He entered professional wrestling in the late 1960s wrestling as a heel, teaming with Dirty Duck Murdoch as the Texas Outlaws in the Natioanl Wrestling Alliance. Together, the Outlaws defeated Terry and Tommy Martin to become the NWA North American Tag Team Champions and then Dusty defeated Tommy Martin to become the NWA Heart of America Champion as well. Dusty kept winning, defeating Jose Lothario to become the NWA Brass Knuckles Champion in the Florida territory. Dusty hit the big time in defeating Sam Steamboat for the North American Heavyweight Title before going on to win three more tag team titles in Florida with partners Dick Slater, Bobo Brazil and Andre the Giant. Dusty won seven NWA Southern Heavyweight Titles, ten NWA Florida Heavyweight Titles, an NWA Georgia Title and then teamed with Andre to defeat Ernie Ladd and Stan Hansen for the United States Tag Team Titles. 

    Dusty Rhodes then exploded onto the national scene, defeating Handsome Harley Race to win his first NWA World Heavyweight Title in August of 1979. He lost the title shortly thereafter and teamed up with Bugsy McGraw to win another NWA US Tag Team Title before going on to his second reign, defeating Harley Race again in 1981. Rhodes would go on to form teams with Magnum TA, Manny Fernandez, Blackjack Mulligan and others while continuing bloody feuds with the Funks and the Superstar Billy Graham. As the wrestling business grew in the north, the south also got a big boost and Dusty Rhodes was more in the spotlight than ever before. 

    He began feuding with the hottest heel group in the history of the sport, the 4-Horsemen. Rhodes defeated Tully Blanchard to become the NWA Television Champion in July of 1985, yet while his feud with the Horsemen went on, so did his feud with the Russian Bear Ivan Koloff and his nephew Nikita. Dusty returned to the top of the mountain in December of that year, though, defeating the Nature Boy Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title at Starrcade. The Dream kept on winning gold, teaming with the Road Warriors to win the NWA Six Man Tag Team Titles. Dusty would drop the World TItle back to Flair in February of 1986, keeping their feud raging onward. Dusty Rhodes defeated Arn Anderson in a Steel Cage Match for the AWA and went back to the NWA to defeat Flair for the NWA World Title in July. Rhodes took part in the 1987 Crocket Cup Tournament, teaming with Nikita Koloff who replaced the injured Magnum TA and surprised many by winning, defeating Horsemen Tully Blanchard and Lex Luger in the finals. Dusty won his last title in the NWA, teaming with the Road Warriors for a second Six Man Tag Team Title before leaving the company in the spring of 1989. 

    With several World Heavyweight Titles to his credit, the American Dream followed predecessors Harley Race and the Funks into the World Wrestling Federation as his career entered its denouement. The Dream pushed the "Common Man" gimmick, using several vignettes of himself doing "common" jobs. The Dream made his first big appearance at Summer Slam 1989, defeating the Honkey Tonk Man before captaining the Red Rooster, Brutus Beefcake and Tito Santana to victory over the Big Bossman, Rick Martel, Honkey Tonk Man and Bad News Brown at Survivor Series 1989. After winning at Survivor Series, the Bossman brutalized the Dream with his night-stick and a feud was born. The two would wage war on Saturday Night's Main Event just days after Survivor Series with the Dream coming out on top. The feud was dropped quickly and Dusty began a program with the Macho Man Randy Savage, then wrestling as the Macho King. To counter the Macho King's valet, the Queen Sensational Sherri, Dusty brought in his #1 fan, Sweet Sapphire, to be his new manager. The Common Couple versus the King and Queen captured the imagination of the fans and the four made history at Wrestlemania VI in the Skydome, wrestling the first ever WWF mixed tag team match which was won by Dusty and Sapphire, who brought in Miss Elizabeth as their special "crown jewel" and secret weapon. 

    Dusty began a new feud with the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and his bodyguard Virgil after DiBiase "bought" Sweet Sapphire's affection and sent her out of the WWF a wealthy woman. Around that time, Dusty's son, Dustin, began appearing on WWF broadcasts and it wasn't long before Dustin was an active WWF superstar. The Rhodes Family jobbed out of the WWF at the 1991 Royal Rumble and the two joined World Championship Wrestling. Dusty would take a front office position that allowed him to also do commentary, while Dustin became a notable superstar in WCW before becoming the enigmatic Goldust in the new Attitude Era of the WWF in the mid to late 1990s. In WCW, Dusty Rhodes kept a distance from his son in storylines and became a mentor of sorts for Ron Simmons who won the WCW World Title. The Rhodes Family came together in 1994, though, when Dustin was double crossed by one of Dusty's old rivals Arn Anderson, leading to a feud with the Rhodes Family against Colonel Robert Parker, Anderson and two more of Dusty's old rivals: Terry Funk and Dick Slater. The feud ran its course with Dusty having rare, but high profile tag team appearances before returning to the broadcast booth. Dusty once again came out of retirement during the NWO era, teaming with, and then turning on Larry Zbyszko. Dusty, as a heel NWO member, became the manager for Scott Hall for a brief time before, once again, becoming a fan favourite. Dusty would team with Dustin Rhodes, who had come back to WCW by that point, in the final days of the promotion, defeating Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett in a tag team match at Greed. 

    When WCW closed, Dusty opened up Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling in the Southern US and was frequently in talks with the WWE about joining the company as a booker or broadcaster. Dusty popped up in TNA Wrestling to help out the Road Warriors and Jeff Jarrett against Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment X-Treme. He would also wrestle a tag bout with Vader, defeating the Harris Twins. Rhodes would feud with second generation stars David Flair, Erik Watts and Brian Lawler and then Jeff Jarrett as well. Rhodes took on the role as the "Director of Authority" for TNA on camera, replacing Vince Russo. There, Rhodes once again teamed with his son Dustin in a series of matches before quitting the company. Dusty Rhodes would appear on the legends circuit as a wrestler in matches with Terry Funk, Abdullah the Butcher, his son Dustin Rhodes, Jerry Lawler, Kid Kash and a host of others while teasing a WWE debut. He finally joined WWE in 2005 as a booker for Smackdown while continuing his legends appearances on the independent circuit with Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, Lawler, Funk and many others. Dusty said that he would never again wrestle in the WWE but after his DVD went big, Rhodes showed up on RAW to help Ric Flair in his feud with the Spirit Squad! Dusty would be one of three options as Flair's tag team partner for Cyber Sunday 2006, but the fans chose Roddy Piper instead. Rhodes continued appearing, though, defeating Nick Nemeth in his first ever RAW wrestling appearance in the history of the program. With Flair, Ron Simmons and Roddy Piper, Dusty was able to defeat the Spirit Squad at Survivor Series 2006. He then left WWE programming. 

    Dusty was announced as a WWE Hall of Fame inductee in 2007, but we at the UWOW Hall of Fame recognized him in the class of 2005. Dusty is without question a trend setter, a student of the game, a tremendous interview, and perhaps the most charismatic fan favourite the NWA ever had. There is no doubt that the Dream belongs here in the UWOW Hall of Fame and congratulations are in order.