Greetings programs!
Regular readers of the blog will know that I’m a big wrestling fan, more specifically, a big WWE fan. This goes back to 1986 when I was up late on a Sunday night over summer vacation and the only thing to watch on TV was WWF Superstars of Wrestling on my local NBC affiliate station. It’s weird because at that time, if something was even remotely sports-related, I wasn’t interested. I wasn’t aware at first that it was all predetermined (I won’t call it fake) but even learning that wasn’t enough to deter me from enjoying the show.
I mention all this because the wrestling world lost one of its greats last week. The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes passed away Thursday. Now to be honest, Dusty wasn’t one of my favorites back in the day. As I said, I was a WWF fan and his best years were in the NWA/WCW. His brief tenure in WWF was lackluster in my opinion. He wasn’t afforded the kind of push one would expect for a former world champion.
Looking back now though, I can better appreciate just how talented and charismatic the Dream was (and I love his entrance music). He contributed greatly to the sport both in his prime as a wrestler, but also later as a trainer and backstage agent. I think it’s fair to say that if, as a wrestler, you weren’t able to learn anything from Dusty Rhodes, it’s because you weren’t really paying attention.
WWE Network will be airing a special retrospective on the life and career of Dusty Rhodes this week. I’ll no doubt learn some things I never knew about the man. Amongst wrestling fans, he will be missed. RIP Dream.
That’s all I have for today. Have a good seven and we’ll do this all again next Monday. Carja V.