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Dusty Rhodes

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Virgil Runnels, Jr.
BornOctober 12, 1945
Austin, Texas
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Dusty Rhodes
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight288 lb (131 kg)
Trained byJoe Blanchard
Debut1968
Retired1993

"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (born Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr. on October 12, 1945 in Austin, Texas) is a legendary former American professional wrestler. Rhodes currently works with World Wrestling Entertainment as a creative consultant and is also a member of WWE's "Legends program".

Career

Rhodes started his career as a rule-breaking heel, tagging with fellow Texan Dick Murdoch to form the tag team The Texas Outlaws. In the mid-1970s, Rhodes broke out as a solo babyface superstar, primarily in Florida, referring to himself as the "White Soul King", "The Great American Fat A**", and the "American Dream", a working class hero. Rhodes ascended to the top of several National Wrestling Alliance promotions in Florida, Georgia, and eventually with Jim Crockett Promotions in the Mid-Atlantic - the forerunner of World Championship Wrestling. Here, he formed teams with Manny Fernandez, Magnum T.A. as "America's Team" and Nikita Koloff as The Super Powers.

Rhodes had legendary feuds with stars such as Abdullah The Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, Blackjack Mulligan, Nikita Koloff, Harley Race, "Superstar" Billy Graham and most notably, The Four Horsemen (especially Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard). Rhodes, Flair, and Race each fought each other many times over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Rhodes won the NWA World Title three times.

Rhodes also was a booker for WCW while they were competing with the World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) in the mid-80's. He is credited with inventing many of the WCW pay-per-view names and gimmicks, such as War Games, BattleBowl, and Lethal Lottery. After being let go in that capacity after a taboo on-screen bloodletting, Rhodes came to the WWF as the yellow polka-dotted "Common Man" Dusty Rhodes. He was managed by Sapphire. During his time in the WWF, Rhodes was embroiled in a heated feud with Randy "Macho Man" Savage and his manager/partner Sensational Sherri who in turn found a rival in Sapphire. After a particularly intense confrontation between the two couples, Savage's girlfriend Miss Elizabeth allied herself with Rhodes and Sapphire and was instrumental in helping them win the WWF's first mixed tag-team match during WrestleMania VI. However, Sapphire left Rhodes during SummerSlam 1990 for The Million-Dollar Man's money.

Rhodes later returned to WCW, where he briefly joined the nWo; he then left or was fired from WCW and went to ECW where he put over former ECW Champion, "King of Old School" Steve Corino. Rhodes returned once more to WCW, re-igniting his feud with Ric Flair. He is now semi-retired. He appeared on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling shows, becoming the Director of Authority at their November 7 pay-per-view, TNA Victory Road 2004. At the same time, Rhodes became a true powerhouse behind the scenes of TNA, acting as head booker and writer. In May 2005, TNA President Dixie Carter asked Rhodes to move onto a creative team, which would have included several other names, including Jeremy Borash, Bill Banks, and Scott D'Amore. Rhodes balked and resigned as booker, waiting out the rest of his contract with TNA, which expired soon after.

For several years, Rhodes operated Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, a small Georgia-based promotion. Rhodes' son, Virgil Runnels III, known in wrestling as Dustin Rhodes, followed his father into the business, most notably as the eccentric WWE character Goldust.

In late 2005, Rhodes signed a WWE Legends deal and he was brought onto the Creative Team as a creative consultant. Rhodes officially started his creative consultant job on September 8, 2005. Rhodes made an appearance on WWE Homecoming in which he, along with other legends beat up the young and cocky Rob Conway, to whom Rhodes delivered a Bionic Elbow. He most recently appeared on the June 19, 2006 edition of WWE RAW, where he hinted at a possible future as General Manager of that brand.

A three-DVD collection titled The American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story was released by WWE Home Video on June 6, 2006. It features a retrospective of Rhodes' life, 25 matches (not all full matches) spanning his entire career, and over 40 of his famous interviews.

Dusty Rhodes also appears on CCSN's FARM wrestling events, and provides play by play with Tennessee Lee and Jim Ross along with tagging in the farm

In wrestling

Finishing and signature moves

Championships and accomplishments

  • Other Titles
  • PWI ranked him # 11 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was also ranked twice in the best tag teams of the "PWI Years". He was ranked # 76 with Magnum T.A. and # 88 with Manny Fernandez.
  • Dusty also won several PWI Awards over the years. He won Wrestler of the Year in 1977 & 1978 and Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 1978, 1979 and 1987. He was involved in the 1987 Feud of the Year (Dusty & Nikita Koloff & the Road Warriors vs. the Four Horsemen). He was also in the Match of the Year in 1979 (vs. Harley Race) and 1986 (vs. Ric Flair).
  • He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996)
  • 1980 Best Babyface
  • 1982 Most Charismatic Wrestler (tied with Ric Flair)
  • 1987 Most Overrated Wrestler
  • 1988 Most Overrated Wrestler
  • 1997 Worst Television Announcer

Books

Autobiography: Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream 2005 ISBN 1582619077


Trivia

  • Mike Jones's Virgil character in the WWF was named by Bobby Heenan as an inside joke on Dusty's real name. When Jones jumped to WCW, Heenan thought to continue the joke by naming his character Vincent as a rib on WWF owner Vince McMahon. The joke finally ended when Jones changed his name yet again to Shane as a rib on Vince's son, Shane McMahon.
  • In a storyline featured on the PlayStation 2 video game WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006, an obscure stipulation on an Intercontinental Championship match is named "The Virgil Runnels Amendment", after Rhodes' Dusty Finish.
  • On the TV sitcom Married...with Children, the Bundy's neighbors, Steve and Marcy Rhoades, were named after Dusty.
  • Runnels has a very distinctive voice which often has him sounding as if he speaks with a strong lisp.
  • He has and built a home in Brooksille, Florida

See also

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