FOR THE DREAM AND THE HOT ROD

"I've wined and dined with kings and queens - but I've slept in alleys and dined on pork 'n' beans" ~ Dusty Rhodes.

"Just when you think they have the answers, I change the questions" ~ Roddy Piper.

Within less than 2 months we lost two major legends of the wrestling business. I say wrestling because they were wrestling. You think Wrestling, you think Dusty and Piper. Sports Entertainment came later.

Let me blog on Dusty for a second. You gave Dusty a microphone and you would get magic every time. I'm only 28 so my highlights of Dusty is as a commentator on the WCW announce team, and even those memories are good memories. My favorite call he did was during the classic Rey Misterio Jr and Eddie Guerrero match at Halloween Havoc '97 when he said, "What amazing athleticism that was. Know what I mean?" Watching old WCW matches back you can tell they had no governor on them like the WWE commentators do now. Dusty would just say what he wanted and that's what made it enjoyable. The back and forth between Dusty and Bobby was something we'll never get again. 

I studied history on Dusty by watching old promos and matches back and to be as big as he was and to have the quality of matches he had was nothing short of epic. Dusty has been honored by Bubba/Brother/Bully Ray and other wrestlers/superstars as they have added some of Dusty's signatures moves in their own move set.

I got to tell this story. In 7th grade, I had an afro. And these two boys in my Home Ec class started randomly calling me Dusty because of my afro and it reminded them of The American Dream. So from 7th grade until now, people call me Dusty. I added Big in front of Dusty to add something "cool" to it, but it all started in 7th grade. Since Dusty's death I have changed my user name on some social media sites because he was who I got that nick name after and I figured why keep it since it was his.

Last thoughts on Dusty is that he was the wrestling business. Prior to his death, he was helping out down in NXT. If I'm not mistaken the Wyatt Family was Dusty's brain child. And we see how big they got and still are. Dusty was a genius, and his stamp will always be on the business for years to come.

From one icon to another. The Hot Rod. The Commissioner. Rowdy Roddy Piper. Another brilliant talker. Who could make you hate him so much that you love him. Again being 28 I  really became a big fan of Roddy when he worked in WCW in the later years. I used to love when he came out and talked on the mic. For some reason I knew I was going to hear something epic. Kinda the same feeling I get now when Paul Heyman picks up a microphone. I put Roddy at number 2 on my greatest talkers list, with Dusty at number 1 of course.

I heard stories of what Roddy would do in California in his feud against the Guerrero's. Hearing Roddy tell stories was something magical. Hopefully the podcasts he recorded will stay up online for years to come. My favorite podcast he put out was the one he recorded with Chavo Guerrero Jr because of the stories what were told. How stuff ended with Piper and Podcast one was stupid to me, but I don't know the details.

Listening to Piper through his podcasts though, you could hear what a nice guy his was. His laugh was infectious.

When Roddy came back to do special editions of Piper's Pit it was always must see television for me. I just hated the fact that they tried to script Piper. You can't put a script on genius. But never the less, it was still good TV.

Both deaths completely shocked me. Didn't see either one of them coming at all. Especially Roddy. He was active on Twitter more than you would think a guy his age would be. I knew Dusty was losing weight, but I don't think anybody saw his death coming. Both men put a mark on the business that can't be erased. Both men will be missed. Who better to study how to do a promo than Dusty and Roddy?

Gone too soon.

Daniel Richerson fka Big Dusty