 In the late '70s, Dusty had proven himself 441 00:20:59,458 --> 00:21:01,167 as an attraction. 442 00:21:01,292 --> 00:21:04,042 And all promoters wanted to be able to bring 443 00:21:04,208 --> 00:21:06,125 that draw to their town. 444 00:21:06,208 --> 00:21:09,208 Dusty worked primarily in Florida. 445 00:21:09,333 --> 00:21:12,208 But he had started doing different shows 446 00:21:12,375 --> 00:21:13,833 around the country. 447 00:21:13,958 --> 00:21:18,208 We have another capacity crowd, some 22,000 people 448 00:21:18,333 --> 00:21:20,167 jamming Madison Square Garden. 449 00:21:20,292 --> 00:21:23,333 You want to headline Madison Square Garden. 450 00:21:23,417 --> 00:21:25,500 Madison Square Garden is the Mecca. 451 00:21:25,625 --> 00:21:28,458 Here comes superstar Billy Graham, 452 00:21:28,583 --> 00:21:31,125 the reigning Worldwide Wrestling Federation 453 00:21:31,208 --> 00:21:32,833 heavyweight champion. 454 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,833 And the roar of the crowd now is for the American Dream, 455 00:21:36,958 --> 00:21:39,292 and it's for Mr. Dusty Rhodes. 456 00:21:39,375 --> 00:21:42,625 [music playing] 457 00:21:44,708 --> 00:21:46,667 Superstar Billy Graham and Dusty Rhodes, 458 00:21:46,833 --> 00:21:48,958 two of the most charismatic individuals, 459 00:21:49,042 --> 00:21:52,125 clashing for the first time in Madison Square Garden. 460 00:21:52,250 --> 00:21:52,917 That was magic. 461 00:21:56,708 --> 00:22:00,292 Graham has never seen moves like that before. 462 00:22:00,375 --> 00:22:02,667 [crowd cheering] 463 00:22:02,792 --> 00:22:07,125 The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, sort of a roly-poly type 464 00:22:07,208 --> 00:22:10,083 statuesque compared to Superstar Graham. 465 00:22:10,208 --> 00:22:11,375 Whoa, baby. 466 00:22:13,625 --> 00:22:16,875 Physically and aesthetically, couldn't be more opposite. 467 00:22:17,042 --> 00:22:20,708 However, they both played an integral part 468 00:22:20,833 --> 00:22:22,792 in just the evolution of the business, 469 00:22:22,917 --> 00:22:24,958 where it went to a little more entertainment. 470 00:22:28,625 --> 00:22:31,208 Dusty Rhodes was my only reason at the time 471 00:22:31,333 --> 00:22:32,667 to want to be a wrestler. 472 00:22:32,792 --> 00:22:34,750 But then when superstar Billy Graham 473 00:22:34,875 --> 00:22:37,333 climbed on the second rope and hit that double bicep, 474 00:22:37,500 --> 00:22:42,542 I went, whoa, I want to be just like that guy. 475 00:22:42,667 --> 00:22:44,125 So now, I wondered what the possibilities 476 00:22:44,250 --> 00:22:46,500 would be to end up looking like that, 477 00:22:46,667 --> 00:22:50,667 but wrestling with Dusty Rhodes's charisma. 478 00:22:50,792 --> 00:22:53,667 I wonder if that could be possible? 479 00:22:53,792 --> 00:22:55,792 It is possible. 480 00:22:55,917 --> 00:22:59,375 The three matches with him there, so special. 481 00:22:59,500 --> 00:23:00,667 The matches were amazing. 482 00:23:00,792 --> 00:23:03,208 Graham with a rope wrapped around the throat 483 00:23:03,333 --> 00:23:04,708 of Dusty Rhodes. 484 00:23:04,833 --> 00:23:07,708 Andy Warhol, Steinbrenner, Halston, Cheryl Tiegs, 485 00:23:07,833 --> 00:23:10,250 Peter Beard, all in attendance in the audience, 486 00:23:10,375 --> 00:23:15,042 Edgar Winter, Bette Midler, all in the audience. 487 00:23:15,167 --> 00:23:17,708 [bell dings] 488 00:23:19,250 --> 00:23:22,542 Didn't want to leave the ring because of the goosebumps 489 00:23:22,667 --> 00:23:26,958 and what I was feeling at that moment. 490 00:23:27,042 --> 00:23:30,500 After the matches, we went out to celebrate with all 491 00:23:30,667 --> 00:23:34,000 of our new friends, lot of fun. 492 00:23:34,125 --> 00:23:36,917 When you went to Studio 54, there 493 00:23:37,042 --> 00:23:42,500 was just this crazy cast of characters, artists, singers. 494 00:23:42,625 --> 00:23:44,542 And they loved Dusty. 495 00:23:44,667 --> 00:23:48,375 Back then, it was the rare soul who liked pro wrestling not 496 00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:51,875 only for who would win or lose, but also for the joy 497 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,333 of the spectacle of it. 498 00:23:53,458 --> 00:23:56,500 And it says so much about Dusty Rhodes's talent and his ability 499 00:23:56,667 --> 00:23:58,583 to connect with an audience. 500 00:23:58,708 --> 00:24:02,667 Dusty met Andy Warhol a couple of times, 501 00:24:02,833 --> 00:24:07,000 and you know, birds of a feather. 502 00:24:07,125 --> 00:24:09,542 I liked the lifestyle. 503 00:24:09,708 --> 00:24:12,208 I wasn't a conventional kind of girl. 504 00:24:12,375 --> 00:24:15,000 So it appealed to me. 505 00:24:15,125 --> 00:24:16,875 We dated for a while. 506 00:24:17,042 --> 00:24:19,917 Then we moved in together about a year. 507 00:24:20,042 --> 00:24:23,000 What was important to me wasn't the fact 508 00:24:23,125 --> 00:24:24,667 that he'd been divorced. 509 00:24:24,792 --> 00:24:31,333 I was more concerned about what kind of father he was. 510 00:24:31,458 --> 00:24:35,125 You can't love a man if he's a crappy father. 511 00:24:35,208 --> 00:24:39,542 We had gone out to Austin to visit Dustin and Kristin. 512 00:24:39,667 --> 00:24:43,000 And just out of the blue, he asked me to marry him. 513 00:24:43,167 --> 00:24:47,583 And I said yes because I did want to get married. 514 00:24:47,708 --> 00:24:50,000 But up until that point, I really hadn't thought about it. 515 00:24:50,083 --> 00:24:52,458 I was happy with things the way they were. 516 00:24:52,542 --> 00:24:55,458 So we got married. 517 00:24:55,542 --> 00:24:58,083 My mom was suddenly a step mom. 518 00:24:58,208 --> 00:25:01,333 I think that was natural for her because in her family, 519 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:03,833 there's lots of people. 520 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,792 When we got married, Dustin and Kristin were very young. 521 00:25:07,917 --> 00:25:10,458 We would see them whenever we could. 522 00:25:10,542 --> 00:25:14,542 We would have them on holidays and in the summer. 523 00:25:14,708 --> 00:25:19,542 But it was a long distance relationship, absolutely. 524 00:25:19,667 --> 00:25:21,083 That's how it went. 525 00:25:21,208 --> 00:25:25,042 Getting there to Tampa, seeing the horses, seeing the pool, 526 00:25:25,208 --> 00:25:30,167 swimming in the pool, seeing dad occasionally, not a lot. 527 00:25:30,250 --> 00:25:31,667 I didn't want to go somewhere else 528 00:25:31,792 --> 00:25:33,917 and me not be around him anymore. 529 00:25:34,042 --> 00:25:36,542 I wanted to go where he was going. 530 00:25:36,667 --> 00:25:38,000 No, he wasn't home a lot. 531 00:25:38,083 --> 00:25:41,083 But in some strange way, I had an understanding. 532 00:25:41,208 --> 00:25:43,000 And I think, again, it goes back to me just 533 00:25:43,167 --> 00:25:46,208 admiring the vision that he had and what a great person that he 534 00:25:46,333 --> 00:25:47,333 was. 535 00:25:47,417 --> 00:25:49,417 Dusty Rhodes has achieved victory her 536 00:25:49,542 --> 00:25:52,000 at Madison Square Garden. 537 00:25:52,125 --> 00:25:54,625 The notoriety that came from Superstar Billy Graham Dusty 538 00:25:54,750 --> 00:25:59,000 Rhodes matches helped me prepare myself for Harley Race. 539 00:25:59,125 --> 00:26:01,333 The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight title 540 00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:03,667 was the ultimate goal. 541 00:26:03,750 --> 00:26:06,667 NWA World Heavyweight champions held the championship 542 00:26:06,750 --> 00:26:08,333 for several years. 543 00:26:08,458 --> 00:26:11,000 And to defeat the champion and actually 544 00:26:11,083 --> 00:26:14,375 lay claim to being a World Heavyweight Champion 545 00:26:14,542 --> 00:26:17,792 was a huge deal. 546 00:26:17,917 --> 00:26:20,542 Dusty, what was going through your mind at that moment? 547 00:26:20,708 --> 00:26:23,333 Well, it was serious pulling out all his stuff. 548 00:26:23,417 --> 00:26:28,125 He felt that at this point, he was going to put me away. 549 00:26:28,250 --> 00:26:30,250 And it fell into a bionic elbow. 550 00:26:30,375 --> 00:26:35,000 Right here, I will reach back and become World's Heavyweight 551 00:26:35,125 --> 00:26:37,500 Wrestling Champion with that blow right there. 552 00:26:37,583 --> 00:26:39,292 That is history. 553 00:26:39,375 --> 00:26:42,875 [crowd cheering] 554 00:26:45,542 --> 00:26:46,958 In that moment, you're riveted. 555 00:26:47,042 --> 00:26:49,125 And you do think that winning is possible 556 00:26:49,208 --> 00:26:52,667 when all the odds tell us that winning is not possible. 557 00:26:52,750 --> 00:26:55,083 That is activated by Dusty Rhodes 558 00:26:55,208 --> 00:26:58,750 being able to embody the American Dream. 559 00:26:58,875 --> 00:27:00,542 He considered the world championship 560 00:27:00,708 --> 00:27:02,042 to be the highest honor. 561 00:27:02,208 --> 00:27:05,292 Can't get him to say that wrestling was fake. 562 00:27:05,417 --> 00:27:06,500 You can't. 563 00:27:06,625 --> 00:27:08,667 And it's because it's not. 564 00:27:08,792 --> 00:27:10,333 That moment wasn't. 565 00:27:10,500 --> 00:27:12,583 And when you take it that seriously, 566 00:27:12,708 --> 00:27:14,417 the fans take you seriously. 567 00:27:14,542 --> 00:27:15,167 And they support you. 568 00:27:15,292 --> 00:27:16,208 They're crying with you. 569 00:27:16,375 --> 00:27:17,708 They're cheering with you. 570 00:27:17,875 --> 00:27:20,958 And that would parlay in the next big step in his career. 571 00:27:21,042 --> 00:27:22,875 This is an example for every man, woman, 572 00:27:23,042 --> 00:27:24,917 and child, believe in a dream. 573 00:27:25,042 --> 00:27:25,667 Have a dream. 574 00:27:25,833 --> 00:27:27,333 Have a way to get it. 575 00:27:27,417 --> 00:27:28,208 Hold on to it. 576 00:27:28,333 --> 00:27:30,000 And shoot for the sky. 577 00:27:30,125 --> 00:27:32,542 Because I have been to the mountaintop and it 578 00:27:32,708 --> 00:27:35,333 will take a hell of a man to knock me off. 579 00:27:39,375 --> 00:27:40,500 To my left, the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. 580 00:27:41,125 --> 00:27:44,500 And it's most unusual that we're here in an empty arena 581 00:27:44,583 --> 00:27:48,000 because Dusty Rhodes fills arenas. 582 00:27:48,083 --> 00:27:49,875 The man of the hour, the man with the power. 583 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,792 I am the hitmaker, the record breaker. 584 00:27:53,875 --> 00:27:57,333 In the early '80s, he'd become a big star. 585 00:27:57,458 --> 00:27:59,458 Who are you hoping to win the World Title tonight? 586 00:27:59,583 --> 00:28:01,833 Oh, I want Dusty. 587 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,542 The little plumber's son who come out of the ditch 588 00:28:04,667 --> 00:28:06,292 and became so sweet. 589 00:28:09,875 --> 00:28:10,833 Can you dig it? 590 00:28:10,958 --> 00:28:14,542 Became so sweet, yeah, it's on fire. 591 00:28:14,708 --> 00:28:16,500 You better believe it's on fire. 592 00:28:16,625 --> 00:28:20,500 When Vince was looking at his expansion, 593 00:28:20,625 --> 00:28:23,625 Vince looked at Dusty Rhodes and saw Dusty 594 00:28:23,750 --> 00:28:29,250 as the guy to make what it has become today. 595 00:28:29,375 --> 00:28:31,375 That is electrified funk. 596 00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:33,500 One of Dusty's biggest attributes, 597 00:28:33,625 --> 00:28:36,000 and I don't know if this is the proper term these days, 598 00:28:36,125 --> 00:28:37,917 but just balls. 599 00:28:38,042 --> 00:28:41,583 Because for him to say no, walking away 600 00:28:41,708 --> 00:28:45,792 from that top spot, he just had a gut feeling. 601 00:28:45,875 --> 00:28:49,667 Dusty always wanted to produce wrestling. 602 00:28:49,750 --> 00:28:53,625 So he went to the Carolinas for Jim Crockett. 603 00:28:53,750 --> 00:28:55,958 This is the most down home situation 604 00:28:56,042 --> 00:28:58,958 in the world of wrestling today, the National Wrestling 605 00:28:59,042 --> 00:28:59,917 Alliance. 606 00:29:00,042 --> 00:29:02,333 He got to produce TV shows, promote 607 00:29:02,458 --> 00:29:04,208 matches, and got to wrestle. 608 00:29:04,333 --> 00:29:09,292 There was just more opportunity for what Dusty wanted to do, 609 00:29:09,375 --> 00:29:14,042 even though when we moved to Charlotte, it was a wasteland. 610 00:29:14,167 --> 00:29:16,042 At the time, Crockett Promotions was kind of 611 00:29:16,208 --> 00:29:18,958 like a mouthful of oatmeal with no sugar. 612 00:29:19,083 --> 00:29:21,667 There were some good, quality people there. 613 00:29:21,833 --> 00:29:24,875 But they didn't have something to spice it all up. 614 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,542 And Dusty, he was a dreamer of epic proportion. 615 00:29:28,667 --> 00:29:31,000 He saw things on a huge scale. 616 00:29:31,125 --> 00:29:33,708 This is a night everybody will remember, 617 00:29:33,833 --> 00:29:35,417 wrestling history will be made. 618 00:29:35,542 --> 00:29:37,250 He really was a genius. 619 00:29:37,375 --> 00:29:40,417 All the [bleep] he invented over the years, from The War Games, 620 00:29:40,542 --> 00:29:41,958 to Starrcade. 621 00:29:42,042 --> 00:29:45,208 Starrcade '83, this is the wrestling event of all time. 622 00:29:45,333 --> 00:29:48,542 Then of course, Great American Bash, on tour, man. 623 00:29:48,667 --> 00:29:51,333 And we hired everybody from George Jones 624 00:29:51,417 --> 00:29:52,875 to Waylon Jennings. 625 00:29:53,042 --> 00:29:55,000 I'm looking forward to being a part of the Great American 626 00:29:55,125 --> 00:29:55,667 Bash. 627 00:29:55,750 --> 00:29:57,458 Went on the road. 628 00:29:57,583 --> 00:29:59,208 And it worked. 629 00:29:59,375 --> 00:30:01,167 We sold out everywhere. 630 00:30:01,333 --> 00:30:02,500 Rock and roll. 631 00:30:02,625 --> 00:30:03,583 Oh, baby. 632 00:30:03,708 --> 00:30:05,667 The business started taking off. 633 00:30:05,750 --> 00:30:08,208 And then they got on TBS. 634 00:30:08,333 --> 00:30:11,208 So their show was going in more and more homes. 635 00:30:11,333 --> 00:30:14,833 All of a sudden, you're reaching a mass audience. 636 00:30:14,917 --> 00:30:17,083 So a kid in New York City like myself 637 00:30:17,208 --> 00:30:22,958 could watch this very regional carnival enterprise. 638 00:30:23,042 --> 00:30:26,375 And I remember being 10, 11 years old watching 639 00:30:26,542 --> 00:30:28,167 Dusty Rhodes versus Ric Flair. 640 00:30:28,250 --> 00:30:30,708 And I'd never seen anything like this before. 641 00:30:30,833 --> 00:30:32,500 And this is the moment that we've all 642 00:30:32,583 --> 00:30:33,958 been waiting for right here. 643 00:30:34,042 --> 00:30:36,542 It's the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. 644 00:30:36,667 --> 00:30:38,625 It's Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. 645 00:30:38,708 --> 00:30:42,375 It's one of the great rivalries in the history of sports 646 00:30:42,542 --> 00:30:43,500 entertainment. 647 00:30:43,583 --> 00:30:45,875 He doesn't like me getting ahead. 648 00:30:46,042 --> 00:30:49,250 And that hurts me right here for him to get ahead. 649 00:30:49,375 --> 00:30:52,833 The ultimate bad guy and the ultimate blue collar guy. 650 00:30:52,958 --> 00:30:54,125 We just had that magic, man. 651 00:30:54,208 --> 00:30:56,500 We loved to interview against each other 652 00:30:56,625 --> 00:30:58,042 and became a real competition. 653 00:30:58,208 --> 00:31:02,083 I don't put values in the same thing Ric Flair does. 654 00:31:02,208 --> 00:31:07,042 The Rolex wearin' diamond ring wearin'-- 655 00:31:07,167 --> 00:31:08,000 I'm the son of a plumber. 656 00:31:08,083 --> 00:31:09,875 I was raised in Austin, Texas. 657 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,833 Kiss stealing, woo, wheeling, dealing. 658 00:31:11,917 --> 00:31:15,125 --had anything unless I fought for it. 659 00:31:15,208 --> 00:31:18,500 Limousine riding, jet flying son of a gun. 660 00:31:18,625 --> 00:31:21,667 Unless I got down on my knees and went for it. 661 00:31:21,792 --> 00:31:29,667 It is so hard to be humble when you're looking like Ric Flair. 662 00:31:29,750 --> 00:31:32,167 There goes Flair over the top rope. 663 00:31:32,250 --> 00:31:35,167 Both of them wanted to be the number one entertainer. 664 00:31:35,292 --> 00:31:40,583 The one upsmanship, definitely, definitely, it's there. 665 00:31:40,708 --> 00:31:43,667 Smashed into that steel ring post. 666 00:31:43,792 --> 00:31:46,333 He has got a bad cut. 667 00:31:46,417 --> 00:31:49,958 He could depict knowledge that was not common today. 668 00:31:50,042 --> 00:31:52,208 It was very much a part of the craft 669 00:31:52,333 --> 00:31:55,333 of what we did for the most theatrical effect 670 00:31:55,458 --> 00:31:57,333 that we could get. 671 00:31:57,500 --> 00:31:58,417 He has stopped the match. 672 00:31:58,542 --> 00:32:04,458 He has stopped it because of the cut on the eye. 673 00:32:04,583 --> 00:32:06,042 Wait a second. 674 00:32:06,208 --> 00:32:10,708 Ric Flair, if you call this a victory, 675 00:32:10,833 --> 00:32:13,708 you need to go home and kiss your mama. 676 00:32:13,875 --> 00:32:15,375 This ain't no victory. 677 00:32:15,500 --> 00:32:16,583 This ain't over. 678 00:32:16,708 --> 00:32:21,292 Dusty looked at pro wrestling just like a movie. 679 00:32:21,375 --> 00:32:22,417 It was cinema. 680 00:32:22,875 --> 00:32:26,708 It was this long tale that didn't just include the moment. 681 00:32:26,833 --> 00:32:27,833 Look what Ric Flair is doing. 682 00:32:27,958 --> 00:32:29,708 He is padlocking that cage. 683 00:32:29,833 --> 00:32:32,167 So Dusty Rhodes is helpless. 684 00:32:32,292 --> 00:32:35,167 Not only that, he cannot be held by anyone from the outside. 685 00:32:35,250 --> 00:32:38,917 Seeing the adult nature of these conflicts, 686 00:32:39,042 --> 00:32:43,208 this felt like adults were fighting with their fists 687 00:32:43,375 --> 00:32:44,625 over big issues. 688 00:32:44,708 --> 00:32:45,833 I was at ringside, Bob. 689 00:32:45,917 --> 00:32:47,208 I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 690 00:32:47,375 --> 00:32:50,667 Down he goes on Dusty Rhodes. 691 00:32:50,833 --> 00:32:52,708 And right now, everybody is in a panic 692 00:32:52,875 --> 00:32:55,583 right now, because see, Tony, too, a lot of concern 693 00:32:55,708 --> 00:32:56,417 for this injury. 694 00:32:56,542 --> 00:32:58,458 It was real. 695 00:32:58,542 --> 00:32:59,667 And I believed in it. 696 00:32:59,792 --> 00:33:02,333 They broke my dad's leg. 697 00:33:02,417 --> 00:33:04,083 That's how they portrayed it. 698 00:33:04,208 --> 00:33:07,167 And they weren't going to have anybody saying this was phony. 699 00:33:07,292 --> 00:33:08,833 This is why wrestling in the '80s 700 00:33:08,917 --> 00:33:11,375 was so awesome because everything was real. 701 00:33:11,500 --> 00:33:14,792 Dusty Rhodes brought that sensibility 702 00:33:14,875 --> 00:33:18,125 that you needed to not just what was happening in the ring, 703 00:33:18,208 --> 00:33:20,333 but what's happening in the locker room, what's 704 00:33:20,417 --> 00:33:23,625 happening in the parking lot. 705 00:33:23,750 --> 00:33:26,375 It was like a reality series. 706 00:33:26,500 --> 00:33:29,667 And you needed to see this week because it explained last week. 707 00:33:29,792 --> 00:33:31,833 And then you needed to watch next week because it 708 00:33:31,958 --> 00:33:33,417 would explain this week. 709 00:33:33,542 --> 00:33:37,083 So really, it sounds like Dusty, if you want to be ready, 710 00:33:37,208 --> 00:33:39,500 you're going to have to do exactly what he tells you 711 00:33:39,625 --> 00:33:41,125 when he tells you. 712 00:33:41,208 --> 00:33:44,000 There's no doubt, David, that I have to do what he tells me. 713 00:33:44,167 --> 00:33:49,917 One day, I saw the cast in his closet. 714 00:33:50,042 --> 00:33:52,875 And I'm like, what the-- 715 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,958 and it's got a big slit down the middle. 716 00:33:56,042 --> 00:33:58,292 And that's how he would get it on 717 00:33:58,417 --> 00:33:59,792 and wore it around the house. 718 00:33:59,917 --> 00:34:01,208 And he kayfabed his own kids. 719 00:34:01,375 --> 00:34:03,708 Ladies and gentlemen, you all know that Dusty Rhodes 720 00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:05,042 has been injured. 721 00:34:05,167 --> 00:34:06,708 Well, we want to welcome back tonight Dusty 722 00:34:06,833 --> 00:34:10,292 Rhodes for his first interview since his injury. 723 00:34:10,375 --> 00:34:13,833 Here is the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. 724 00:34:13,958 --> 00:34:18,167 And Dusty, your fans welcome you back, man. 725 00:34:18,250 --> 00:34:20,125 Think about that period in the '80s, what 726 00:34:20,208 --> 00:34:22,125 was happening in US society. 727 00:34:22,208 --> 00:34:25,333 The biggest shows were Dynasty and Dallas. 728 00:34:25,417 --> 00:34:28,542 But there was an underbelly underneath that in US 729 00:34:28,667 --> 00:34:30,000 society at the time. 730 00:34:30,125 --> 00:34:32,042 And that was working class people, Black and white, 731 00:34:32,167 --> 00:34:34,625 particularly union, who were seeing their lives 732 00:34:34,708 --> 00:34:38,125 and living standards utterly eviscerated, if not destroyed. 733 00:34:38,208 --> 00:34:41,917 He put hard times on Dusty Rhodes and his family. 734 00:34:42,042 --> 00:34:44,542 You don't know what hard times are, daddy. 735 00:34:44,667 --> 00:34:48,375 Hard times are when the textile workers around this country 736 00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:49,500 are out of work. 737 00:34:49,917 --> 00:34:52,250 They got four or five kids and can't pay their wages, 738 00:34:52,375 --> 00:34:53,500 can't buy their food. 739 00:34:53,958 --> 00:34:57,667 Hard times are when the autoworkers are out of work. 740 00:34:57,833 --> 00:34:59,333 And they tell them go home. 741 00:34:59,500 --> 00:35:03,667 And hard times are when a man has worked at a job 30 years, 742 00:35:03,750 --> 00:35:07,167 30 years, they give him the watch, kick him in the butt, 743 00:35:07,292 --> 00:35:10,833 and say, hey, a computer took your place, daddy. 744 00:35:10,917 --> 00:35:13,500 That's hard times. 745 00:35:13,625 --> 00:35:15,167 That's hard times. 746 00:35:15,292 --> 00:35:18,333 We're at this point where companies 747 00:35:18,458 --> 00:35:22,500 are thinking about how do they replace unionized labor. 748 00:35:22,625 --> 00:35:27,292 And the reality is the idea of achieving the American dream is 749 00:35:27,375 --> 00:35:28,500 starting to slip away. 750 00:35:28,833 --> 00:35:32,833 And Ric Flair, you put hard times on this country 751 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,792 by taking Dusty Rhodes out. 752 00:35:34,875 --> 00:35:36,917 That's hard times. 753 00:35:37,042 --> 00:35:38,208 Dusty was the son of a plumber. 754 00:35:38,333 --> 00:35:41,000 I was the guy born with the golden spoon. 755 00:35:41,125 --> 00:35:43,667 And it's basically the truth. 756 00:35:43,833 --> 00:35:44,625 My dad was a doctor. 757 00:35:44,708 --> 00:35:46,208 His dad was a plumber. 758 00:35:46,333 --> 00:35:48,792 Dusty was just saying [bleep] to me. 759 00:35:48,875 --> 00:35:53,750 Nature Boy Ric Flair, the World Heavyweight Title 760 00:35:53,875 --> 00:35:55,667 belongs to these people. 761 00:35:55,792 --> 00:35:57,208 I will reach out right now. 762 00:35:57,375 --> 00:36:01,333 I want you at home to know my hand is touching your hand. 763 00:36:01,458 --> 00:36:04,333 What makes that promo so special, 764 00:36:04,417 --> 00:36:09,333 it dips into the anger and the disillusionment that we feel. 765 00:36:09,458 --> 00:36:12,417 But it also asks us to reach for something 766 00:36:12,542 --> 00:36:14,708 greater, to reach out to him, but also to reach out 767 00:36:14,875 --> 00:36:16,833 to each other. 768 00:36:16,917 --> 00:36:18,250 Let me leave you with this. 769 00:36:21,167 --> 00:36:24,625 One way to hurt Ric Flair is to take 770 00:36:24,708 --> 00:36:27,958 what he cherishes more than anything in the world. 771 00:36:28,083 --> 00:36:30,000 That's the World's Heavyweight Title. 772 00:36:30,167 --> 00:36:30,958 I'm gonna take it. 773 00:36:31,042 --> 00:36:33,042 I've been there twice. 774 00:36:33,167 --> 00:36:36,042 This time, when I take it, daddy, I'm 775 00:36:36,167 --> 00:36:37,625 going to take it for you. 776 00:36:37,750 --> 00:36:39,625 Let's gather for it. 777 00:36:39,708 --> 00:36:41,000 Don't let me down now. 778 00:36:41,125 --> 00:36:43,208 For an interview to be amazing, the person 779 00:36:43,375 --> 00:36:45,792 giving that interview has to believe it. 780 00:36:45,917 --> 00:36:49,667 And that is really the secret to his success. 781 00:36:49,750 --> 00:36:51,875 Is he really was the American Dream. 782 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,500 I can't say that I'm going to walk through my house 783 00:36:54,583 --> 00:36:57,208 and show the camera all the fine, great things 784 00:36:57,333 --> 00:36:59,250 that I've earned in this profession. 785 00:36:59,375 --> 00:37:01,167 But there's one thing when I walk through my house 786 00:37:01,333 --> 00:37:03,083 that I see every day of my life. 787 00:37:03,208 --> 00:37:04,583 She's about that high. 788 00:37:04,708 --> 00:37:05,875 She's two years old. 789 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,792 And I got two other ones, too. 790 00:37:07,875 --> 00:37:13,792 Dusty had missed out on so much and Dustin and Kristin's life. 791 00:37:13,917 --> 00:37:15,500 He never talked about it. 792 00:37:15,667 --> 00:37:18,708 But I know it's something that just weighed heavy 793 00:37:18,833 --> 00:37:20,250 on his heart. 794 00:37:20,375 --> 00:37:25,667 When Teil was born, her birth was like a second chance 795 00:37:25,750 --> 00:37:26,833 at fatherhood. 796 00:37:26,958 --> 00:37:30,500 And when Cody was born, we never went anywhere 797 00:37:30,667 --> 00:37:33,083 that we didn't take our kids. 798 00:37:33,208 --> 00:37:35,042 Dustin came to live with us the summer 799 00:37:35,167 --> 00:37:37,333 before his junior year of high school. 800 00:37:37,458 --> 00:37:40,667 He just wanted to be around his dad, period. 801 00:37:40,750 --> 00:37:44,333 But he wasn't doing well in school. 802 00:37:44,458 --> 00:37:47,708 I think Dusty saw Dustin as being like this great football 803 00:37:47,833 --> 00:37:49,125 player. 804 00:37:49,208 --> 00:37:50,583 He had been offered some football scholarships. 805 00:37:50,708 --> 00:37:53,042 But you've got to have the grades as well. 806 00:37:53,208 --> 00:37:55,083 And that bothered Dusty. 807 00:37:55,208 --> 00:37:57,333 Dusty wanted his kids to go to college. 808 00:37:57,458 --> 00:37:59,833 He was worried about what Dustin was going to do 809 00:37:59,958 --> 00:38:03,000 and did not want Dustin to get in the wrestling business. 810 00:38:03,167 --> 00:38:05,167 He was trying to keep me away from it 811 00:38:05,250 --> 00:38:08,500 because it's a tough life. 812 00:38:12,542 --> 00:38:18,167 You're looking at the greatest wrestlers alive today, three-- 813 00:38:18,292 --> 00:38:22,042 oh, what do we got here, huh? 814 00:38:22,208 --> 00:38:26,667 Ric Flair versus Dusty Rhodes, this was years of struggle 815 00:38:26,833 --> 00:38:27,958 by Dusty Rhodes. 816 00:38:28,042 --> 00:38:33,042 Look at this, the World Heavyweight Championship. 817 00:38:33,208 --> 00:38:36,667 1986, Great American Bash, Ric Flair 818 00:38:36,750 --> 00:38:40,458 is legitimately the man, the man. 819 00:38:40,542 --> 00:38:46,792 And Dusty, throughout their rivalry, it's loss, after loss, 820 00:38:46,875 --> 00:38:49,250 after loss. 821 00:38:49,375 --> 00:38:51,833 But from a wrestling perspective, 822 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:53,792 those weren't losses. 823 00:38:53,917 --> 00:38:56,625 That is the definition of the chase. 824 00:38:56,750 --> 00:39:00,875 Dusty was like an open nerve. 825 00:39:01,042 --> 00:39:02,958 Dusty was your pain. 826 00:39:03,042 --> 00:39:04,917 Dusty was vulnerability. 827 00:39:05,042 --> 00:39:07,875 Here he goes, Ramsay, right into the fist. 828 00:39:08,042 --> 00:39:09,542 Down goes Ric Flair. 829 00:39:14,708 --> 00:39:17,167 People needed to see him come out on top. 830 00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:19,000 They needed to feel like they were coming out 831 00:39:19,167 --> 00:39:20,917 on top, finally. 832 00:39:21,042 --> 00:39:24,875 Small package, hands Ric Flair-- he did it. 833 00:39:25,042 --> 00:39:26,708 Dusty did it. 834 00:39:26,833 --> 00:39:28,833 Dusty Rhodes has just won the match. 835 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:36,625 Ladies and gentlemen, the winner and new World Heavyweight 836 00:39:36,708 --> 00:39:41,583 Champion, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 837 00:39:41,708 --> 00:39:44,125 People are losing their mind because they 838 00:39:44,250 --> 00:39:47,125 were in on the chase with him. 839 00:39:47,208 --> 00:39:49,792 They loved Dusty so much. 840 00:39:49,875 --> 00:39:52,583 To have him finally beat Ric Flair, to have him do it 841 00:39:52,708 --> 00:39:56,500 in a steel cage, I mean, it did amazing things 842 00:39:56,625 --> 00:39:58,000 for Dusty Rhodes's legend. 843 00:40:00,625 --> 00:40:03,875 You see them working these huge arenas and huge stadiums 844 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:05,125 and selling them out. 845 00:40:05,208 --> 00:40:08,500 They're on top of the world. 846 00:40:08,625 --> 00:40:12,375 Very important that the NWA stayed in lockstep 847 00:40:12,500 --> 00:40:15,167 with what the WWE was doing. 848 00:40:15,250 --> 00:40:18,583 Depending upon which side you're on is how you view things. 849 00:40:18,708 --> 00:40:21,333 In the South, looking at it from that point of view, 850 00:40:21,458 --> 00:40:22,625 it's like, man, we're doing great. 851 00:40:22,708 --> 00:40:25,000 We've got a hell of an opportunity here. 852 00:40:25,125 --> 00:40:28,458 Then when you get up to New York and looking 853 00:40:28,583 --> 00:40:30,833 at the scope of that, you realize, 854 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,333 oh my God, they don't have a chance. 855 00:40:33,458 --> 00:40:35,625 There's a whole other world out there 856 00:40:35,750 --> 00:40:38,917 that had never heard of Jim Crockett Promotions. 857 00:40:39,042 --> 00:40:44,250 And what Jim Crockett Promotions failed to recognize 858 00:40:44,375 --> 00:40:47,250 was that other audience. 859 00:40:47,375 --> 00:40:49,208 It was a family-owned business. 860 00:40:49,333 --> 00:40:50,958 And we're running around like rock stars 861 00:40:51,083 --> 00:40:54,333 and should have had a much greater accounting principle. 862 00:40:54,417 --> 00:40:56,958 Crockett sold the business to TBS. 863 00:40:57,083 --> 00:41:02,042 And Dusty got the call from Vince to come work for him. 864 00:41:02,167 --> 00:41:03,583 Dusty Rhodes coming in. 865 00:41:03,708 --> 00:41:05,792 Now what right does this guy have to step in the ring? 866 00:41:05,917 --> 00:41:08,167 Dusty Rhodes starting to come out and prevent what was 867 00:41:08,333 --> 00:41:09,625 going to be an interrogation. 868 00:41:09,708 --> 00:41:12,292 It was a little difficult at first 869 00:41:12,375 --> 00:41:14,625 because Dusty saw himself as Hulk Hogan. 870 00:41:14,750 --> 00:41:18,375 Dusty looked in the mirror and saw Hulk. 871 00:41:18,542 --> 00:41:21,417 We didn't have that eyesight Dusty had. 872 00:41:21,542 --> 00:41:24,583 We looked at him and went be the common man. 873 00:41:24,708 --> 00:41:29,500 One man's trash is another man's treasure. 874 00:41:29,583 --> 00:41:31,417 At that juncture in his career, he 875 00:41:31,542 --> 00:41:32,542 was no longer a spring chicken. 876 00:41:32,667 --> 00:41:34,500 He wasn't on the top of his game. 877 00:41:34,625 --> 00:41:36,667 So I wanted to go with more fun. 878 00:41:36,750 --> 00:41:40,292 We did some vignettes of Dusty, so entertaining. 879 00:41:40,375 --> 00:41:42,042 Have no fear, the son of plumber's here. 880 00:41:42,167 --> 00:41:43,000 What's going on, baby? 881 00:41:43,125 --> 00:41:44,000 Thank God you're here. 882 00:41:44,167 --> 00:41:45,167 Woo. 883 00:41:45,333 --> 00:41:47,542 Hey, aren't you? 884 00:41:47,667 --> 00:41:50,083 This man is America. 885 00:41:50,208 --> 00:41:51,333 Dusty Rhodes. 886 00:41:51,417 --> 00:41:52,750 [music - "common man boogie"] 887 00:41:52,875 --> 00:41:57,417 He's just a common man working hard with his hands. 888 00:41:57,542 --> 00:41:58,542 He's got the polka dots. 889 00:41:58,667 --> 00:42:01,125 Oh, I love it. 890 00:42:01,208 --> 00:42:04,083 Vince said polka dots. 891 00:42:04,208 --> 00:42:05,542 What? 892 00:42:05,667 --> 00:42:08,917 Dusty, we need-- he needs polka dots, yellow polka 893 00:42:09,042 --> 00:42:11,333 dots everywhere. 894 00:42:11,500 --> 00:42:12,833 We think he's nuts. 895 00:42:12,958 --> 00:42:14,000 What can I say? 896 00:42:14,125 --> 00:42:17,458 I'm into polka dots, the Dream getting down. 897 00:42:17,583 --> 00:42:19,125 It was the difference between seeing 898 00:42:19,208 --> 00:42:23,792 somebody I looked up to and respected and seeing a cartoon. 899 00:42:23,875 --> 00:42:28,208 We lost an authentic working class voice. 900 00:42:28,333 --> 00:42:32,042 That ended the day the yellow polka dots came on. 901 00:42:32,167 --> 00:42:36,667 I'm just a common man. 902 00:42:36,792 --> 00:42:40,125 I was mixed about seeing Dusty Rhodes in the polka dots. 903 00:42:40,250 --> 00:42:41,667 I was kind of heartbroken. 904 00:42:41,792 --> 00:42:43,833 Because I wanted the American Dream Dusty Rhodes 905 00:42:43,917 --> 00:42:46,833 with band-aids all over his head, bleeding like a pig 906 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,583 every night, doing the hard times promos. 907 00:42:50,708 --> 00:42:51,750 He didn't care. 908 00:42:52,167 --> 00:42:56,458 He was so glad to get the call to come to the WWE. 909 00:42:56,583 --> 00:42:58,042 He would have worn a diaper. 910 00:42:58,208 --> 00:43:01,792 As long as he was getting a big check, polka dots are great. 911 00:43:01,875 --> 00:43:04,333 There are fans to this day who will 912 00:43:04,458 --> 00:43:06,833 try to convince me that they made 913 00:43:06,917 --> 00:43:08,875 a mockery of the American Dream. 914 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,333 And maybe it was even punishment for having 915 00:43:11,417 --> 00:43:13,667 been in the opposition or not coming 916 00:43:13,833 --> 00:43:17,250 the multiple times that he had been presented the opportunity 917 00:43:17,375 --> 00:43:18,208 to go. 918 00:43:18,333 --> 00:43:20,167 I don't see that at all. 919 00:43:20,292 --> 00:43:23,667 Whether it started out as a rib, I was from that school of I 920 00:43:23,833 --> 00:43:25,667 want to make this work. 921 00:43:25,792 --> 00:43:28,000 I want to put this back in somebody's face. 922 00:43:28,125 --> 00:43:32,833 It was a time the WWE was really breaking through major pop 923 00:43:32,958 --> 00:43:33,833 culture. 924 00:43:33,958 --> 00:43:36,833 And Dusty was absolutely a part of that. 925 00:43:36,917 --> 00:43:39,500 He was always that guy, you give it to me, 926 00:43:39,625 --> 00:43:40,875 and I'll make it something. 927 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:43,917 And Dusty's role was to make the people jump, 928 00:43:44,042 --> 00:43:46,625 to make the fans get up out of their seats. 929 00:43:46,750 --> 00:43:48,417 When he was playing the polka dot role, 930 00:43:48,542 --> 00:43:51,792 everybody still gravitated to Dusty Rhodes. 931 00:43:51,917 --> 00:43:54,833 It was just 18 months of his career. 932 00:43:54,958 --> 00:43:58,583 And it was likely the most money he'd ever made. 933 00:43:58,708 --> 00:44:00,667 And I don't think it was a practical joke at all. 934 00:44:00,833 --> 00:44:02,875 And if it was, he threw it back in their face. 935 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,500 And they were smart enough to let him throw it back 936 00:44:05,625 --> 00:44:07,458 in their face and run with it. 937 00:44:07,542 --> 00:44:10,083 He's got more than sapphire in his corner. 938 00:44:10,208 --> 00:44:11,542 He's got his son Dustin. 939 00:44:11,667 --> 00:44:13,917 And right there, I love that. 940 00:44:14,042 --> 00:44:16,542 I was there for all these moments, man. 941 00:44:16,667 --> 00:44:19,875 And yes, of course I want to be a pro wrestler. 942 00:44:20,042 --> 00:44:21,708 And I really want to do this. 943 00:44:21,833 --> 00:44:25,417 And I'm going to do this, whether you like it or not dad. 944 00:44:25,542 --> 00:44:27,333 And he did not want that for me. 945 00:44:27,458 --> 00:44:29,375 He wanted me to go to college. 946 00:44:29,542 --> 00:44:32,250 But you know what I wanted more? 947 00:44:32,375 --> 00:44:35,292 I wanted to be like my dad. 948 00:44:35,375 --> 00:44:38,292 And he said, Dustin, you want this business, 949 00:44:38,417 --> 00:44:39,417 I'm going to let you do it. 950 00:44:39,542 --> 00:44:40,667 This is my son. 951 00:44:40,792 --> 00:44:43,167 And the legacy of the American Dream 952 00:44:43,250 --> 00:44:44,792 lives in this kid's heart. 953 00:44:44,875 --> 00:44:47,458 And what he don't know, we're going to teach him. 954 00:44:47,542 --> 00:44:49,458 And because Dustin Rhodes right here 955 00:44:49,583 --> 00:44:54,333 it's getting ready to get funky like a monkey in Florida. 956 00:44:54,458 --> 00:44:55,958 He breaks me into the business. 957 00:44:56,042 --> 00:45:00,333 This is the first time that I am hearing what pro wrestling is 958 00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:02,708 from the inside. 959 00:45:02,875 --> 00:45:04,958 Dustin had been in Florida and felt 960 00:45:05,042 --> 00:45:07,292 that Dustin had the chops at that point 961 00:45:07,417 --> 00:45:10,208 in his career, young, still had a lot to learn. 962 00:45:10,333 --> 00:45:11,833 But why not? 963 00:45:11,917 --> 00:45:14,292 Let's give him a shot and bring him in as Dusty's son. 964 00:45:14,375 --> 00:45:15,333 It was real. 965 00:45:15,458 --> 00:45:16,500 Wait a minute, what is this? 966 00:45:16,625 --> 00:45:19,875 We've got Ted DiBiase on one side. 967 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:25,500 We've got Virgil on the other side flanking Dustin Rhodes. 968 00:45:25,667 --> 00:45:27,167 Wait a minute. 969 00:45:27,250 --> 00:45:29,500 Whoa, did you see that? 970 00:45:29,583 --> 00:45:31,958 Oh no, oh no. 971 00:45:32,083 --> 00:45:35,667 Mark, look what they're doing to Dusty Rhodes' son, Dustin. 972 00:45:35,792 --> 00:45:38,708 My first thought was like, this could get very interesting very 973 00:45:38,833 --> 00:45:42,542 quickly, will Dusty Rhodes be granted the freedom 974 00:45:42,667 --> 00:45:48,708 to tell the story of his odyssey with his son, Dustin Rhodes. 975 00:45:48,833 --> 00:45:52,083 He swings at me like this, straight onto my head. 976 00:45:52,208 --> 00:45:57,458 And the two corners hit me in the head and busted me open, 977 00:45:57,583 --> 00:45:59,167 I mean, wide open. 978 00:45:59,333 --> 00:46:02,667 But I felt so alive. 979 00:46:02,792 --> 00:46:07,500 Oh no, Dusty Rhodes is covering his son, trying to protect him. 980 00:46:12,625 --> 00:46:14,625 I'm just underneath him, oh, my boy. 981 00:46:14,708 --> 00:46:16,208 And he's acting it out. 982 00:46:16,333 --> 00:46:18,167 And he's crying. 983 00:46:18,333 --> 00:46:20,875 And people are feeling it in the arena. 984 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,500 And he's right there with me, you know? 985 00:46:35,792 --> 00:46:39,750 He missed a lot of Dustin's young life. 986 00:46:39,875 --> 00:46:42,333 And there was things he needed from his dad 987 00:46:42,500 --> 00:46:45,042 that he didn't get. 988 00:46:45,167 --> 00:46:49,958 For the first time, I think, in my life, 989 00:46:50,042 --> 00:46:55,458 I felt connected to him. 990 00:46:59,542 --> 00:47:01,667 It was probably some of the most fun I ever had 991 00:47:01,792 --> 00:47:03,333 because I went outside the box. 992 00:47:03,417 --> 00:47:06,708 But as time went on in that year and a half, I got tired of it 993 00:47:06,875 --> 00:47:09,000 at the end because it wasn't me. 994 00:47:09,083 --> 00:47:12,250 Boy, it's great to be back with WCW. 995 00:47:12,375 --> 00:47:13,458 I'm talking about the-- 996 00:47:13,542 --> 00:47:17,250 '91, '92, '93, Dusty's the head of creative. 997 00:47:17,375 --> 00:47:18,500 He wrote the stories. 998 00:47:18,667 --> 00:47:20,583 He hired the talent. 999 00:47:20,708 --> 00:47:22,792 He set the direction of the company 1000 00:47:22,875 --> 00:47:24,500 from a creative perspective. 1001 00:47:24,667 --> 00:47:28,125 He had just stepped out of actively 1002 00:47:28,208 --> 00:47:29,417 being a full-time wrestler. 1003 00:47:29,542 --> 00:47:32,208 And he was more of an executive producer. 1004 00:47:32,333 --> 00:47:39,167 And it meant he was with me a great deal of my childhood. 1005 00:47:39,292 --> 00:47:42,542 He was our football coach when I was in middle school. 1006 00:47:42,667 --> 00:47:44,667 He supported me in everything. 1007 00:47:44,792 --> 00:47:50,583 He made me feel like the most special girl. 1008 00:47:50,708 --> 00:47:53,250 It was an easy relationship. 1009 00:47:53,375 --> 00:47:58,667 But there's no balance to having the world and having a family. 1010 00:47:58,833 --> 00:48:00,208 We didn't suffer for it. 1011 00:48:00,375 --> 00:48:04,542 But I think on that climb, my sister Kristin and Dustin, 1012 00:48:04,708 --> 00:48:06,625 I think that they did. 1013 00:48:06,708 --> 00:48:07,917 My father loved us all. 1014 00:48:08,042 --> 00:48:10,417 And he loved his kids first and foremost. 1015 00:48:10,542 --> 00:48:17,500 It's the time and space between all of us that's the enemy. 1016 00:48:17,625 --> 00:48:18,333 Come here, Dustin. 1017 00:48:21,042 --> 00:48:25,500 I want everybody to bear with me just for a minute. 1018 00:48:25,583 --> 00:48:27,417 I want to talk to my son. 1019 00:48:27,542 --> 00:48:30,333 Dustin and Kristin could have not spoken to me again as long 1020 00:48:30,417 --> 00:48:31,167 as they live. 1021 00:48:31,292 --> 00:48:33,250 And I would not have blamed them. 1022 00:48:33,375 --> 00:48:36,833 I did nothing whatsoever to be a part of their lives. 1023 00:48:36,958 --> 00:48:39,375 I made no attempt to be that at a young age. 1024 00:48:39,542 --> 00:48:45,208 When you were born, I went off to seek my fame and fortune. 1025 00:48:45,333 --> 00:48:46,958 I neglected you. 1026 00:48:47,083 --> 00:48:51,958 My favorite Dusty Rhodes interview I cannot watch 1027 00:48:52,083 --> 00:48:56,708 without being too deeply affected is the interview he 1028 00:48:56,833 --> 00:48:58,875 had with my brother. 1029 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:03,000 He lays it on me with this promo that 1030 00:49:03,083 --> 00:49:07,000 is just hair standing on your arms type stuff 1031 00:49:07,125 --> 00:49:09,500 to make you feel something was real. 1032 00:49:09,583 --> 00:49:11,125 I'm terrified. 1033 00:49:11,250 --> 00:49:13,250 I mean, you know, you're thrown into national television. 1034 00:49:13,375 --> 00:49:14,417 You're young. 1035 00:49:14,542 --> 00:49:17,250 You're greener than goose [bleep],, yeah, terrified. 1036 00:49:17,375 --> 00:49:20,542 My dad's been doing this for 20 something, 30 years. 1037 00:49:20,667 --> 00:49:21,875 It's easy for him. 1038 00:49:22,042 --> 00:49:23,917 But all these people are staring at me now. 1039 00:49:24,042 --> 00:49:25,625 And my dad's talking to me. 1040 00:49:25,750 --> 00:49:26,542 And I'm listening. 1041 00:49:26,667 --> 00:49:27,875 How do I act? 1042 00:49:28,042 --> 00:49:31,125 I don't know what to do except just listen. 1043 00:49:31,250 --> 00:49:33,833 When you walk behind and you're not a leader, 1044 00:49:33,958 --> 00:49:36,208 then the view never changes, baby. 1045 00:49:36,375 --> 00:49:38,583 The view never changes, baby. 1046 00:49:38,708 --> 00:49:41,500 The view never changes. 1047 00:49:41,583 --> 00:49:45,500 You have the ability to be the World's Heavyweight Wrestling 1048 00:49:45,625 --> 00:49:47,000 Champion. 1049 00:49:47,167 --> 00:49:50,208 There is not a great athlete at your age in this sport. 1050 00:49:50,333 --> 00:49:54,167 To bring that to life within the context of a story 1051 00:49:54,250 --> 00:50:00,583 and the real emotion that manifests because of it, wow. 1052 00:50:00,708 --> 00:50:05,000 I'm asking you if you can carry this old out of shape, 1053 00:50:05,167 --> 00:50:07,833 old bent out, old spindly-legged man-- 1054 00:50:07,958 --> 00:50:10,083 I want to be your partner. 1055 00:50:12,708 --> 00:50:14,500 To offer to be his partner-- 1056 00:50:20,250 --> 00:50:23,417 that's like every kid wants that. 1057 00:50:23,542 --> 00:50:25,250 And Dustin deserved that. 1058 00:50:25,375 --> 00:50:26,333 He did. 1059 00:50:26,458 --> 00:50:26,958 I can't watch it. 1060 00:50:27,042 --> 00:50:30,583 But it's very special. 1061 00:50:30,708 --> 00:50:31,750 The Rhodes are blood. 1062 00:50:31,875 --> 00:50:33,125 I don't need a handshake. 1063 00:50:33,208 --> 00:50:36,875 What I need now from you is just a hug and a kiss 1064 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,583 to seal the deal, baby. 1065 00:50:39,708 --> 00:50:42,417 [crowd cheers] 1066 00:50:45,167 --> 00:50:47,000 I had a ton of people over at the house. 1067 00:50:47,167 --> 00:50:48,708 And I felt like he was going to cry. 1068 00:50:48,875 --> 00:50:50,000 And I could hear it in his voice. 1069 00:50:50,167 --> 00:50:52,917 And I thought, oh, this is bad. 1070 00:50:53,042 --> 00:50:54,583 I don't think I want to watch-- 1071 00:50:54,708 --> 00:50:56,000 I don't think I can watch this. 1072 00:50:56,125 --> 00:50:58,000 And I had to leave the room. 1073 00:50:58,125 --> 00:51:00,875 And I remember them being like, it's not real. 1074 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:02,792 It's not real. 1075 00:51:02,917 --> 00:51:03,708 It's fake. 1076 00:51:03,833 --> 00:51:04,667 I'm like, OK, buddy. 1077 00:51:04,833 --> 00:51:05,917 I got it. 1078 00:51:06,042 --> 00:51:08,333 I mean, it's really just beautiful. 1079 00:51:08,458 --> 00:51:10,167 There were plenty of people in that 1080 00:51:10,250 --> 00:51:13,750 crowd who had problems with their dad or their dad 1081 00:51:13,875 --> 00:51:15,000 had problems with the son. 1082 00:51:15,083 --> 00:51:16,167 And I don't think there was anything 1083 00:51:16,292 --> 00:51:18,500 my dad was ever that proud of. 1084 00:51:18,583 --> 00:51:19,667 Here he comes. 1085 00:51:19,833 --> 00:51:21,458 Here we go. 1086 00:51:21,542 --> 00:51:25,667 Dustin will tell you, I always wanted to be like my dad. 1087 00:51:25,750 --> 00:51:27,500 Those are hard shoes to fill. 1088 00:51:27,667 --> 00:51:30,375 And I think he always felt a tremendous amount of pain 1089 00:51:30,500 --> 00:51:34,625 and pressure that just built, and built, and just stayed 1090 00:51:34,708 --> 00:51:35,667 with him. 1091 00:51:35,792 --> 00:51:37,417 Dustin got married to Terry. 1092 00:51:37,542 --> 00:51:39,500 Dusty thought it was a very bad decision 1093 00:51:39,625 --> 00:51:41,167 and was very vocal about it, which 1094 00:51:41,292 --> 00:51:43,958 I think is where they went their separate ways at that point. 1095 00:51:44,042 --> 00:51:46,958 I think that Dustin had a lot of resentment 1096 00:51:47,042 --> 00:51:48,833 from when he was growing up. 1097 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:53,000 And his wife just played into all of that. 1098 00:51:53,125 --> 00:51:59,542 I was made to choose a woman over my father. 1099 00:51:59,667 --> 00:52:01,667 And I chose the woman. 1100 00:52:01,792 --> 00:52:02,542 I was mad. 1101 00:52:02,667 --> 00:52:03,667 And I was angry. 1102 00:52:03,750 --> 00:52:07,042 I didn't want anything to do with my father. 1103 00:52:07,167 --> 00:52:09,333 I didn't talk to my dad for five years. 1104 00:52:09,500 --> 00:52:14,292 It was heartbreaking because he suffered greatly because of it. 1105 00:52:14,417 --> 00:52:17,125 During those five years, I wanted nothing else 1106 00:52:17,208 --> 00:52:20,167 than to do something different. 1107 00:52:20,250 --> 00:52:24,417 I was tired of being Dustin Rhodes. 1108 00:52:24,542 --> 00:52:28,625 [breathes in] 1109 00:52:28,708 --> 00:52:29,250 Goldust. 1110 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,167 We're sitting there watching Dustin. 1111 00:52:36,333 --> 00:52:42,000 And Dusty is just floored because he didn't have a clue. 1112 00:52:42,167 --> 00:52:46,167 All he knew was that Dustin was going to go to work at the WWE. 1113 00:52:46,292 --> 00:52:49,000 And we all just looked at each other. 1114 00:52:49,083 --> 00:52:51,208 Dustin was Goldust. 1115 00:52:51,375 --> 00:52:53,125 What does American Dream think of Goldust? 1116 00:52:53,208 --> 00:52:57,208 Well, I really don't have any idea. 1117 00:52:57,333 --> 00:52:59,042 It's been about 2 years, 2 and 1/2 years 1118 00:52:59,167 --> 00:53:00,333 since I've talked to him. 1119 00:53:00,458 --> 00:53:02,500 Because of some mistakes he'd made with Dustin, 1120 00:53:02,625 --> 00:53:05,833 Dustin was right in being upset with Dad. 1121 00:53:05,958 --> 00:53:07,375 He was. 1122 00:53:07,500 --> 00:53:10,000 Where he wasn't right was letting the entire world know. 1123 00:53:10,167 --> 00:53:11,208 I know you guys haven't talked. 1124 00:53:11,333 --> 00:53:12,500 Maybe it's not a bad opportunity to say 1125 00:53:12,625 --> 00:53:14,750 what you got on your mind, say what, at least, 1126 00:53:14,875 --> 00:53:16,417 you want to say. 1127 00:53:16,542 --> 00:53:17,000 About what? 1128 00:53:17,125 --> 00:53:20,042 I can-- what's to say? 1129 00:53:20,208 --> 00:53:23,125 My initial impression of that character 1130 00:53:23,208 --> 00:53:24,542 was that it was a slap in the face. 1131 00:53:24,667 --> 00:53:27,500 It was an insult to Dusty and to Dustin. 1132 00:53:27,625 --> 00:53:29,583 It's the dream. 1133 00:53:29,708 --> 00:53:31,000 It's a nightmare. 1134 00:53:31,125 --> 00:53:32,292 [inaudible] 1135 00:53:32,375 --> 00:53:35,625 He's been-- I guess he's Dust Dust tonight. 1136 00:53:35,708 --> 00:53:38,250 Look at that. 1137 00:53:38,375 --> 00:53:43,042 The danger going into a real life back story 1138 00:53:43,208 --> 00:53:46,417 is they go into a story and everybody's 1139 00:53:46,542 --> 00:53:50,875 willing to pull back the curtain this much. 1140 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:52,167 Everybody is cool with that. 1141 00:53:52,333 --> 00:53:54,208 But after a certain amount of time, 1142 00:53:54,333 --> 00:53:56,083 you want the audience to lean into with you, 1143 00:53:56,208 --> 00:53:59,042 you go from that much of the story 1144 00:53:59,208 --> 00:54:02,292 to that much of the story. 1145 00:54:02,375 --> 00:54:05,292 And now, you're exposing things and talking about things 1146 00:54:05,417 --> 00:54:08,583 that you never really thought you would or intended to. 1147 00:54:08,708 --> 00:54:13,333 And you don't realize how much it's going to affect you 1148 00:54:13,417 --> 00:54:16,167 or the other people involved until after you do it. 1149 00:54:16,333 --> 00:54:17,833 And by then, it's too late. 1150 00:54:17,958 --> 00:54:19,708 Oh, here we go. 1151 00:54:19,833 --> 00:54:21,833 Woo! 1152 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:24,542 Those things were way too far. 1153 00:54:24,708 --> 00:54:27,625 It was not easy because deep down I wanted him. 1154 00:54:33,208 --> 00:54:37,250 And I know he did too. 1155 00:54:37,375 --> 00:54:40,333 But we're both hardheaded. 1156 00:54:40,458 --> 00:54:43,708 And we both didn't pick up the phone. 1157 00:54:43,833 --> 00:54:45,167 My dad was depressed. 1158 00:54:45,333 --> 00:54:48,917 He was-- he seemed really low. 1159 00:54:49,042 --> 00:54:55,958 I'd find him sitting out on our porch, just like so down. 1160 00:54:56,042 --> 00:55:02,708 And he'd say, you know, I was never a good father to Dustin. 1161 00:55:02,833 --> 00:55:04,000 I should have done this. 1162 00:55:04,125 --> 00:55:06,500 I should have done that. 1163 00:55:06,625 --> 00:55:10,625 It was really painful time, very painful time in our life. 1164 00:55:10,708 --> 00:55:13,375 During that time, my mom just kind of instinctively 1165 00:55:13,500 --> 00:55:16,000 knew that she wasn't going to get to see Dustin's daughter 1166 00:55:16,125 --> 00:55:17,292 Dakota. 1167 00:55:17,375 --> 00:55:21,000 I remember the last time we saw her. 1168 00:55:21,167 --> 00:55:23,500 I remember she cried on the way home. 1169 00:55:23,625 --> 00:55:27,500 This falling out meant he also cut me and Teil out. 1170 00:55:27,583 --> 00:55:30,042 And that creates the same resentment 1171 00:55:30,167 --> 00:55:32,042 that you were fighting against. 1172 00:55:47,792 --> 00:55:50,000 This young fellow, when he was eight years old, 1173 00:55:50,083 --> 00:55:54,792 was digging ditches for his dad who was a plumber out in Texas. 1174 00:55:54,917 --> 00:55:58,333 And he told our next inductee there is 1175 00:55:58,500 --> 00:56:01,625 and can be an American Dream. 1176 00:56:01,750 --> 00:56:05,750 The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 1177 00:56:05,875 --> 00:56:08,875 [crowd cheers] 1178 00:56:10,208 --> 00:56:11,625 I remember as a kid, we would have 1179 00:56:11,708 --> 00:56:15,917 conversations where he treated me like one of the boys 1180 00:56:16,042 --> 00:56:17,417 in wrestling. 1181 00:56:17,542 --> 00:56:19,417 And when you're the biggest fan of your dad, I mean, 1182 00:56:19,542 --> 00:56:22,625 that's like the ultimate gift on Earth to have that. 1183 00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:26,917 Cody was dressed in the boots, and the jeans, 1184 00:56:27,042 --> 00:56:28,333 and the Western shirt. 1185 00:56:28,417 --> 00:56:30,917 And it was important to Dusty to hand that to him. 1186 00:56:31,042 --> 00:56:32,417 That was his boy. 1187 00:56:32,542 --> 00:56:35,042 I'm just standing there holding this Hall of Fame trophy. 1188 00:56:35,167 --> 00:56:39,333 And I thought it was the greatest thing ever in my life. 1189 00:56:39,458 --> 00:56:42,458 Part of the reason I went on this vision quest 1190 00:56:42,542 --> 00:56:44,917 with Amateur Wrestling and had such success, 1191 00:56:45,042 --> 00:56:49,333 I loved that we were together with wrestling. 1192 00:56:49,417 --> 00:56:53,000 Eventually, I fell in love with pro wrestling. 1193 00:56:53,167 --> 00:56:57,333 There was nothing else that I would ever want to do. 1194 00:56:57,500 --> 00:57:02,000 I want to thank my children, Teil, and Cody, Kristin, 1195 00:57:02,125 --> 00:57:04,542 and Dustin Rhodes. 1196 00:57:04,667 --> 00:57:07,000 You want me to elaborate? 1197 00:57:07,167 --> 00:57:10,833 It wasn't on my radar, honestly. 1198 00:57:10,958 --> 00:57:14,458 I just-- I wasn't there. 1199 00:57:14,542 --> 00:57:19,250 And then grow up, you see what truly is 1200 00:57:19,375 --> 00:57:21,875 important to you in your life. 1201 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:25,167 After not speaking to my dad for five years, 1202 00:57:25,292 --> 00:57:27,083 we go with Barry Windham to Jacksonville. 1203 00:57:27,208 --> 00:57:28,583 And I pull up in the parking lot. 1204 00:57:28,708 --> 00:57:30,958 And Barry says your dad is here, you know that right? 1205 00:57:31,042 --> 00:57:33,000 I'm like, OK, whatever. 1206 00:57:33,125 --> 00:57:34,167 He walks up to me. 1207 00:57:34,250 --> 00:57:36,458 And I don't know what to expect. 1208 00:57:36,542 --> 00:57:38,125 And he walks up. 1209 00:57:38,208 --> 00:57:41,958 And then at the last like six feet, he walks a little faster. 1210 00:57:45,542 --> 00:57:48,500 And he puts his-- 1211 00:57:48,667 --> 00:57:50,000 he basically tackles me. 1212 00:57:50,125 --> 00:57:52,042 And he hugs me. 1213 00:57:55,042 --> 00:57:57,167 And I hugged him. 1214 00:57:57,250 --> 00:58:00,667 And we hugged and didn't say a word. 1215 00:58:04,375 --> 00:58:10,375 Immediately, everything that was on his shoulders and mine- 1216 00:58:10,500 --> 00:58:12,875 dropped. 1217 00:58:13,042 --> 00:58:14,125 I was little. 1218 00:58:14,208 --> 00:58:18,000 So I know that there were issues of pops and dad. 1219 00:58:18,125 --> 00:58:20,000 But there was never anything bad that I knew of. 1220 00:58:20,125 --> 00:58:22,958 I didn't learn about that until I was much older. 1221 00:58:23,083 --> 00:58:24,958 But he was so happy that he was back. 1222 00:58:25,083 --> 00:58:27,375 And I don't think that either of them 1223 00:58:27,542 --> 00:58:29,750 wanted to think too much about what happened. 1224 00:58:29,875 --> 00:58:32,458 They just want it to be over that. 1225 00:58:32,583 --> 00:58:34,917 He loved us all the same. 1226 00:58:35,042 --> 00:58:36,250 He really did. 1227 00:58:36,375 --> 00:58:39,042 And that was a hard lesson for a young-- 1228 00:58:39,167 --> 00:58:43,250 going into his teenage years me to learn. 1229 00:58:43,375 --> 00:58:46,875 But my dad wanted his son back. 1230 00:58:47,042 --> 00:58:48,000 That was it. 1231 00:58:51,750 --> 00:58:54,583 This is where the big boys play, let me tell you something. 1232 00:58:54,708 --> 00:59:00,375 There is no better anywhere in the world than WCW. 1233 00:59:00,542 --> 00:59:03,708 As head of creativomething br 1234 00:59:03,833 --> 00:59:06,500 than most people saw when he looked at the wrestling 1235 00:59:06,583 --> 00:59:08,167 product. 1236 00:59:08,250 --> 00:59:11,500 He got him in a Power Slam. 1237 00:59:11,625 --> 00:59:12,333 We got it! 1238 00:59:12,458 --> 00:59:13,167 Simmons got it! 1239 00:59:13,250 --> 00:59:14,583 Simmons has won the match. 1240 00:59:14,708 --> 00:59:16,250 Simmons is the champion. 1241 00:59:16,375 --> 00:59:21,500 He worked for Ron Simmons to be the first Black champion. 1242 00:59:21,625 --> 00:59:24,792 He was pretty true to this vision that 1243 00:59:24,875 --> 00:59:27,167 made it possible for us to expand 1244 00:59:27,250 --> 00:59:28,792 this idea of the American dream. 1245 00:59:28,875 --> 00:59:31,292 And that right there just tells you 1246 00:59:31,375 --> 00:59:33,417 a whole lot about Dusty Rhodes. 1247 00:59:33,542 --> 00:59:35,333 Dusty was the guy to step up front 1248 00:59:35,458 --> 00:59:38,875 and say, no, this is the guy who should be our champion. 1249 00:59:39,042 --> 00:59:42,667 Opportunity knocks for WCW, the showcase 1250 00:59:42,792 --> 00:59:44,708 of professional wrestling. 1251 00:59:44,875 --> 00:59:46,667 But Dusty had a hard time adjusting 1252 00:59:46,792 --> 00:59:48,333 to a corporate environment. 1253 00:59:48,458 --> 00:59:51,583 Dusty just really didn't do the best 1254 00:59:51,708 --> 00:59:53,542 with not being his own boss. 1255 00:59:53,667 --> 00:59:56,125 And he had his hands in cuffs a lot 1256 00:59:56,208 --> 00:59:59,667 because of the corporate structure of Turner and World 1257 00:59:59,833 --> 01:00:01,000 Championship Wrestling. 1258 01:00:01,125 --> 01:00:02,917 But Dusty was a part of the team that 1259 01:00:03,042 --> 01:00:08,167 was finally beating WWE from '96 until about the end of '98. 1260 01:00:08,250 --> 01:00:10,250 That was a fun ride. 1261 01:00:10,375 --> 01:00:13,542 And then Vince McMahon started to turn it around again. 1262 01:00:13,667 --> 01:00:15,875 That was less fun. 1263 01:00:16,000 --> 01:00:20,083 And ultimately, led to the end of WCW. 1264 01:00:20,208 --> 01:00:25,208 I think at that point, Dusty was kind of just done. 1265 01:00:25,333 --> 01:00:29,625 One of the things about growing up in a culture of poverty, 1266 01:00:29,708 --> 01:00:35,958 it instills within you a value of being really present 1267 01:00:36,042 --> 01:00:37,167 oriented. 1268 01:00:37,292 --> 01:00:42,042 He never had that ability to look to the future, 1269 01:00:42,167 --> 01:00:45,708 to plan for the future, to prepare for the future. 1270 01:00:45,875 --> 01:00:50,125 My dad's motto was always if I have one dollar in my pocket, 1271 01:00:50,208 --> 01:00:51,417 I'm spending two. 1272 01:00:51,542 --> 01:00:54,917 Spend your money, you'll make more later. 1273 01:00:55,042 --> 01:00:56,125 You don't need to do that. 1274 01:00:56,208 --> 01:00:58,167 Don't do that. 1275 01:00:58,250 --> 01:01:00,417 My dad always said, you come through life one time, 1276 01:01:00,542 --> 01:01:01,958 you might as well pass by on a Cadillac. 1277 01:01:02,042 --> 01:01:04,500 And buddy, I passed by a Cadillac. 1278 01:01:04,625 --> 01:01:06,583 Overspending, got behind the IRS. 1279 01:01:06,708 --> 01:01:11,542 I'm talking about a dollar in my pocket. 1280 01:01:11,667 --> 01:01:14,125 We were very broke. 1281 01:01:14,208 --> 01:01:16,125 And he did everything in his power 1282 01:01:16,208 --> 01:01:18,792 to make it so that we didn't know. 1283 01:01:18,875 --> 01:01:22,542 I do know it was incredibly difficult on him and my mother. 1284 01:01:22,708 --> 01:01:25,625 I know that they almost didn't make it. 1285 01:01:25,750 --> 01:01:28,167 My mom had gone back to school to be a nurse, 1286 01:01:28,292 --> 01:01:29,917 and to get a job, and to work in a hospital. 1287 01:01:30,042 --> 01:01:32,208 And I thought at the time, she just wanted a career. 1288 01:01:32,375 --> 01:01:33,417 Her kids were older. 1289 01:01:33,542 --> 01:01:37,958 I didn't realize how dire it was. 1290 01:01:38,042 --> 01:01:41,000 This is ECW! 1291 01:01:41,167 --> 01:01:43,542 Paul Heyman gave me a job when I was broke. 1292 01:01:43,667 --> 01:01:44,917 And he knew I was on my ass. 1293 01:01:45,042 --> 01:01:51,958 The one, the only, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 1294 01:01:52,042 --> 01:01:57,500 The worst part is where a wrestler loses the business 1295 01:01:57,625 --> 01:01:58,833 completely. 1296 01:01:58,917 --> 01:02:01,583 He's used to being out in front of a crowd. 1297 01:02:01,708 --> 01:02:03,958 Used to making a consistent living. 1298 01:02:04,042 --> 01:02:06,750 It's not an easy ride when you're down in wrestling. 1299 01:02:06,875 --> 01:02:11,083 It's really hard to pull the nose back up on it. 1300 01:02:11,208 --> 01:02:14,000 He did some work for Paul's promotion. 1301 01:02:14,125 --> 01:02:16,667 He did independent promotions. 1302 01:02:16,792 --> 01:02:19,167 And things were just getting worse, and worse, 1303 01:02:19,292 --> 01:02:20,792 and worse financially. 1304 01:02:24,792 --> 01:02:25,833 Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time 1305 01:02:25,917 --> 01:02:30,500 to induct the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 1306 01:02:30,667 --> 01:02:35,708 Please welcome his two sons, Dustin Runnels and Cody Rhodes. 1307 01:02:39,500 --> 01:02:40,375 He didn't need a pit. 1308 01:02:40,500 --> 01:02:41,583 He didn't need a parlor. 1309 01:02:41,708 --> 01:02:42,708 He didn't need a shop. 1310 01:02:42,833 --> 01:02:45,917 All Dusty Rhodes needed was a mic. 1311 01:02:46,042 --> 01:02:48,792 And one thing that he passed in myself, my brother, 1312 01:02:48,875 --> 01:02:52,417 and my family is that nothing or nobody 1313 01:02:52,542 --> 01:02:56,667 is bigger than this business. 1314 01:02:56,792 --> 01:02:58,958 I do remember Cody at the Hall of Fame 1315 01:02:59,042 --> 01:03:01,625 and realizing right then and there 1316 01:03:01,708 --> 01:03:03,542 that we had a future superstar. 1317 01:03:03,667 --> 01:03:05,458 Stay away from my dad. 1318 01:03:05,583 --> 01:03:06,583 You got a feisty one here. 1319 01:03:06,708 --> 01:03:07,583 What's the matter, Dream? 1320 01:03:07,708 --> 01:03:09,167 You can't stick up for yourself? 1321 01:03:09,250 --> 01:03:12,625 Even back then, you could see that he had the Rhodes family 1322 01:03:12,708 --> 01:03:14,000 magic. 1323 01:03:14,125 --> 01:03:18,833 There is this respect factor for this lineage. 1324 01:03:18,958 --> 01:03:22,083 At that point, I was not ready for the mantle 1325 01:03:22,208 --> 01:03:24,667 of responsibility that comes with being 1326 01:03:24,792 --> 01:03:27,125 a member of this family. 1327 01:03:27,208 --> 01:03:31,667 But he knew I was going to make it on the level 1328 01:03:31,750 --> 01:03:34,000 that he had made it on. 1329 01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:39,750 Too often than not, some of our old timers, some 1330 01:03:39,875 --> 01:03:42,833 of our Hall of Famers, they get a bad rap 1331 01:03:42,958 --> 01:03:45,292 for not necessarily being the best family men. 1332 01:03:45,375 --> 01:03:49,750 And I am here to tell you that is a grave misunderstanding. 1333 01:03:49,875 --> 01:03:51,292 And if there was a Hall of Fame for fathers, 1334 01:03:51,417 --> 01:03:53,917 you could bet he would be in that one as well. 1335 01:03:54,042 --> 01:03:57,625 Our father, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 1336 01:03:57,708 --> 01:04:01,208 [cheers] 1337 01:04:08,250 --> 01:04:11,167 When you go back and you look at our industry, 1338 01:04:11,250 --> 01:04:13,333 you look at driving down the road, night 1339 01:04:13,458 --> 01:04:16,667 after night, trying to make a town, getting $25. 1340 01:04:16,792 --> 01:04:19,917 That's hard times. 1341 01:04:20,042 --> 01:04:24,375 But if I do that to make it good times for the fans 1342 01:04:24,500 --> 01:04:29,250 that pay their money to see us perform each and every night. 1343 01:04:29,375 --> 01:04:32,208 [cheers] 1344 01:04:35,333 --> 01:04:38,500 Wrestling industry is about people brought really high 1345 01:04:38,625 --> 01:04:40,125 and then brought really low. 1346 01:04:40,208 --> 01:04:44,958 In that regard, Dusty Rhodes's story is not exceptional. 1347 01:04:45,083 --> 01:04:49,542 But that he was able to have another act after that, 1348 01:04:49,708 --> 01:04:51,875 that was incredible. 1349 01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:54,542 At the time, we were trying to find 1350 01:04:54,667 --> 01:04:56,042 the next generation of talent. 1351 01:04:56,167 --> 01:05:00,333 And we knew that Dusty could be very helpful with that. 1352 01:05:00,458 --> 01:05:01,750 It was so surreal. 1353 01:05:02,250 --> 01:05:06,583 Here's Dusty Rhodes interviewing with me, like, of course, you 1354 01:05:06,708 --> 01:05:08,500 should have a job here, Dusty. 1355 01:05:08,625 --> 01:05:12,083 He was really excited to develop and train our talent, 1356 01:05:12,208 --> 01:05:14,083 not only to be able to perform in the ring, 1357 01:05:14,208 --> 01:05:15,708 but to be able to cut a good promo, 1358 01:05:15,833 --> 01:05:18,625 to be able to tell a good story. 1359 01:05:18,708 --> 01:05:19,875 Dusty was really the first person 1360 01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:22,000 to ever talk to me about promos. 1361 01:05:22,083 --> 01:05:24,750 There is an escape. 1362 01:05:24,875 --> 01:05:28,000 And I'm going to find it. 1363 01:05:28,125 --> 01:05:29,375 No matter what it takes. 1364 01:05:33,250 --> 01:05:36,667 We've cultivated a different side of my personality 1365 01:05:36,792 --> 01:05:39,208 that I didn't know that I had. 1366 01:05:39,333 --> 01:05:41,292 Dusty was always about being himself. 1367 01:05:41,375 --> 01:05:43,875 And he made me understand from the get go that you're fine. 1368 01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:45,958 You're perfect the way you are. 1369 01:05:46,083 --> 01:05:48,125 I didn't feel like I belonged. 1370 01:05:48,208 --> 01:05:51,417 But Dusty loved his broken toys, as he called them. 1371 01:05:51,542 --> 01:05:55,208 And he really took the time to really nourish me. 1372 01:05:55,333 --> 01:05:58,250 When you think of the great women's wrestlers 1373 01:05:58,375 --> 01:06:01,250 who have changed the times, you have 1374 01:06:01,375 --> 01:06:05,000 to talk about the American Dream Dusty Rhodes and his ability 1375 01:06:05,125 --> 01:06:07,625 to mold this generation of talent. 1376 01:06:07,708 --> 01:06:10,500 A lot of people deserve credit for it, without question. 1377 01:06:10,625 --> 01:06:13,917 But Dusty Rhodes is one of the people who made that happen. 1378 01:06:14,042 --> 01:06:15,167 But don't do it all four times. 1379 01:06:15,250 --> 01:06:16,833 You know what I'm saying? 1380 01:06:16,917 --> 01:06:17,542 Just a little bit. 1381 01:06:17,667 --> 01:06:18,500 Just enough. 1382 01:06:18,583 --> 01:06:20,042 He loved that job. 1383 01:06:20,208 --> 01:06:23,958 He loved working with those kids. 1384 01:06:24,042 --> 01:06:27,417 When he was coaching at NXT, him and my mom 1385 01:06:27,542 --> 01:06:33,000 both seemed so much happier, so much more settled. 1386 01:06:33,167 --> 01:06:36,292 Later in life, when I look at their relationship, 1387 01:06:36,375 --> 01:06:38,708 she brought him to a place that I never 1388 01:06:38,833 --> 01:06:40,208 thought he would ever be. 1389 01:06:40,333 --> 01:06:44,458 Just a deep appreciation for family, and I 1390 01:06:44,583 --> 01:06:51,042 think he saw an opportunity to right some wrongs. 1391 01:06:51,208 --> 01:06:53,000 What was important to me was the relationship 1392 01:06:53,125 --> 01:06:54,958 that I had with him at that moment. 1393 01:06:55,042 --> 01:06:59,000 He would call me every single day. 1394 01:06:59,083 --> 01:07:01,917 He didn't like being an old man. 1395 01:07:02,042 --> 01:07:06,333 But he really did like being a grandpa. 1396 01:07:06,458 --> 01:07:08,167 Being grandparents you just do all the fun 1397 01:07:08,292 --> 01:07:10,708 stuff, which was kind of his lane, anyway, 1398 01:07:10,833 --> 01:07:14,000 whatever you want all the time, Christmas every day. 1399 01:07:14,167 --> 01:07:17,667 That was kind of his brand. 1400 01:07:17,750 --> 01:07:22,750 He was a great man who circumnavigated through life 1401 01:07:22,875 --> 01:07:27,750 and found his path, and found his way, and figured it out. 1402 01:07:27,875 --> 01:07:31,750 But no matter what, he still wanted to go out and conquer 1403 01:07:31,875 --> 01:07:33,417 the world. 1404 01:07:33,542 --> 01:07:36,417 [crowd chants] 1405 01:07:42,292 --> 01:07:45,083 Having two sons you are proud of, 1406 01:07:45,208 --> 01:07:49,333 two sons that you love with all your heart 1407 01:07:49,417 --> 01:07:51,417 is what's best for business. 1408 01:07:54,667 --> 01:07:57,667 We recognized that we had this amazing opportunity 1409 01:07:57,792 --> 01:08:01,500 to have Dusty, and Cody, and Dustin all in the ring 1410 01:08:01,625 --> 01:08:05,083 at the same time and have a storyline that 1411 01:08:05,208 --> 01:08:09,167 really did pit two families against one another. 1412 01:08:09,292 --> 01:08:12,500 I mean, it doesn't get much more real than that. 1413 01:08:12,625 --> 01:08:16,667 You can give this job to your glorious baby boy, 1414 01:08:16,792 --> 01:08:20,125 the one who's always done everything absolutely right. 1415 01:08:20,250 --> 01:08:22,583 Or you can give this job to the son 1416 01:08:22,708 --> 01:08:26,375 that you neglected all those years, traveling on the road. 1417 01:08:26,500 --> 01:08:31,875 Stephanie, you can go straight to hell. 1418 01:08:32,000 --> 01:08:35,458 [cheers] 1419 01:08:36,167 --> 01:08:37,208 I was worried about him. 1420 01:08:37,333 --> 01:08:40,667 He was starting to look really frail. 1421 01:08:40,792 --> 01:08:42,833 Stay down. 1422 01:08:42,917 --> 01:08:47,208 But he was excited to be in the ring with both his sons. 1423 01:08:47,375 --> 01:08:48,792 It was a dream come true. 1424 01:08:48,875 --> 01:08:52,667 There is no length I will not go to protect this family's 1425 01:08:52,750 --> 01:08:54,292 future. 1426 01:08:54,417 --> 01:08:57,208 And yeah, we're not the perfect family. 1427 01:09:01,208 --> 01:09:04,417 Tonight, we fight for our lives. 1428 01:09:04,542 --> 01:09:07,083 Tonight, we fight for our family. 1429 01:09:12,375 --> 01:09:15,792 My dad didn't like being seen on camera 1430 01:09:15,917 --> 01:09:19,667 when he got older because he didn't want to be remembered 1431 01:09:19,833 --> 01:09:21,125 as a fat, old man. 1432 01:09:21,208 --> 01:09:22,542 He wanted to be young. 1433 01:09:22,667 --> 01:09:24,250 The Dream is going to stand in there. 1434 01:09:24,375 --> 01:09:25,667 And he got the belt loose. 1435 01:09:28,292 --> 01:09:30,333 It was the first wrestling moment 1436 01:09:30,458 --> 01:09:33,958 I'd had in years where I was like, this is great. 1437 01:09:34,083 --> 01:09:35,083 This is so good. 1438 01:09:35,208 --> 01:09:36,083 It was magic. 1439 01:09:36,208 --> 01:09:38,833 [inaudible] 1440 01:09:38,958 --> 01:09:40,375 Goldust. 1441 01:09:40,500 --> 01:09:43,167 It was crazy, crazy loud. 1442 01:09:43,250 --> 01:09:44,792 The people were all about it. 1443 01:09:44,875 --> 01:09:47,083 And the match was fire, man. 1444 01:09:47,208 --> 01:09:48,667 Here comes Cody. 1445 01:09:48,833 --> 01:09:50,542 Cody Rhodes. 1446 01:09:50,667 --> 01:09:52,167 Me and Dustin are in there, trying 1447 01:09:52,292 --> 01:09:54,833 to have this five star classic. 1448 01:09:54,917 --> 01:09:55,875 And it is. 1449 01:09:56,042 --> 01:09:56,708 You can feel the tension. 1450 01:09:56,875 --> 01:09:58,333 You knew it was special. 1451 01:09:58,500 --> 01:10:02,417 But the crowd literally comes up off their feet 1452 01:10:02,542 --> 01:10:07,833 when he threw his hat at Dean Ambrose. 1453 01:10:07,958 --> 01:10:09,833 It's the American Dream. 1454 01:10:09,958 --> 01:10:12,417 Come get you some right here. 1455 01:10:12,542 --> 01:10:14,167 Yo! 1456 01:10:14,250 --> 01:10:16,792 The American Dream. 1457 01:10:16,917 --> 01:10:18,500 Funky like a monkey. 1458 01:10:18,667 --> 01:10:22,500 Dusty Rhodes has got this place standing. 1459 01:10:22,583 --> 01:10:24,750 Do you believe in miracles? 1460 01:10:24,875 --> 01:10:26,208 He did what he does best. 1461 01:10:26,375 --> 01:10:29,167 He drew people in and made them feel. 1462 01:10:29,292 --> 01:10:31,875 And he's the best at that. 1463 01:10:32,000 --> 01:10:33,875 Goldust. 1464 01:10:34,042 --> 01:10:35,625 It's up to you, Cody. 1465 01:10:35,750 --> 01:10:36,542 Cody's got him! 1466 01:10:36,667 --> 01:10:37,000 Crossroads! 1467 01:10:37,125 --> 01:10:37,875 Crossroads! 1468 01:10:38,042 --> 01:10:41,250 This is for your family. 1469 01:10:41,375 --> 01:10:43,250 The Rhodes have done it. 1470 01:10:43,375 --> 01:10:44,250 The Rhodes have done it. 1471 01:10:44,375 --> 01:10:48,208 Cody Rhodes and Goldust. 1472 01:10:48,375 --> 01:10:51,625 The Rhodes family is home again. 1473 01:10:51,708 --> 01:10:55,208 The biggest victory in the history 1474 01:10:55,375 --> 01:10:57,792 of this legendary family. 1475 01:10:57,875 --> 01:11:00,583 I play it back in my head, and I wasn't feeling really well. 1476 01:11:00,708 --> 01:11:03,208 I was dealing with some issues, fighting them off. 1477 01:11:03,333 --> 01:11:05,500 But my God, it was just amazing. 1478 01:11:09,542 --> 01:11:11,833 It's something that I will never forget. 1479 01:11:11,958 --> 01:11:16,583 It was a very huge moment. 1480 01:11:16,708 --> 01:11:20,167 It was like watching this great performer 1481 01:11:20,292 --> 01:11:26,875 have one last stand, one last moment. 1482 01:11:29,750 --> 01:11:34,417 That was the one and only time the Rhodes were a whole. 1483 01:11:34,542 --> 01:11:37,875 And I didn't know that that was it. 1484 01:11:43,167 --> 01:11:44,292 He loved this place. 1485 01:11:44,375 --> 01:11:46,250 He definitely did. 1486 01:11:46,375 --> 01:11:47,417 Yeah. 1487 01:11:47,542 --> 01:11:49,250 Look, we have some friends today. 1488 01:11:49,375 --> 01:11:51,333 Always the longhorns. 1489 01:11:51,417 --> 01:11:52,375 I never told you this story. 1490 01:11:52,500 --> 01:11:54,958 But he got me a cattle chart. 1491 01:11:55,083 --> 01:11:55,833 And I studied it. 1492 01:11:55,917 --> 01:11:56,583 It was probably this big. 1493 01:11:56,708 --> 01:11:58,542 And it had every Charolais. 1494 01:11:58,667 --> 01:11:59,625 It had-- 1495 01:11:59,708 --> 01:12:01,333 Oh my gosh, I think I remember that. 1496 01:12:01,458 --> 01:12:03,833 I had to learn every breed of cattle. 1497 01:12:04,000 --> 01:12:05,000 Oh my God. 1498 01:12:05,083 --> 01:12:06,667 And he tested me on it constantly. 1499 01:12:06,792 --> 01:12:09,208 I think, secretly, he wanted me to be-- 1500 01:12:09,333 --> 01:12:10,250 He wants you-- 1501 01:12:10,375 --> 01:12:11,958 Some bull rider or some [bleep]. 1502 01:12:12,083 --> 01:12:12,667 Yes. 1503 01:12:15,125 --> 01:12:16,125 I miss him, honey. 1504 01:12:16,250 --> 01:12:17,125 I know, sweetie. 1505 01:12:17,208 --> 01:12:17,792 I know. 1506 01:12:22,375 --> 01:12:26,833 I go to this event in New York and everyone's there. 1507 01:12:30,250 --> 01:12:33,833 And when I seen Dusty, I couldn't believe. 1508 01:12:33,917 --> 01:12:37,708 He'd probably lost 60, 70 pounds at that time 1509 01:12:37,875 --> 01:12:39,792 from what I knew him as. 1510 01:12:39,917 --> 01:12:40,667 Something was going on. 1511 01:12:40,792 --> 01:12:43,250 But he never told me what it was. 1512 01:12:43,375 --> 01:12:48,167 He was having these mysterious signs of illness. 1513 01:12:48,292 --> 01:12:49,667 But he hated doctors. 1514 01:12:49,792 --> 01:12:53,042 And he felt like if he didn't go to the doctor, 1515 01:12:53,167 --> 01:12:54,500 he wouldn't get sick. 1516 01:12:54,625 --> 01:12:56,583 It's like he hadn't aged in forever. 1517 01:12:56,708 --> 01:12:59,667 And then it was like all those years just 1518 01:12:59,792 --> 01:13:04,625 beating his body just did catch up with him. 1519 01:13:04,708 --> 01:13:07,042 Tonight, I wined and dined with kings and queens 1520 01:13:07,167 --> 01:13:09,458 and slept in alleys and dined on pork and beans. 1521 01:13:09,583 --> 01:13:11,125 Dusty, thank you so much. 1522 01:13:11,250 --> 01:13:15,917 To see him kind of fall apart in front of us was hard. 1523 01:13:16,042 --> 01:13:20,833 I didn't know yet just how bad it was about to get. 1524 01:13:20,958 --> 01:13:24,250 One day, he woke up really early in the morning. 1525 01:13:24,375 --> 01:13:27,792 He said, something's wrong. 1526 01:13:27,917 --> 01:13:28,958 And he collapsed. 1527 01:13:29,083 --> 01:13:31,208 He just collapsed. 1528 01:13:31,375 --> 01:13:32,042 I was frantic. 1529 01:13:34,875 --> 01:13:41,458 Doctor comes in and says that he has an infection. 1530 01:13:41,583 --> 01:13:47,375 And it was just eating his liver up. 1531 01:13:47,500 --> 01:13:49,292 I remember talking to the-- 1532 01:13:49,375 --> 01:13:52,167 I said, y'all need to come. 1533 01:13:52,292 --> 01:13:53,458 You know, I got there. 1534 01:13:53,583 --> 01:13:58,625 And it just all went downhill so fast. 1535 01:13:58,708 --> 01:14:01,542 He called Dustin and I into the room. 1536 01:14:01,708 --> 01:14:04,625 And he asked if he could sit up. 1537 01:14:04,750 --> 01:14:07,000 And I couldn't pull him up by myself. 1538 01:14:07,125 --> 01:14:09,833 And my brother stood on the other side and pulled him up. 1539 01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:13,500 And as much as I'm hard on Dustin, 1540 01:14:13,583 --> 01:14:17,333 there's not a better son. 1541 01:14:17,417 --> 01:14:18,917 I knew what that moment was. 1542 01:14:21,417 --> 01:14:22,333 He was awake. 1543 01:14:22,458 --> 01:14:23,458 So I said, are you OK? 1544 01:14:23,542 --> 01:14:24,625 Yeah, I love you. 1545 01:14:24,750 --> 01:14:26,000 And you know, I said all my things 1546 01:14:26,083 --> 01:14:27,208 that I needed to say to him. 1547 01:14:27,333 --> 01:14:28,625 And he said them back. 1548 01:14:28,750 --> 01:14:33,042 And I go get Kristin in the airport. 1549 01:14:33,167 --> 01:14:37,875 And I drive back and he had already closed his eyes. 1550 01:14:38,000 --> 01:14:44,417 When I got to the hospital, he was already in that state of-- 1551 01:14:44,542 --> 01:14:45,792 he had already-- 1552 01:14:45,875 --> 01:14:47,333 I mean, I didn't get to speak to him. 1553 01:14:47,417 --> 01:14:50,958 So no, I didn't get to make it there to have words with him. 1554 01:14:54,417 --> 01:14:56,208 He died. 1555 01:14:56,375 --> 01:15:00,333 It was 30 hours from the time I called 1556 01:15:00,500 --> 01:15:03,208 the ambulance until he died. 1557 01:15:03,333 --> 01:15:04,333 It was awful. 1558 01:15:04,417 --> 01:15:05,458 It was just awful. 1559 01:15:05,542 --> 01:15:08,750 [music playing] 1560 01:15:10,125 --> 01:15:15,542 This week, this industry lost a legend, the American Dream 1561 01:15:15,667 --> 01:15:18,292 Dusty Rhodes. 1562 01:15:18,375 --> 01:15:19,625 He gave everything he had. 1563 01:15:19,750 --> 01:15:21,000 It was his passion. 1564 01:15:23,792 --> 01:15:28,167 To everybody on this stage, we lost family. 1565 01:15:28,292 --> 01:15:31,167 [bell rings] 1566 01:15:35,458 --> 01:15:36,667 It's over. 1567 01:15:36,750 --> 01:15:39,042 Dusty Rhodes has achieved victory here 1568 01:15:39,167 --> 01:15:40,708 in Madison Square Garden. 1569 01:15:40,833 --> 01:15:47,667 The winner and new World Heavyweight Champion, 1570 01:15:47,792 --> 01:15:52,167 the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 1571 01:15:52,333 --> 01:15:55,500 [bell rings] 1572 01:15:55,625 --> 01:15:58,292 He hated funerals. 1573 01:15:58,375 --> 01:16:01,208 But I do think he would have been touched by all the people 1574 01:16:01,375 --> 01:16:03,625 that came. 1575 01:16:03,708 --> 01:16:07,458 These giants that you grew up with. 1576 01:16:07,583 --> 01:16:09,333 And you haven't seen them in so long. 1577 01:16:09,500 --> 01:16:12,000 And they're all there. 1578 01:16:12,083 --> 01:16:16,708 I've always been impressed with how revered he was from-- 1579 01:16:16,833 --> 01:16:19,833 even from the old days. 1580 01:16:19,917 --> 01:16:21,708 I would go to events and I would just 1581 01:16:21,833 --> 01:16:24,542 watch wrestlers ask him for his advice, 1582 01:16:24,708 --> 01:16:27,083 I mean, internalize every word. 1583 01:16:31,167 --> 01:16:33,917 I miss him terribly. 1584 01:16:34,042 --> 01:16:36,958 But I know he is not in pain now. 1585 01:16:37,042 --> 01:16:39,000 And now, I guarantee it, he's getting funky 1586 01:16:39,167 --> 01:16:41,083 like a monkey with the angels in heaven. 1587 01:16:45,000 --> 01:16:46,833 His professional identity, it claims 1588 01:16:47,000 --> 01:16:49,667 so much of who we think he is. 1589 01:16:49,792 --> 01:16:53,875 But no, it's a minuscule part. 1590 01:16:54,042 --> 01:16:56,333 This is a cowboy of the Old Republic. 1591 01:16:56,458 --> 01:16:58,333 He's a master orator who spit fire. 1592 01:16:58,458 --> 01:17:06,625 But if you posed the question to him, fame or family, 1593 01:17:06,708 --> 01:17:08,000 it was always family. 1594 01:17:12,875 --> 01:17:14,500 I was there at the end. 1595 01:17:14,583 --> 01:17:24,167 And the last thing he said on this Earth was my mom's name. 1596 01:17:24,250 --> 01:17:29,125 And I'm glad they got that. 1597 01:17:33,583 --> 01:17:35,708 The important parts of our lives were not 1598 01:17:35,833 --> 01:17:37,917 the wrestling or any of that. 1599 01:17:38,042 --> 01:17:39,167 We had a family. 1600 01:17:39,333 --> 01:17:40,500 We had a life. 1601 01:17:40,667 --> 01:17:43,167 And Dusty gave us a good life. 1602 01:17:43,333 --> 01:17:46,542 [cow moos] 1603 01:17:46,667 --> 01:17:48,375 Come on, baby. 1604 01:17:48,500 --> 01:17:53,292 God, you just sounded like dad when you said that. 1605 01:17:53,375 --> 01:17:55,000 He loved this. 1606 01:17:55,125 --> 01:17:58,167 There's a special place out there where he visited. 1607 01:17:58,250 --> 01:18:01,833 It's just a field with a lot of longhorns. 1608 01:18:01,917 --> 01:18:09,208 And we thought it would be the perfect place to lay his ashes. 1609 01:18:09,375 --> 01:18:11,542 What happened to the little cross that was here? 1610 01:18:11,667 --> 01:18:12,583 It was right there. 1611 01:18:12,708 --> 01:18:14,500 We had to hang it up high. 1612 01:18:14,625 --> 01:18:16,375 So yeah. 1613 01:18:16,500 --> 01:18:17,833 I'm good. 1614 01:18:17,958 --> 01:18:19,333 Good. 1615 01:18:19,458 --> 01:18:23,500 I, of all the siblings, spent the least amount of time 1616 01:18:23,625 --> 01:18:24,708 with my dad. 1617 01:18:24,833 --> 01:18:26,000 And when you don't get that closure, 1618 01:18:26,167 --> 01:18:31,042 and when you don't get that time, it's not easy. 1619 01:18:31,208 --> 01:18:33,875 But there was no question in my mind that I loved my father. 1620 01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:35,667 And that my father loved me. 1621 01:18:35,750 --> 01:18:36,458 He knew. 1622 01:18:36,542 --> 01:18:37,500 He knew. 1623 01:18:37,625 --> 01:18:39,500 He knew. 1624 01:18:39,667 --> 01:18:40,833 We had differences. 1625 01:18:40,917 --> 01:18:43,000 But I always loved him. 1626 01:18:43,167 --> 01:18:47,500 It is very important to me that we, as a family, 1627 01:18:47,583 --> 01:18:53,708 come together and uphold our father's legacy because it 1628 01:18:53,875 --> 01:18:55,667 means something to this world. 1629 01:18:55,750 --> 01:18:56,333 It does. 1630 01:19:00,875 --> 01:19:02,958 Just one mystery remains. 1631 01:19:03,042 --> 01:19:05,708 Who will stand across the WrestleMania ring 1632 01:19:05,833 --> 01:19:07,792 from Seth "Freakin" Rolins? 1633 01:19:07,875 --> 01:19:09,667 We know it's an opponent-- 1634 01:19:09,833 --> 01:19:14,000 My dad, it's more difficult because he won't see it. 1635 01:19:14,167 --> 01:19:18,542 But his thumbprints is all over. 1636 01:19:18,667 --> 01:19:20,542 Who's it gonna be? 1637 01:19:20,708 --> 01:19:23,708 [music playing] 1638 01:19:26,000 --> 01:19:28,167 My dad taught me so much. 1639 01:19:28,250 --> 01:19:31,500 And at this stage in my life, at 53 years old, 1640 01:19:31,583 --> 01:19:34,333 it is all about giving back. 1641 01:19:34,417 --> 01:19:35,958 What's up kids? 1642 01:19:36,083 --> 01:19:41,375 And I'm proud to teach the future superstars. 1643 01:19:41,500 --> 01:19:44,667 Cody Rhodes. 1644 01:19:44,750 --> 01:19:47,292 This is surreal. 1645 01:19:52,042 --> 01:19:55,000 High above the clouds, a son of a plumber 1646 01:19:55,083 --> 01:19:58,000 is grinning from ear to ear. 1647 01:19:58,125 --> 01:20:00,458 I had the best education in wrestling. 1648 01:20:00,542 --> 01:20:04,292 I can confidently say it's because I was Dusty's son. 1649 01:20:08,417 --> 01:20:12,000 When I see a change in them and they get it for the first time, 1650 01:20:12,125 --> 01:20:14,750 and you see it on their face, that's the payoff. 1651 01:20:14,875 --> 01:20:16,542 It's the payoff for me. 1652 01:20:16,667 --> 01:20:18,792 [inaudible] 1653 01:20:18,917 --> 01:20:20,583 He would love this. 1654 01:20:20,708 --> 01:20:21,750 He would be so proud. 1655 01:20:21,875 --> 01:20:23,042 I know he is. 1656 01:20:29,292 --> 01:20:34,167 Bionic elbow, like the American Dream. 1657 01:20:34,292 --> 01:20:38,833 I, in this moment, feel really connected to my dad. 1658 01:20:38,958 --> 01:20:42,333 That, I know he's there. 1659 01:20:42,500 --> 01:20:45,333 [crowd cheering] 1660 01:20:51,708 --> 01:20:52,917 This is a great one, too. 1661 01:20:53,042 --> 01:20:54,583 What's that face? 1662 01:20:54,708 --> 01:20:57,542 That's about it right there. 1663 01:20:57,708 --> 01:20:58,583 Look at those stirrups. 1664 01:20:58,708 --> 01:21:00,583 He was trying to prove to his dad. 1665 01:21:00,708 --> 01:21:02,000 No wait, what's the story? 1666 01:21:02,125 --> 01:21:03,500 Big Virgil cut him-- 1667 01:21:03,583 --> 01:21:06,667 The story is that his dad cut him from his own team. 1668 01:21:06,792 --> 01:21:07,667 I don't believe that. 1669 01:21:07,750 --> 01:21:09,208 The reality is, I think-- 1670 01:21:09,333 --> 01:21:09,958 Maybe benched him. 1671 01:21:10,042 --> 01:21:11,375 Maybe benched him, yeah. 1672 01:21:11,500 --> 01:21:12,833 Yeah, I mean you got to put your best hitters in. 1673 01:21:12,917 --> 01:21:13,875 Always a little bit of drama. 1674 01:21:14,000 --> 01:21:14,833 I've seen this one. 1675 01:21:14,917 --> 01:21:15,667 That was your coach. 1676 01:21:15,833 --> 01:21:17,333 Yeah, this is my coach. 1677 01:21:17,417 --> 01:21:19,375 So how was that with dad coaching? 1678 01:21:19,542 --> 01:21:21,542 Great motivator. 1679 01:21:21,708 --> 01:21:22,750 Motivator, sure. 1680 01:21:23,208 --> 01:21:26,500 However, his defensive scheme was genuinely very good. 1681 01:21:26,625 --> 01:21:30,583 So he had a second defense with all the really overweight kids, 1682 01:21:30,708 --> 01:21:32,125 the Jumbo World Order. 1683 01:21:32,208 --> 01:21:36,042 And he made them their own shirts. 1684 01:21:36,208 --> 01:21:39,000 That one is definitely one of my favorites. 1685 01:21:39,167 --> 01:21:40,667 I know we need to pick one. 1686 01:21:40,792 --> 01:21:41,833 For the foundation. 1687 01:21:42,000 --> 01:21:42,833 We just have to pick one? 1688 01:21:42,958 --> 01:21:43,917 As we do the website-- 1689 01:21:44,042 --> 01:21:44,917 The Little League field. 1690 01:21:45,042 --> 01:21:46,125 I mean, I like that one. 1691 01:21:46,208 --> 01:21:49,000 The Dusty Rhodes Foundation is something 1692 01:21:49,125 --> 01:21:51,167 that my mom has started. 1693 01:21:51,333 --> 01:21:54,042 And it's perfect because one of the things 1694 01:21:54,167 --> 01:21:56,583 that encapsulated dusty was youth sports. 1695 01:21:56,708 --> 01:22:00,500 We've already given some money away to a baseball program 1696 01:22:00,625 --> 01:22:04,500 in North Carolina, which is an underserved community. 1697 01:22:04,667 --> 01:22:07,208 And we want to continue to partner with them. 1698 01:22:07,375 --> 01:22:10,583 But we want to do all the places that dad lived 1699 01:22:10,708 --> 01:22:12,000 and hopefully grow. 1700 01:22:12,125 --> 01:22:15,125 I mean, and it all stems back to here, 1701 01:22:15,250 --> 01:22:19,125 in here is what he didn't have, what he wanted. 1702 01:22:19,208 --> 01:22:22,875 The rules are everyone needs to be involved. 1703 01:22:23,000 --> 01:22:24,208 We'll all do it together. 1704 01:22:24,333 --> 01:22:28,667 And that's maybe his last wish, in a way, 1705 01:22:28,792 --> 01:22:32,625 that everyone get along and everyone carry this legacy 1706 01:22:32,708 --> 01:22:33,292 forward. 1707 01:22:39,875 --> 01:22:41,542 When I was a kid, we one day said, you're 1708 01:22:41,667 --> 01:22:42,917 going to be the American Dream. 1709 01:22:43,042 --> 01:22:44,125 You're going to fill a building. 1710 01:22:44,208 --> 01:22:46,083 There's going to be millions come 1711 01:22:46,208 --> 01:22:48,125 to see the American Dream, the greatest sports 1712 01:22:48,250 --> 01:22:49,500 attraction in the world today. 1713 01:22:49,667 --> 01:22:50,125 And that's true. 1714 01:22:50,250 --> 01:22:51,125 And you know it's true. 1715 01:22:51,250 --> 01:22:52,667 I am number one at what I do. 1716 01:22:52,792 --> 01:22:56,542 And it's going to be a good while, a long time, that I'm 1717 01:22:56,667 --> 01:22:57,625 going to stay number one. 1718 01:23:02,417 --> 01:23:08,375 From Austin, Texas weighing 280 pounds, Dirty Dusty Rhodes. 1719 01:23:10,667 --> 01:23:14,208 The fact that Dusty Rhodes is still influential 1720 01:23:14,333 --> 01:23:17,333 says something about his cultural resonance. 1721 01:23:17,458 --> 01:23:19,375 As long as people are struggling, 1722 01:23:19,500 --> 01:23:23,500 they will look to the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. 1723 01:23:23,583 --> 01:23:27,792 Ask yourself was it worth the damn pain? 1724 01:23:27,875 --> 01:23:29,250 Was it worth the pain? 1725 01:23:32,375 --> 01:23:36,833 Dusty Rhodes did it better than all of us before us. 1726 01:23:36,958 --> 01:23:38,083 Oh, the bear hug. 1727 01:23:38,208 --> 01:23:40,000 When I went down, reaching up, the finger 1728 01:23:40,083 --> 01:23:43,250 went up, that's Dusty Rhodes all day long, brother. 1729 01:23:43,375 --> 01:23:45,333 I mean, when I was nine years old, I saw him do it. 1730 01:23:45,417 --> 01:23:47,042 I stole it then. 1731 01:23:47,208 --> 01:23:48,667 I used it for 30 years in the ring. 1732 01:23:48,792 --> 01:23:51,500 We gonna get funky like a monkey tonight, Teddy Long. 1733 01:23:51,667 --> 01:23:55,917 I learned a lot about having fun from Dusty Rhodes. 1734 01:23:56,042 --> 01:23:59,292 You know what you can kiss if you don't like what I'm saying. 1735 01:24:01,958 --> 01:24:03,167 Dusty had a way with people. 1736 01:24:03,292 --> 01:24:04,750 Dusty had a way with creating. 1737 01:24:04,875 --> 01:24:07,167 Dusty had a way of talking to you 1738 01:24:07,333 --> 01:24:11,000 that would catch you off guard, but also teach you a lesson. 1739 01:24:11,167 --> 01:24:14,000 Textile workers around this country are out of work. 1740 01:24:14,125 --> 01:24:15,500 They've got four or five kid. 1741 01:24:15,583 --> 01:24:17,833 Can't buy them food. 1742 01:24:17,958 --> 01:24:20,000 That's hard times. 1743 01:24:20,167 --> 01:24:22,042 That's hard times. 1744 01:24:22,167 --> 01:24:24,792 Greatest of all time. 1745 01:24:24,917 --> 01:24:27,417 We sold out everywhere. 1746 01:24:27,542 --> 01:24:32,333 He had a lot of respect from a lot of people and deserved. 1747 01:24:32,417 --> 01:24:35,500 The greatest sports attraction in the world today, 1748 01:24:35,625 --> 01:24:38,500 the little plumber's son who come out of the ditch 1749 01:24:38,625 --> 01:24:40,333 and became so sweet. 1750 01:24:43,375 --> 01:24:45,292 When you measure the whole work, I 1751 01:24:45,375 --> 01:24:48,042 don't think there'll ever be anybody to even come 1752 01:24:48,167 --> 01:24:51,750 close to what he accomplished. 1753 01:24:51,875 --> 01:24:55,167 Do I think I have lived the American dream is the question. 1754 01:24:55,292 --> 01:24:56,500 I would say I have. 1755 01:24:59,708 --> 01:25:02,833 How do you, the man, want to be remembered? 1756 01:25:02,958 --> 01:25:05,500 In the end, a good father. 1757 01:25:05,583 --> 01:25:08,667 That's the most important thing to me is a good husband 1758 01:25:08,792 --> 01:25:09,375 and a good father. 1759 01:25:09,542 --> 01:25:12,958 And that's the way I feel. 1760 01:25:13,083 --> 01:25:13,625 Peace out.