Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes

Height: 6 ft 2 in (185 cm)
Weight: 288 lb (131 kg)
Real name: Virgil Runnels Jr.
Hometown: Brooksville, Florida (born in Austin, Texas)
Pro debut: 1968
Finishing move: Bionic Elbow, American Elbow (Elbow drop with theatrics)
Other aliases: The Masked Rider (WCW), "The American Dream" (WCW, WWE, NWA-TNA), "The Common Man" (WCW, WWE), Mr. Ichiban, The Midnight Rider (NWA-TNA)
Career highlights: NWA World Heavyweight Champion (3), NWA World Tag Team Champion (2), NWA National Heavyweight Champion, NWA North American Heavyweight Champion (Hawaii version), NWA North American Heavyweight Champion (Tri-State version), NWA United States Heavyweight Champion, NWA United States Heavyweight Champion (San Fransisco version), NWA Central States Heavyweight Champion, NWA Central States Tag Team Champion (w/Dick Murdoch), NWA Florida Bahamian Champion, NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Champion, NWA Florida Global Tag Team Champion (w/Terry Allen), NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion (10), NWA Florida PWF Heavyweight Champion, NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Champion (7), NWA Florida Tag Team Champion (4), NWA Florida TV Champion (2), NWA Florida United States Tag Team Champion (2), NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion, NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champion (w/Buff Bagwell), NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champion (2) (w/The Road Warriors), NWA World Tag Team Champion (Detroit Version) (w/Dick Murdoch), NWA World TV Champion (3), WCCW Texas Brass Knuckles Champion (2)
Trained by: Joe Blanchard

WWE profile:

“He’s just a common man, workin’ hard with his hands…”

That famous line is the opening one of Dusty Rhodes’ WWE entrance theme, and it fits the man known as “The American Dream” to a T. Born into a blue-collar family in Austin, Texas, Rhodes’ sports-entertainment career spanned over five decades and saw him rise from working-class hero to international Superstar…and now, Hall of Famer.

After playing college football at West Texas State University, Rhodes made his in-ring debut in 1968, teaming with former World Tag Team Champion Dick Murdoch as the rule-breaking Texas Outlaws in the AWA. Rhodes would eventually move to Florida, where he became a beloved fan-favorite en route to winning over two dozen NWA Florida regional championships (including an unprecedented 10 reigns as Florida Champion). He moved on to compete in WWE (then known as the WWWF) for a brief time in the late 1970s, nearly winning the WWE Championship from Superstar Billy Graham in 1978; Graham would eventually defeat Rhodes in a brutal Texas Death Match at Madison Square Garden, marking the end of Dusty’s quest.

However, it was in the National Wrestling Alliance where Rhodes truly became a national star. He held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times in the 1980s (defeating the likes of Ric Flair and Harley Race to claim the gold), and also held the NWA World Tag Team, United States and Television Championships. His rivalry with Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and the rest of the Four Horsemen was perhaps one of the most heated in sports-entertainment history, lasting most of the 1980s and even seeing hated Russian rule-breaker Nikita Koloff become a fan favorite by teaming with Rhodes against the Horsemen. Rhodes & Koloff would go on to defeat Horsemen Blanchard & Lex Luger to win the 1987 Crockett Cup tag team tournament.

Rhodes came back to WWE in 1990. His debut saw him doing a series of blue-collar jobs week after week to play up his “common man” image. Clad in black and yellow polka-dotted ring trunks, Rhodes’ popularity reached an all-time high. In his second WWE run, Rhodes had bitter rivalries with Big Boss Man, “Macho King” Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase, the latter spawned when DiBiase bought off Rhodes’ valet Sapphire. Perhaps his proudest WWE moment came in 1991, however, when he brought son Dustin (later known as Goldust) into WWE and teamed with him to defeat DiBiase & Virgil at the 1991 Royal Rumble.

With his in-ring career seemingly winding down, Rhodes moved behind the commentators’ desk after rejoining WCW in the mid-1990s. He worked on WCW Saturday Night, Monday Nitro and pay-per-view events, and went on to become a member of the New World Order in 1998. In the final days of WCW, Rhodes once again returned to the ring, teaming with son Dustin and rekindling his old rivalry with Flair.

He even made a brief stop in ECW in that promotion’s final days as well, engaging in a series of brutal matches against then-ECW World Champion Steve Corino.

Throughout his career, Rhodes has also worked in a backstage capacity for both WWE and WCW; in fact, former WCW matches such as War Games and the Bunkhouse Stampede were conceived by the “American Dream.”

But even after five decades, he isn’t afraid to step into the ring and show the Superstars of today how it’s done; after being one of the WWE fans’ three choices to be Ric Flair’s partner at Cyber Sunday 2006, Rhodes teamed with Flair, Sgt. Slaughter and Ron Simmons to defeat the Spirit Squad at Survivor Series.

Rhodes’ nearly 40-year career is highlighted in both his autobiography, Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream, as well as a WWE-produced three-disc DVD set of entitled The American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story. His legacy also lives on through sons Dustin and Cody, both of whom have followed their famous father into the family business.

Not bad for the “son of a plumber man” from Austin, Texas.