10 Wrestlers That Vince McMahon Hasn't Forgiven
6. Dusty Rhodes
Bit of a controversial one here - after all, the WWF/E hired the late Dusty Rhodes more than once, inducted him into the Hall Of Fame, and following his passing gave the wrestling legend a ten bell salute.
The statue, the annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament - no one’s suggesting that McMahon hated Rhodes. The two men had known each other for a long time, since Rhodes worked for Vince Sr. for a shot or two back in the '70s. Given the charismatic Rhodes’ outsize personality, it’s difficult to imagine anyone hating him - and of course, he's well known to have been instrumental in the development of NXT behind the scenes.
However, ‘the American Dream’ was synonymous with the WWF’s competition, from before the company was a world-conquering behemoth. For years, Rhodes was the NWA/WCW main event and booker… and if there’s one thing that characterises Vincent Kennedy McMahon, it’s a bullying desire to humiliate his rivals.
That’s why in 1989, McMahon had Dusty Rhodes playing a cartoon version of his man-of-the-people gimmick, cavorting in an awful polka-dotted singlet. That’s why, in 1995, ‘The Natural’ Dustin Rhodes became Goldust, a sexually ambiguous pervert stalker in far less enlightened times. That’s why, despite his ferocious drive, matinee idol looks and an upside that could only improve, Cody Rhodes played the also-ran for his entire WWE career.
Vince didn’t have a personal problem with any of those men - he liked them. But there was no way in the world that a Rhodes was getting anything more than a midcard push and a whole lot of ribbing on a WWE card.