Dusty Rhodes's 10 Greatest Legacies

Wrestling, like everything in life, is in a constant state of change. Many veterans of the business, wherever they may be in the world, either publicly or privately mutter about how the business has changed for the worse, and that it was much better in their day. Dusty was most certainly not one of these people. He realised that, as one man, he was powerless to stop change himself and went along with it. His work in NXT to help the next generation of stars is evidence of this. He was passing on his knowledge from the past to help to shape the future.

However, the greatest example of this to me was when he arrived in the WWF. He was not recognised as a former World Heavyweight Champion, as, unlike today, a wrestler’s past career outside of the WWF was disregarded and ignored. While he still wore the black trunks that were familiar to his fans, those trunks now had yellow polka dots all over them, with a matching vest too. 

While Dusty later claimed it was his idea, many observers feel this was him being a company man and defending his boss, Vince McMahon. However, Dusty ran with it and made it work. He made the polka dots just add to his flamboyant character. As ‘the common man’, maybe some people could identify this with when they had to wear hand-me-downs from their elder siblings, whether they liked them or not! 

When he was given a plump black woman, Sapphire, as his new valet, in a clear reference to his part in the Virgil character and most likely an office rib, he once again ran with it and made it a success. When Sapphire was ‘bought’ by the Million Dollar Man, it was one of the biggest storylines of the year.