ECW legend and House of Hardcore promoter Tommy Dreamer recently posted the following entry on his Facebook account, recalling memories of the recently departed WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes.
Dreamer talks about discovering Rhodes as a young fan, his memories of working with him in ECW and WWE, and more.
My dad was a teacher we had a winter break so my parents took me to Florida. I saw an ad in the newspaper that said Championship wrestling from Florida at the Hollywood Sportitorium. We drove to literally the end of the road, borderline swamp. I saw a different kind of wrestling than what I had seen living in NY and WWF. Guys I never heard of Barry Windham, Manny Fernandez, Jimmy Garvin, Mr. Florida. It was a great night. I remember making my way to the concession stand debating what to buy. Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch were in the ring & they had HEAT. Murdoch had sided w/ RUSSIA. Then here came Bugsy McGraw w/ a plastic garbage can & behind him the spotlight hit & I literally saw GOD walking on Earth. The way the spotlight hit his blond curly hair, the way the smoke & mosquitos parted for him. I was frozen. It was The American Dream Dusty Rhodes.he had a giant push broom in his hands & he cleaned house. There was sweat, blood & the moment it ended. I knew what I had to be in my life.(I have goosebumps & tears rolling down my face, crying & laughing as I write this) I turned to the woman & I said I want that. It was a bloody Dusty Rhodes 8×10. I was so excited I talked about it to all my friends. My familly took me to Disney World but all I cared about was wrestling. My dad later bought me my 1st wrestling magazine. Inside Wrestling w/ Dusty dropping an elbow on Ole Anderson. Florida Championship Wrestling started airing on my black & white tv UHF channel at 1130pm Tues nights. I made a deal w/my parents to let me stay up & I would get up no problem the next day for school(hey going to bed at midnight at 10 years old was huge on a school night) but I always had to find out What happened to Dusty? We all have our guys. He was mine. I had posters of him on my wall. I remember crying when Terry Funk broke his arm. Being deadly afraid of the Devil Kevin Sullivan. I stood by him no matter what & he never let me down. I tried patterning my own career after him. Hence the Dreamer name. I was blessed to tag w/ him in ECW & form a friendship. I travelled w/him to a bunch of shows, then got to be w/him in WWE all the time. We worked across the hall from each other. He was the 1 that pushed for the ECW ORIGINALS VS NEW BREED AT WRESTLE MANIA. (ALONG W/DAVID LAGANA) I can write for days about what he meant to me as a fan,friend, mentor. Thanks for making me realize my American Dream, Dusty I can never repay you for what you have done for me I love you & miss you so much
