Interview recap of Dusty Rhodes on AudioWrestling.com
“The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes was a guest on the 4/15/05 edition of Monday Night Mayhem which can be heard in streaming audio every week exclusively on the AudioWrestling.com site!
Here are highlights from the interview provided by the show's co-host Shawn Walters of MondayNightMayhem.com and AudioWrestling.com
The crew welcomes Dusty to the show, who is audibly under the weather, talking about his new book, Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream. Dusty thanks George Steinbrenner for writing the foreword and Howard Brody in helping his write the book out since “he left his spelling in Texas”. He explains why he called the book a “reflection” and how it could relate to not only wrestling fans but the general public.
Mosh brings up Dusty’s relationship with Terry Funk, with their feud being rekindled recently in Carolina Championship Wrestling. Dusty still has tremendous respect for Terry and is glad to see “two outlaw’s books” out on the market. He feels that he and Terry are the last of the old-school, in addition to guys like Abdullah and Kevin Sullivan.
The conversation shifts over to the current state of TNA, where Dusty puts over the roster, particularly AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Kid Kash (who Dusty calls the “Madonna” of the wrestling industry). Mosh asks if the all-cage match format of the LockDown PPV is overkill. Dusty says the “ball” is in the hands of the roster to make the PPV special and possibly a yearly event. Overall, he is pleased with his work in TNA thus far, working with Jeff and Jerry Jarrett to bring cohesion to the product.
Dusty feels Jarrett’s almost year-long reign as TNA champ is justified since the longer Jeff holds the title and the more people get upset with Dusty over it, the better Jeff gets. His relationship with the Jarretts, despite the rumors of dissension, is simply “business is business”. Dusty thinks that there was no need for a booking committee; it’s best just to “lay it out on the line” and let the wrestlers make it work.
AH mentions the potential for TNA house shows and moving the PPVs to different venues. Dusty says it is still a goal of the company but it depends on getting TNA on a quality time slot on a national stage, much like RAW or old school NWA. At that point, it would be easier to gauge what wrestlers and angles work and make it worthwhile to run house shows.
The crew talks up the goodness of Dusty’s run in Championship Wrestling in Florida, captured on the Turnbuckle Memories DVDs (which AH has all twelve volumes). AH wonders if the Kevin Sullivan “Devil” gimmick would get over today if done to such extremes.
Dusty goes off on a rant of sorts, centered on the criticisms from the internet wrestling fans over TNA and his booking decisions. He was disappointed at the heat he received for the Phi Delta Slam/Harris Brothers match at Destination X, not only from the web but from his own TNA crew. Dusty feels that there the future of the business is the past and you “got to have it all”.
Mosh gets Dusty’s thoughts on guys like Ric Flair and Roddy Piper still kicking around on the scene. Dusty compares Flair to himself since they are both still giving back as is Piper but does concur that too much “old school” nostalgia is no good.
AH inquires about Dusty’s relationship with Hulk Hogan (or as Dusty calls him, “Yellowfinger”) and why they never interacted. Aside from a match with himself and Antonio Inoki vs. Hogan and Stan Hansen in Japan, Dusty never had any in-ring interaction with Hulk, simply because they both were “national treasures”. He has a casual bond with Hogan but he definitely has a lot of respect for him and his contributions to the business.
Commenting on the whole polka-dots outfits in his late-80’s WWF run, Dusty says it wasn’t Vince’s doing but an idea between him and Pat Patterson after viewing a candid photo of Dusty in a polka-dot headband. He made the “Common Man” gimmick work and didn’t mind it so much because it made him one of the boys again. Dusty’s only complaint was that the gimmick didn’t allow him to work with Hogan or be taken seriously as a main-eventer.
In response to working with the late Elizabeth and Sapphire, particularly at WrestleMania VI, Dusty said Sapphire kind of grew on him despite not being the original choice for the role. The match with him and Sapphire against Randy Savage and Sherri Martel was like a storybook fairytale, with the “common people” taking on the King and Queen.
AH asks about Dusty’s role with the nWo in 1998, it was done as more of a chance to work with Kevin Nash (“a creative mind”) and Scott Hall. During that time, he helped Eric Bischoff create the Berlyn character but other than that, it was purely for fun. Dusty vividly remembers the reaction he got when he turned on Larry Zybysko at Souled Out 98, describing the crowd like a “bomb going off”.
Dusty remembers coming back to WCW after his WWF run and it being a completely different atmosphere. It was much more corporate and he feels that attitude eventually led to the downfall of the company.
Talking about the bond between him and his son Dustin, Dusty feels he could write another book based just on his family relations in correlation with the wrestling business. He thinks what happened between him and Dustin was destined, regardless if Dustin trained to be a wrestler or not.
Dusty says he never received more respect anywhere other than in the ECW locker-room, largely in part to Paul Heyman’s understanding of the past and present. He also mentions a strong bond with Steve Corino, who recently called him up to tell him how moved he was with Dusty’s book, notably the Dustin chapter.
Wrapping the interview up, Dusty comments on the recent WWE releases of Rhyno and Matt Hardy. He likes both guys a lot and is open to them entering TNA, but questions their taking away from airtime for all the other hard-working wrestlers on the TNA roster. Its tough because TNA only has an hour of television a week to work with and Dusty feels TNA is not ready to do “major business yet”.
Be sure to check out Dusty’s new book, Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream, available at most major book retailers and at
http://www.sportspublishingllc.com as well as
http://www.dustyrhodeswrestling.com.
You can hear the entire show every week on:
http://www.audiowrestling.com.
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Dusty Rhodes on McDonnell/Douglas
by Brian Washington
Wrestling legend, and current TNA booker, the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes paid a visit to the McDonnell/Douglas show on ESPN Radio 710 AM Thursday afternoon from 4pm to 4:45. He was on the show to promote his autobiography "Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream" as well as to promote this weekend's TNA "Lockdown" pay-per-view.
The interview got off to a bang when Dusty, a Boston Celtics fan, brought up his love for the team. Joe McDonnell jokingly called for an immediate halt to the interview due to his being a fan of the Celtics' main rival over the years the Los Angeles Lakers. Dusty also brought up his love for the New York Yankees and his friendship with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who wrote the forward to his book. He talked about how he and Steinbrenner would do charitable work during the 1970's in Florida and how the two of them immediately bonded because of it.
Doug then asked his standard question about whether or not he ever lost it in the ring during a match. Dusty responded by saying that when he was coming up that the older guys actually would work stiff against the younger guys due to their fear that the younger guys would take their spots and wanted to hold on as long as they could.
Joe also brought up the lingering issue of steroids and asked Dusty what the policy was over at TNA. Dusty said that he doesn't think any of the guys are doing them, especially due to the fact that many of the guys who work there are under 200 lbs. and it would be very obvious if any of them did.
However, one of the more interesting questions came from one of the callers. The caller asked if there were any plans for TNA to possibly go on tour and come to California. Dusty responded by saying that a lot of what happens in the future depends on what happens this coming Sunday with the pay-per-view. In a nutshell he pretty much said that if the show is a success then it will make it easier for them to take over the slot on Spike TV when WWE leaves to go to the USA Network this coming September. He said that once they get a better television deal then they can concentrate on trying to start doing house shows.
Dusty also brought up his kids including his daughter Kristen, who is currently a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, as well as his two youngest children who are studying acting in Los Angeles. All in all he really had a good time hanging with Joe and Doug and really bonded well with the boys.
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Dusty Rhodes on Between the Ropes Recap
by Richard Trionfo
This week on Between the Ropes, wrestling legend, Total Nonstop Action Director of Authority, and author, ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes joined Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci to talk about his wrestling career; Lockdown; Total Nonstop Action wrestling; his autobiography “Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream”; and other issues in the world of professional wrestling.
Dusty started off by commenting about how people are going to react to the decision to book eight cage matches and that he does not care what people like Dave Meltzer will say about it.
Dusty was asked about what it was like to write his autobiography. He said that he had Howard Brody help him write the book. He wanted to be able to give some memories back to the fans. He wanted to be able to talk about the internet and TNA in the book. Dusty said that he plans to write at least one more book. Dusty was asked about working with Howard Brody and Dusty said that all Howard wanted to do was talk about wrestling. Dusty said that the book was his words, and Howard put it together. Dusty said that the only thing that Brody wants to do is have one more match with Dusty facing Hulk Hogan one more time. Dusty said that Howard was very patient dealing with Dusty because Dusty had problems in the past when he was dealing with Vince McMahon.
Dusty said that he was able to look back at the Briscos and Dick Murdochs wrestling and trying to figure out how they would be received today. Dusty mentioned that he included a dream card in his book.
He said that the most phenomenal athlete in the world is A.J. Styles and it is a shame that he does not get the exposure that he deserves. Dusty said that TNA needs a time slot to compete to get momentum. Dusty said that he was against the eight cage matches, but Dixie Carter and Jerry Jarrett suggested that it was time to try something different. Dusty said that he has no problem taking the heat for the suggestion. Dusty said that the talent will make it work. He said that A.J. Styles and Abyss will bring it home. He talked about how Jeff Jarrett is doing some of his best work right now.
Dusty was asked about booking philosophy and the direction for TNA. Dusty said that Christopher Daniels is the modern day Rick Rude with the way that a heel should be. Dusty said that the company was built on the X Division, but the product needs to be diverse. Dusty said that you need to be able to give him a format to work with to challenge Vince. He needs the right time and the right station to do it. Dusty said that the pay per views will not do the buys that it should. TNA is being watched by the internet crowd and the time slot is dictating the audience. Dusty said that there are a lot of people who would be interested, but they don’t know that it exists.
Dusty was asked about whether TNA has a chance to move to another network. Dusty said that it has to happen for the company to continue to exist. Dusty said that money has been put into this company for three years, but it cannot go on without a new channel in the near future.
Dusty was asked about how TNA can have its own identity and he said that it is all about exposure and selling the product. Dusty said that when it happens they will have their own identity. Dusty talked about the X Division and the six sided ring. Dusty said that it does not matter if people are not watching the program. Dusty said that he has seen some episodes of Impact that were better than the time slot that they have.
Dusty was asked who would be the horses would happen if TNA got a prime time slot. Dusty said that he would use the people with name identity like Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page. Dusty also mentioned the young stars like A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, America’s Most Wanted, Dustin Rhodes, Bobby Roode, Chris Sabin, and Michael Shane.
Dusty was asked about Jeff Jarrett holding the title for a long time and how it affects the perception of the company. Dusty said that the longer reign that you have for a champion, the more that it will do for the title. Dusty wonders why people suggest that there be a change. TNA needs to establish the title, and Dusty restated that Jeff Jarrett is doing some of his best work. Dusty said that he did not need to have the title, but when he did, it gave people the hope that there would be a new champion. Dusty said that it is not his ball, and the final decision is not his. He would make changes with the company, but not on top.
Dusty was asked about the recent releases in the WWE and whether they would be able to fit in TNA. Dusty said that if they brought in those guys, the younger guys would get angry at Dusty for bringing them in. Dusty said that if they were so good, why did they get let go by the competition? He mentioned that every week they have seven segments on Impact. Dusty said that if they bring in other guys from the WWE, it will be the younger guys who will lose their spots on television.
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1: If bringing in guys from WWE cuts younger guys TV time, what about guys like Apolo?
2: Longer reigns help title credibility, but only if the champion is credible.
3: It seems like he's really counting on Lockdown to open up some doors for TNA. I don't know if that's good or bad