This day in wrestling history, June 3, 1989, saw a wrestling legend make his debut in the WWE at a house show that was shown on NESN, a New England sports channel on cable. It was an inauspicious beginning for Dusty Rhodes, as the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion and booker was just another guy.
Such a transition can be difficult, but lead to some awesome things. Especially given how Dusty left WCW at the time.
Dusty fired
Dusty Rhodes will always be a wrestling legend, as he was one of the top stars in the business through the late 70s and 80s for the NWA. While the WWE relied heavily on its production to gain the upper hand on the NWA and other promotions on its way to dominate the world, the NWA boasted some of the most iconic stars ever to set foot in the squared circle. But all things come to an end at some point.
Following Turner Broadcasting’s purchase of Jim Crocket Productions and relabeling it World Championship Wrestling, they announced that there would be no on-screen bloodletting (blading) on any of their programs. As such, since Dusty had recently played out a storyline where he bled form his eye due to an injury from a spike from Road Warrior Animal’s shoulder pads.
A month later he appeared at Starrcade ’88 and it would be the last time he was seen nationally before appearing on WWE programing as he was fired for the blood.
A fun fact is that his son Dustin would be fired from WCW in 1995 for the same infraction, and go to the WWE as Goldust. Funny how things play out, isn’t it? Almost like it might have been planned. Only Dustin would know for sure, but anything’s possible.
Coming out on top
Dusty filled in for Jake “The Snake” Roberts against the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase in his debut. He won the match and gained instant fame with WWE fans that had only seen him in NWA prior. He also began appearing in a bunch of WWE promos working “common man” jobs like pizza delivery and such. It helped establish his character for the WWE as they built on what he’d done previously.
While he was a major draw for the WWE, he wasn’t in the championship talks very often, as many considered him an attraction like Andre the Giant. He was their top mid-card performers and got the fans out of their seats every time. He always gave his best, even though his black and yellow polka dot attire made it very difficult to take him seriously.
Eventually, this day in wrestling history had to come to an end as Dusty retired from full time wrestling after the 1991 Royal Rumble. He returned to WCW for a while before working backstage at the WWE.
There, he’s known mainly for working at the Performance Center in helping the developing talent hone their skills for their promos.
Every time he took the ring, we were treated to a potential this day in wrestling history moment.
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