The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament is returning in two weeks. This will be the fourth installment of WWE NXT’s tag team tournament honoring the late American Dream.
This year’s Dusty Classic will feature teams. The winners will be awarded the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup trophy, which are modeled after Dusty’s signature cowboy wrestling boots.
The first four teams in this year’s tournament include:
Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
The Forgotten Sons
Aichner & Barthel
The Street Profits
The remaining four teams will be announced in the coming weeks.
The finals of the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be held at NXT Takeover: New York at the Barclays Center during WrestleMania 35 weekend.
Past winners of the Dusty Classic include Finn Balor and Samoa Joe, The Authors of Pain and The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reily).
Check out: The Rhodes Family unveils the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup
It’s hard not to notice similarities between Cody’s career and his father’s. This is especially the case now that he will be handling creative for a wrestling promotion as well. Cody spoke to ESPN recently about what he learned from his father which he’ll take with him into his new role with All Elite Wrestling.
“My dad was executive producer at WCW and was the booker for Jim Crockett Promotions,” Cody said of the Dream. “I learned so much from being his son. I’ll be honest — I don’t like when other people say it, but I can say it — I learned from the things he did right and I also learned from the things he did wrong because he had to live with them for a good portion of his career. A lot of it is on the board criticism, but I’ve seen that and I feel like I know what to stay away from and know which direction to go.”
We lost Dusty Rhodes in the summer of 2015 at the age of 69 due to kidney failure.
Cody On His Booking Philosophies
Cody reiterated some of what he said during SEScoops’ exclusive conversation with him earlier this week as well. He believes wrestlers need to be given a certain amount of creative freedom.
“One thing we are trying to do here is let guys go out there and play their music like they are going to play it,” he continued. “If I invest in a talent like, let’s say MJF [Maxwell Jacob Friedman] for example, it’s not my job to micromanage you.”
The 33-year-old is considerably younger than many of those who have been put in similar situations. Still, Cody was born into professional wrestling and is motivated to create positive change in the industry. He believes talent having creative freedom will be a key driver of change in the business.
“If we look at the heyday of WWF in the late ’80s and the type of wrestling that I love dearly, those were grown men who knew what the direction was, they got a finish, they got a time, and they went out there and delivered what they delivered. It wasn’t something that was micromanaged. Maybe slightly consulted or massaged, but they were the stars, so why micromanage them? We will not be micromanaging anybody.”
Cody and The Young Bucks’ self-funded event sold out the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois in just a few minutes. All In weekend has been a huge success thus far, and it all culminates tonight for the big show.
During the interview, WWE Hall Of Famer Bully Ray asked Cody – if all goes according to plan – could All In surpass any one show Dusty Rhodes ever created:
“I don’t think I can speculate. Because, it’s mine, you know? It’s me, Matt [Jackson], Nick [Jackson], it’s the Being the Elite guys. It’s all of yours, you know? It is by wrestlers, for wrestlers.
“It’s by fans, for fans. If you look at this convention and you look at the show, I care more about whether Dusty would have a good time at All In than whether I win this match, if that makes any sense.”
Cody Reveals How “The Dream” Would’ve Liked All In
In regards to Dusty Rhodes, Cody believes that his father would’ve been “stoked” for All In. For example, he shared an interesting story about how Dusty first perceived ECW:
“The first time he tuned in to ECW, this is a good example, I thought like, oh, he’s gonna hate it. Look at what’s happening, there’s all kinds of sex and violence.
“He was so entertained, and I remember sitting in front of him with my little Hasboro figures and watch the shows, every pay-per-view.
“So he had this forward-thinking knowledge that I think all of the great minds in pro wrestling have. So, I think if he saw this, he’d have a few touches for sure, but I think he’d be pretty stoked about it. I hope he would.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Diamond Dallas Page was recently interviewed by Wrestling Inc. to talk about several professional wrestling topics.
During the conversation, Page opened up about his relationship with the Rhodes family. In particular, “DDP” talked about how long he has known Ring Of Honor (ROH) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star Cody Rhodes:
“I’ve known Cody since he was ten. Without Dusty Rhodes there is no Diamond Dallas Page, he took me under his wing and believed in me when nobody did, nobody. …
“Back then, I used to always call [Cody], ‘young buck.’ I’ve never really told this story until this week, because I’ve been saving it, because of the Young Bucks and how amazing they are.”
Advice For A “Young Buck”
Page then shared some advice he once gave to a young Cody Rhodes, who he used to call “young buck”:
“I went, ‘Woah, well, slow down young buck. I think I was a three-time world champion at one time.’ He was like ‘No! Come on, man!’ and I was just busting his chops.
“I said, ‘Listen, young buck, the deal is you’ve got to keep your feet on the ground because you got a whole big sign on your back. You got a big bulls-eye on that and you gotta keep your feet on the ground, but keep reaching for the stars, bro.”
“When he passed, Cody had called me and he said, ‘Listen man, you know Dusty would always say he has five friends and I just want you to know right before he passed, he told me that again.’
“He said some guys were off and on the list, but Dallas was always on that list. And for him to tell me that – even though I had heard that from Dream – it was super special.”
WWE has released a new video of late WWE legend Dusty Rhodes on their official YouTube channel. In the video, as seen below, the Hall Of Famer is seen explaining how he came up with the concept of WarGames match:
It’s worth mentioning here that WWE will be bringing back the WarGames match for the upcoming NXT Takeover event during the Survivor Series weekend after almost 20 years. You can check out the updated match card for the show here.
– During the latest episode of Dinner With The King podcast, WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler commented on Kurt Angle’s recent in-ring return at the TLC PPV saying that he is happy for Kurt. Here is what he said:
“Kurt and I talked at-length about that [in the past], how much he wanted to still wrestle with WWE. He was happy with the contract and happy to be back with the WWE, but he was not crazy about the fact, I guess they had already told him that they didn’t think they wanted him to do things like get in the ring and wrestle. I know he was lobbying for that [to wrestle] and I know he really wanted to do that. I’m happy for Kurt.”
Rich Bocchini, better known as Rich Brennan in WWE NXT, recently spoke with Jay Reddick of the Orlando Sentinel. During the interview, the former NXT ring announcer talked about various topics including how the late great WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes helped him as an announcer and why some fans prefer independent wrestling over WWE. Here are the highlights:
Independent wrestling:
“I think it has to do with how nerd culture has melded with popular culture. A lot of indie wrestling is the hipster crowd that’s maybe into ‘Star Wars,’ comics and craft beer. I’m a little older, but I consider myself one of them. Every decent-sized city now has one craft brewery, if not four and people want to support the local brand, it feels like they can make it their own. That’s what indie wrestling is, it’s craft wrestling. It caters to the fan that doesn’t want the bigness of WWE and the indies are small enough that they can really listen to what people want on a more personal level.”
Dusty Rhodes helping him in NXT:
“I loved to pick Dusty’s brain on big-picture stuff. He gave me confidence. There were a lot of kids learning promos who were scared to death, but if he saw you worked hard and had passion, he would get behind you. He trusted both me and Corey Graves to do more and more and that was huge.”
A fan sent in a photo of his friend’s ridiculous New Day/unicorn themed tattoo on his leg. Big E responded and simply asked why the friend would let this happen.
Sasha Banks on the evolution of the women’s division in WWE
Sasha Banks spoke with Stuff while WWE was touring in New Zealand recently. Banks discussed the women’s division and how it has evolved over the past five years. Here are Banks’ comments:
“Five years ago we weren’t given this opportunity that we’re having now to be equal to the men. Just two years ago we were considered Divas, that was our brand name, and we had a championship that was in the shape of a butterfly. I was like ‘this is not us, we’re not divas, we’re superstars’. And so two years ago we changed that.
We have all different shapes, sizes, all different looks, and it’s so beautiful to see, because legit five years ago it was all models. Now, the sky’s the limit.”
New Canvas 2 Canvas with Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes was the subject for this week’s episode of Canvas 2 Canvas. WWE artist Rob Schamberger discussed Rhodes’ legacy while creating the artwork. Dusty Rhodes will be inducted into the 2017 National Wrestling Hall of Fame on July 20-22 and this week’s episode was done as a tribute to him.
Former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes recently did an interview with USA Today to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. You can check out some of the highlights from their conversation here:
The resemblance between him and his father Dusty Rhodes:
“I think the biggest thing I’ve gotten out of this is I learned how much I want to be like my dad. For so long, I have tried not to be my dad, because that doesn’t sell tickets. That doesn’t help – to be a repeat, a novelty or a parody or a replication.
“Since he’s gone, I find myself in control of my own business and being my own boss. That’s where I’ve found that I am more like him than I ever realized. That’s been a fun thing to realize. Dusty was always his own boss even when he was in polka dots. It’s cool to feel him that way.”
His relationship with The Young Bucks:
“I will say it would be hard for me to do anything without The Young Bucks. They did not have to accept me as they did, but it’s been full blown acceptance. They didn’t know a damn thing about me. Kevin Owens told them I was a cool guy. They are Matt and Nick Rhodes and I hope I’m Cody Jackson. They have made this life very easy for me and this transition.
“Currently, that’s who I’m signing with … I’m signing with The Young Bucks.”
WWE Legend Superstar Billy Graham took to Facebook this week and ripped WWE for the segment with Bayley, The Club and Golden Truth on Monday’s RAW, which saw Karl Anderson rip the head off a Dusty Rhodes stuffed bear. Cody Rhodes also was not happy with the segment as he tweeted his thoughts right after it aired.
Graham called the producer of the segment a “total piece of shit” and said whoever it is should be fired. Graham wrote:
COMEDY AND DEATH
Last Monday night, December 26th, I took a break from painting and watched a little TV. RAW came up so I stopped to see what was happening. The backstage segment with Goldust, R-Truth, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Bayley had just started. Bayley, with all of the working emotion she could pull up was giving Goldust a Dusty Rhodes-themed stuffed animal. Telling Goldust how much she LOVED Dusty. The American Dream’s son Goldust, tried to get a few sniffles going while clutching the stuffed doll. Gallows and Anderson burst into the scene and one of them grabs the doll. I honestly don’t know who is Anderson and who is Gallows, that is how impressed I am with them, nothing personal, I am just not impressed enough with them to know who is who. One of them then proceeds to rip the head off the Dusty Rhodes stuffed doll and they both start laughing and walk off the set. Very funny to be making a joke off a dead WWE icon, The American Dream, who had more charisma than the entire WWE roster put together.
Cody Rhodes tweeted that “He was not gonna say something mean or blow a whistle” about this segment. He wont, but I will. It made me totally nauseated and was the ultimate in disrespect to the man, not only to one of the greatest performers ever in the business of pro wrestling. I also think that the writer who came up with this disrespectful segment is a total piece of shit and should be fired for getting away with having the WWE air this disgusting segment. How low will the WWE continue to go is the question? I personally don’t want to see.
The 2nd annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic was officially announced at last night’s NXT tapings from Full Sail University. Matches will begin on the 10/5 episode and the finals will take place at Takeover: Toronto on 11/19 during Survivor Series weekend.
The following First Round matches have already been taped:
The Authors of Pain beat The Bollywood Boys
The Revival beat Cedric Alexander and Andrade “Cien” Almas
Alexander Wolfe and Sawyer Fulton beat Bobby Roode and Tye Dillinger
TM-61 beat Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss
You can check out complete spoiler results from last night’s NXT TV tapings here:
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes has been honored at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, where he worked closely with so many WWE talents. Cody Rhodes tweeted a photo of a new memorial that’s on display at the facility.
The tribute features a photo of The Dream, the Dusty Tag Team Classic tournament trophy and over a dozen of Dusty’s famous quotes:
“If you ain’t into this match, you’re at the wrong address.”
“I have wined and dined with kings and queens and I have dined in alleys on pork and beans.”
“Get a dream, hold onto it and shoot for the sky.”
“Funky like a monkey.”
“I am the hit-maker, the record-breaker, I got style and grace, a pretty face. I’ll make your back crack, your liver quiver.”
“The man of the hour, the man with the power.”
“Ric Flair, the stratosphere is reserved for you and me.”
“Superstar, when the other wrestlers are smilin’ and jokin’, The Dream be, WOO! Cookin’ and smokin'”
“If ya will!”
“I’m gonna rip his head off and dance down his tonsils.”
“When I was growing up I sure didn’t think 265 lbs. of blue eyed soul would captivate a country like I have.”
“I’m thankful for my polkadots.”
Here’s the photo of the tribute, sent to Cody by a friend at the Performance Center:
A pal at the Performance Center just sent this pic to me
– Dusty Rhodes will be inducted by Magnum TA into the Hall of Heroes 2016 Class during the NWA Legends Fanfest weekend in Charlotte, NC on 8/5. Cody Rhodes tweeted that his mom and sister will be there for the induction.
– Paul Heyman tweeted these details on an exclusive Brock Lesnar WWE 2K17 contest with WWE Games and Game Stop. Fans can visit their local Game Stop store to take a photo with the 2K17 Lesnar standee, then tweet that out with the proper hashtags. The winner receives two WrestleMania 33 tickets, airfare & hotel, $500 spending money and more. Full details are at this link from Heyman:
– Apollo Crews and Sami Zayn fill out their WWE Cruiserweight Classic brackets in these new videos. Crews has his friend Akira Tozawa going all the way while Sami believes Kota Ibushi has the upperhand.
We noted back in late 2015 that Cody Rhodes teased a project titled “The Last Cowboy” about his father, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, to be released in 2017.
It was recently reported that WWE contacted Cody for some kind of deal, believed to be a merchandising deal. Cody appeared on the brand new “Ric Flair Show” podcast this week and confirmed that Mark Carrano’s call to him was related to that book, which he’s been working on since last summer. Cody has been working on rights to the book so he can still write it.
Cody was not happy that his conversation with Carrano was made public and expected it to remain confidential.
Here is the original tweet from December:
Official announcement & more details forthcoming…but here's something to get excited for
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes was honored at WrestleMania AXXESS on Thursday night with a bronze statue in his likeness. Dusty’s family was on hand for the unveiling.
In previous years, Bruno Sammartino, Andre The Giant and The Ultimate Warrior were honored in similar fashion.
The legendary “American Dream” passed away last June 11th, 2015. #ThankYouDusty
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes will be honored this Thursday night at the WrestleMania AXXESS fan fest in Dallas, Texas. Cody Rhodes tweeted the following on his personal account on Sunday afternoon:
Based on the tweet, it looks like Dusty will be getting his own statue, similar to those created for Andre The Giant, Bruno Sammartino and The Ultimate Warrior.
Cody also noted earlier this month that he wants the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament to be an annual event .
Rob Naylor, who worked as Creative Assistant under Dusty Rhodes in Florida Championship Wrestling/WWE NXT from 2011 to 2013, tweeted some interesting stuff over the weekend. He kept formats, memos, and other documents from his time with WWE and decided to make some images of them public…
Format sheet for the first Full Sail University pilot taping in 2011 (note the puns):
Another gem. Before there was "NXT" – a secret pilot was taped at "Full Sail". Dream dubbed it "Project H" #1stdraftpic.twitter.com/jqJOr8nRLr
A list of indie wrestlers from 2012 that Naylor would sign if he could, which he was asked to make by Triple H’s assistant (the note about Alex Shelley being clear of a TNA contract is most likely due to TNA’s lawsuit against WWE and Brian Wittenstein being an ongoing matter at the time):
Naylor also mentioned that he found other things going through his collection of records, like performance reviews and a list of tips from Ricky Steamboat on how to work babyface, so hopefully there’s more to come.
– The “Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic” tournament is expected to become a new annual NXT event. There is talk of having the finals of the tournament take place as its’ own event that would be in conjunction with WWE’s annual SummerSlam pay-per-view.
– WWE is going around mainland China looking for prospective talent to train. WWE has been looking for a way to capitalize on the market for years now, as the brand isn’t nearly as established there as it is in other international markets. John Cena has been studying the language for years in hopes that he will be able to help do his part in making WWE as big in China as it is in many other foreign countries.
Today, WWE 2K16 got some new downloadable content (or DLC), the Legends pack, which adds six of WWE’s greatest legends (almost all of whom are Hall of Famers) to the game: The Big Boss Man, Trish Stratus, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Lita, and Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig). The DLC pack is $8.99 on its own but is also available as part of the $24.99 Season Pass that covers all of the game’s DLC.
Also, the Terminator DLC, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as his most iconic character, is now available as a standalone item for $4.99. Previously available only as a pre-order code with early copies of the game, it features Arnold as the T-800 character with looks inspired by tge first two Terminator films.
Here’s 2K’s whole press release:
2K today announced WWE 2K16’s next downloadable content offering, the Legends Pack, is available now for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, as well as Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system, and Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft for a suggested price of $8.99. TheLegends Pack features a diverse roster of playable talent, including WWE Hall of Famers Dusty Rhodes, Lita, Mr. Perfect, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Trish Stratus, as well as WWE Legend Big Boss Man.
Also available for standalone purchase today is blockbuster action film star and WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger, playable as two characters – T-800 from The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day films – for a suggested price of $4.99.
The Legends Pack is also included in the WWE 2K16 Season Pass. For a suggested price of $24.99, a savings of more than 20 percent versus individual content purchases, players will receive the following items as they become available:
Accelerator
Players will gain instant access to all unlockable content available in the game (excluding downloadable content);
New Moves Pack
Featuring more than 30 new moves, including the Corner Enzuigiri (made popular by WWE Diva Nikki Bella), Avalanche Ram (made popular by WWE Diva Paige), Sidewinder Suplex (made popular by WWE Superstar Kevin Owens), Standing Crossface Chickenwing (made popular by WWE Superstar Stardust) and Dragon Sleeper (made popular by NXT Superstar Finn Bálor);
2015 Hall of Fame Showcase
Playable matches include:
“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts;
Rikishi vs. The Rock;
Alundra Blayze vs. Paige;
Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair;
The Bushwhackers (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) vs. The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake);
The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray);
Future Stars Pack
Playable NXT Superstars: Samoa Joe, Diego, Fernando, Blake and Murphy
Additional downloadable content available now for WWE 2K16includes the following:
MyPlayer KickStart (PS4™ system and Xbox One Exclusive)
Players will gain instant access to boost created Superstar ratings and attributes in the game’s MyCareer mode
Developed collaboratively by Yuke’s and Visual Concepts, a 2K studio, WWE 2K16 is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and is available now for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
– It appears that a movie or documentary on late WWE Hall Of Famer Dusty Rhodes is going to be released in 2017. Dusty’s son, Cody Rhodes (Stardust), took to social media on Friday to post the following teaser for the project, which he claims will be called, “The Last Cowboy.”
Official announcement & more details forthcoming…but here’s something to get excited for “The Last Cowboy” 2017 pic.twitter.com/yXmsVf5QU1
– Former WWE Divas Champion Layla and former WWE Superstar Ricky Ortiz were married earlier this month in Arizona. WWE has since acknowledged the marriage, as they wrote the following congratulatory message on their official website on Friday:
“After revealing their engagement this past summer, former WWE Divas Champion Layla and former WWE Superstar Ricky Ortiz (Richard Young) were married earlier this month. Join the rest of the WWE Universe in congratulating Layla and Ortiz on this exciting new chapter in their lives!”
– WCHSTV.com has an article about WWE adding extra security to live events due to recent ISIS threats. The extra security is still going on, as fans at the WWE live event in Huntington, West Virginia on Sunday were asked to arrive early and be prepared to go through multiple stages of security. The doors opened at 3:30pm for a 5pm show and every bag was checked, every person was checked with a metal detector wand and everyone wearing a heavy coat was searched. Another change is any fan with a large purse or backpack has to empty the contents into a clear bag and return their own bag to their car.
– Dustin “Goldust” Runnels posted the following on his official Facebook page:
“We spread pops ashes this past Friday in a place that he loved dearly. Welcome home dad. I love you!”
TNA color-commentator “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke) recently spoke to The Richest podcast about his early career as a boxer and his early days in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On transitioning from being a boxer to a pro wrestler:
“The transition from an amateur boxing background to wrestling was not that difficult, as far as showmanship and the entertainment aspect of it. It wasn’t hard at all because that my main reasoning for boxing was just to entertain. Of course, I trained and did as much as I could to be a good boxer so I could hold my own in the ring. I was more of a tough guy, more of a brawler, a slugger. I grew up fighting, so the boxing part wasn’t hard but my main concern was the fulfillment of that burning desire in me to entertain the masses. However, the only part that was indeed a challenge was restricting myself from throwing actual punches. When I would throw my punches or what not, I would have a hard time pulling it back a bit. So that was the main thing that I actually had to work on, which I did countless times by punching a dummy. I actually learned to throw my first actual wrestling punch from Jim Cornette. One of the ways that I learned to throw fake punches in the wrestling ring, without having legit force that would injure my opponent in the ring, was I would use a light bulb that would hang in the distance and I would do my best to hit that light bulb without damaging it, breaking it or moving it. So if I could throw a good enough punch to a light bulb without causing it to shatter, I think that’s pretty good. I think that as time went on, I felt more comfortable with it and I was able to incorporate my actual boxing strikes in the ring and be safe with it.”
On training and developing in OVW and Dusty Rhodes helping him early in his career:
“Jim Cornette and Danny Davis. Danny Davis is the grandfather, the wizard, of OVW. Those two were very instrumental in helping me develop my character. Jim Cornette said just be you, just do what you do, the people love you. That was basically what it was. On the microphone? On the mic? The gift to gab if you will, that came along with the whole package with Elijah. That’s something that I’ve always done. That’s something that I hadn’t needed to really develop. If there is someone that I would attribute my ability to gab to, I would say my Pastor, Willie May Goodness, from down home southern Jacksonville, Florida. Where I grew up, in church, is where all that came from, The gift of gab and being able to talk on the mic and be comfortable with it.
“If there was anyone that showed me how to convey emotion and allow it to manifest into something more for the viewing audience, then of course that goes to ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes, who I had the privilege and the honor to work with. He was my childhood idol during my time in OVW, prior to my time in ECW. Definitely, it was Dusty who was supportive. Dusty saw me and I went and introduced myself and he stopped me. He said, ‘I already know about you, daddy. You and I we going to have some fun’. I would do my promos and it would be awesome. They would have scripts but he believed in me so much that he would take the script or anything they wanted me to say and he would turn it down. He would say, ‘just do what you going to do, daddy. You let me deal with Stephanie and Vince. You just say what you’re going to say’. That was just so awesome because he believed in me so much. He knew that I could take what they wanted me to do and put it in my own words and hit a home run with it. That’s what we would do all the time.”
There has been speculation recently regarding the WWE coaching status of Sara Amato after she appeared on a recent episode of the new WWE Network original series, “WWE Breaking Ground.”
Amato is still working as an agent with the main WWE roster, however she also doubles as a developmental trainer of talents at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Additionally, former TNA Knockout Sarah Stock (Sarita) is also working with the female developmental talent in Orlando.
In related Breaking Ground news, the show gave the impression that William Regal teaches the promo classes at the Performance Center, however it is actually Ryan Katz who handles that responsibility.
Katz is a former independent wrestler by the name of “GQ Money,” who was said to be a “Dusty Rhodes Guy” and worked closely with The Dream before his passing.
WWE Hall Of Famer Larry Zbyszko recently appeared as a guest on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling Podcast and spoke about his recent time at the WWE Performance Center, his memories of the late Dusty Rhodes and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On the transition from wrestling to commentary: “For me it worked out great. I had a good twenty year career. By about 1992 I was thinking I’d start settling into the broadcasting thing. It was a good time, I was lucky with the body that I didn’t get hurt and didn’t have any artificial parts, didn’t have any major surgeries, none of that stuff. It kept me alive with the new generation and gave me more publicity because I was on Monday Nitro, then I was on some of the syndicated shows so I had a lot of publicity with the new generation and it was a great job. I worked out and kept myself in good shape and would golf a bunch, I was home so much the wife would get sick of me. It was kind of like the perfect ending to a good twenty year career. Anybody who does that it’s almost like you’ve got this special gift of gab or you are full of bullshit because either you can do a good interview for a couple of minuets and weren’t good color guy but for some reason I felt right at home. I had to soften my character up because for twenty years I was a big asshole and people believed I was an asshole and I softened up the character to where everybody loved me and then I was too old to hate and then I was a legend when I went against the New World Order.”
On memories of Dusty Rhodes and Dusty’s turn to join the NWO: “They came to me and it was up to me whether it went that way or not. I knew it would make Dusty happy and me and Bischoff and me and Hall were the two biggest buy rates that they ever did and definitely was the cherry on the cake with everything else. It was a one time deal but I remember Dusty dropped an elbow on me and landed all his weight with that elbow he dropped in the Scott Hall match, the bastard (laughs). Me and Dusty had a good relationship. Especially when I would come down and do stuff for the Crockets and TBS and Dusty always treated me right. He always recognized the talent. The last time I saw Dusty the poor guy, he didn’t look too good. He looked pretty grey. The last time I saw Dusty right before he died I had got the weird feeling that something was going to happen and I would wind up like him. I realized after he died that since Dusty was so involved with the Performance Center that now unfortunately that Performance Center lost a lot of knowledge when Dusty passed and I think there is a void left that I can fill.”
On his recent work at the WWE Performance Center: “You get emotionally involved whether you want to or not. I go there and I look at the faces of these young men and women and they will come to me and ask can you watch my match and you end up getting involved emotionally. I’m old school and what’s in me is you do what is good for the business otherwise no one makes money. Some of these guys and chicks at the school are great and are going to be good and have great potential. It breaks your heart because with others you want to say; did you ever think about getting a job? You get kind of emotionally involved with it and I can’t help it and I kind of steer myself to people I know are going to be good for the business.”
On getting to see old friends and his reaction to the passing of Rowdy Roddy Piper and The Ultimate Warrior: “You don’t get to see the guys too often and even though you spent so much of your life working with them and especially at the point we are at now when I go to Mania I’ll see a bunch of the guys and that will be cool but it’s amazing that they are dropping. Like with Piper, that shocked me and I never expected him to go. The Ultimate Warrior. That was wild. At 54 he looked like he was 80. I didn’t recognize the guy when I first saw him in the hotel, he looked like some old guy who was just shuffling by and I thought that’s the Warrior? Something wasn’t right and I’m surprised he didn’t keel over on stage.”
On the Dangerous Alliance: “The fans seemed to really like it and it was a cool group of guys. Me and Arn as the Enforcers, we were really over. Rude and Bobby Eaton fit right in and a young “Stunning” Steve with Paul E. so it was a good group of guys but the only thing with a group fortunately for me and Arn at 40 years old we clicked and it was great but it should have gone on a little longer. To be in a group you really couldn’t stick out, you were just part of a group and I had come from a school where it was better to stick out and be a single. But I was over 40 and Bill (Watts) came in at that time of the Dangerous Alliance so that’s when I kind of pulled myself out, got my knee fixed and wound up doing the broadcasting thing.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Scott Hall was in attendance at the NXT live event in Cocoa Beach.
– Former WWE Diva AJ Lee posted the following photos on social media to promote her new collection with the Beautiful Disaster Clothing company that benefits the “PAWS” charity in Chicago.
