How Good Was Dusty Rhodes Actually?
3. Range
The Ramones were an immaculate band that specialized in one type of song. They wrote superb three-minute songs with great melodies and very few chord changes. Nobody wanted them to do prog rock, nobody wanted them to add rapping, and no matter how much the times and trends changed, The Ramones continued to write excellent pop-infused punk rock at around three minutes with minimal chord changes.
Dusty Rhodes was the pro wrestling equivalent. He is a white meat babyface. He gave sermons on the plight of the common man, and he did it to such a ridiculously high standard that to mess with that formula would be a stupid thing to do. It means that his overall range is limited.
When Eric Bischoff had Dusty turn heel and join the nWo, Rhodes' promo explaining why he turned to the black-and-white still felt like a Dusty Rhodes promo. It still rebelled against “the men in suits” at WCW and sold the nWo as the evolution of the business, and so it still felt like a Dusty Rhodes babyface promo.
Nobody wants AC/DC to do dubstep remixes, and nobody wants Kendrick Lamar to go emo. If you’ve perfected your craft, stick to it (even if it does bring about accusations of having no range).
5/10