7 Greatest People's Champions In Wrestling History

2. I Have Been To The Mountaintop

The Nature Boy may well have been the blood and bone of the NWA, but the American Dream was the heart. Dusty Rhodes turned babyface in 1974, and - aside from an ill-advised flirtation with the nWo - remained so for the rest of his career. His connection with the crowd was an extraordinary thing. The legendary €˜Hard Times€™ promo from his 1985 feud with Ric Flair was delivered with so much fire that, in today€™s more cynical times, it€™s staggering in its passion. It resonated so much with the fans that Rhodes would have people coming up to him in tears for months afterwards to thank him for understanding the plight of their families. At his peak, no one could touch the American Dream. His interviews were spellbinding, his ring work crisp and dynamic, his charisma practically limitless in everything he did - and, old school as he was, he made every little thing he did matter, without ever doing too much. Last summer, when the Dream died, a little dream died in the hearts of a whole hell of a lot of wrestling fans. For many, many people, the son of a plumber was the single greatest babyface champion in wrestling history, and that would still have been true if he€™d never held gold in his life. Rest In Power, Dream.