Customer Reviews

WWE - The American Dream - The Dusty Rhodes Story

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4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Courtesy of <a href="http://www.wrestlemag.com">WrestleMag.com</a>:

Throughout the 1970's and 80's, Dusty Rhodes was the embodiment of everything that was working class America. Starting out as "The Son of a Plumber", the American Dream went from one of Florida's most hated heel wrestlers to becoming arguably the most loved wrestler in the World during his prime years.

This 3-Disc DVD release from World Wrestling Entertainment looks at the career of Dusty Rhodes, starting out with a 90-minute documentary style feature on the life and career of the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. Starting out with his childhood and upbringing, Rhodes, and others, go on to tell stories about him and Dick Murdoch during their run as one of the toughest (and arguably most talented) tag teams in wrestling at that time.

We move on from there to Rhodes' time with Florida Championship Wrestling, where the 'American Dream' was born. After a relatively successful run in FCW as a heel, Rhodes' transformation into a immensely popular babyface is incredible, and Rhodes talks about the birth of the American Dream in detail, discussing how the "gimmick" came about right through to his awesome, awesome battles with "Superstar" Billy Graham at Madison Square Garden during his time with the then WWWF.

It's Rhodes' battles for the NWA heavyweight title that so many people remember him for. He took the title from the great Harley Race, then later from Ric Flair and became one of the most loved and respected wrestling champions of all time. Dusty discusses in detail his departure from the NWA and his surprising move to the World Wrestling Federation in late 1989. The most poignant section of this is the portion devoted to his on/off/on again relationship with his son Dustin aka: Goldust. Both Dusty and Dustin speak candidly about how their rapport broke down and the eventual coming together of a father and son. Dustin gets extremely emotional during this.

The documentary also talks about Dusty's unique interview style and charisma and how it influenced so many wrestlers that came afterward. It also answers the question as to whether the "polka dots" were a rib or not and how Rhodes got paired up with his valet/manager, Sapphire, during his WWF run under the "Common Man" gimmick - an extension of sort of Rhodes' American Dream but with Vince McMahon's added twist.

The extras on this disc include matches with the likes of Murdoch, Race, Don Muraco and Terry Funk from the mid-70s through to 1977 with a classic from Madison Square Garden against Billy Graham.


Discs 2 & 3 are an old school fans dream with nothing but classic matches from the remainder of his career. Disc 2 has matches from 1977 through to 1988 including memorable encounters against legends such as Stan Stasiak, Tully Blanchard, Ivan Koloff and his title victories over Ric Flair and Harley Race. There's also a special bonus classic against Harley Race from 1979 at Madison Square Garden which was rare as the NWA Title was rarely on the line in New York. Also on this disc are some of his most famous Tag Team matches, teaming with the likes of Sting and The Road Warriors they face off against various legendary combinations such as Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard and a special 6 man Tag Team match against The Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff.

Disc 3 concentrates on his WWE career as we see Tag Team matches with manager Sapphire against "Macho King" Randy Savage and Queen Sherri, Dusty and Dustin squaring off against Ted Dibiase and Virgil (which as a kid I loved at the time and it still holds up as entertaining if nothing else). There's also Rhodes' debut match for the then WWF against the Honky Tonk Man. There is also the 1989 Survivor Series elimination match between "The Dream Team" and Big Boss Man's "Enforcers". In addition there's also Rhodes' ECW match against Steve Corino and a match from Rhodes' time with WCW shortly before WWE purchased the company pitting Dusty and Dustin against Flair and Jeff Jarrett.

Add some awesome promo's and bonus footage to the equation, and you've got yourself a must-buy triple-DVD set.

If you call yourself a wrestling fan, you need this DVD.

AWA 3/9/73
Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs. Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher

AWA 3/24/73
Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs. Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher

AWA 10/6/73
Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs. Billy Robinson & Don Muraco

Championship Wrestling from Florida 5/1974
Dusty Rhodes & Pak Song vs. Mike & Eddie Graham

Championship Wrestling from Florida
Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk

Championship Wrestling from Florida, Lumberjack Match
Dusty Rhodes vs. Harley Race

Madison Square Garden 9/26/77 - WWWF Heavyweight Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Superstar Billy Graham

Madison Square Garden 12/19/77
Dusty Rhodes vs. Stan "The Man" Stasiak

Madison Square Garden 12/20/77
Dusty Rhodes vs. Johnny Rodz

Madison Square Garden 8/28/78 - Texas Bullrope Match
Dusty Rhodes vs. Superstar Billy Graham, Alternate Commentary by: Steve Romero/Dusty Rhodes/Mike Graham

Madison Square Garden 12/17/79 - NWA World's Heavyweight Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Harley Race

Atlanta, GA 6/21/81 - NWA World's Heavyweight Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Harley Race

Great American Bash, Charlotte, NC 7/6/85 - World Television Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard

Great American Bash, Greensboro, NC 7/26/86 - NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair, Commentary by: Steve Romero/Dusty Rhodes/Mike Graham

Starrcade, Chicago, IL 11/26/87 - NWA United States Heavyweight Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger

Clash of the Champions, Greensboro, NC 3/27/88
Dusty Rhodes & Road Warriors vs. Ivan Koloff & Powers of Pain

NWA Main Event 4/3/88 - NWA United States Championship
Dusty Rhodes vs. Ivan Koloff

Clash of the Champions II, Miami, FL, 6/8/88 - NWA Tag Team Championship
Dusty Rhodes & Sting vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard

Starrcade, Norfolk VA 12/26/88 - NWA World Tag Team Championship
Dusty Rhodes & Sting vs. Road Warrior

SummerSlam, E. Rutherford, NJ 8/28/89
Dusty Rhodes vs. The Honky Tonk Man

Survivor Series, Rosemont, IL 11/23/89
The Dream Team vs. The Enforcers

WrestleMania VI, Toronto, Canada 4/1/90 - Mixed Tag Team match
Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire vs. The Macho King Randy Savage & Queen Sherri

Madison Square Garden 11/24/90
Dusty Rhodes & Dustin vs. Ted DiBiase & Virgil

Living Dangerously, Danbury, CT 3/12/00
Dusty Rhodes vs. Steve Corino

Greed, Jacksonville, FL 3/18/01 - Kiss My Ass match
Dusty Rhodes & Dustin vs. Ric Flair & Jeff Jarrett

Promos & Vignettes

CWF - Dusty in dressing room

CWF - Gordon Solie interviews Dusty Rhodes

Madison Square Garden, 10/24/77 - Vince McMahon interviews Dusty Rhodes

Madison Square Garden, 11/8/77 - Vince McMahon interviews Dusty Rhodes

Championship Wrestling 4/25/78

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 1/26/83

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 1/25/84

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 12/25/84

NWA World Championship Wrestling 4/6/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 4/20/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 5/4/85

World Wide Wrestling 5/7/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 5/25/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 7/13/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 7/20/85

World Wide Wrestling 7/23/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 8/17/85

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 9/10/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 9/28/85

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 10/29/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 11/16/85

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 12/3/85

Mid-Atlantic Wrestling 12/15/85

NWA World Championship Wrestling 1/4/86

NWA World Championship Wrestling 1/4/86

NWA World Championship Wrestling 6/21/86

NWA World Championship Wrestling 8/16/86

World Wide Wrestling 2/17/87

NWA World Championship Wrestling 3/19/88

NWA World Championship Wrestling 5/21/88

Superstars 6/3/89

Superstars 6/10/89

Superstars 6/17/89

Superstars 6/24/89

Superstars 7/1/89

Superstars 7/8/89

Superstars 7/15/89

Superstars 7/22/89

Superstars 10/7/89

Superstars 10/7/89

Saturday Night's Main Event 1/27/90

Superstars 5/12/90

Wrestling Challenge 6/2/90

Wrestling Challenge 9/15/90

Superstars 12/22/90

Wrestling Challenge 12/29/90

RAW 5/5/97

"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes is a bonified legend in this business. Dusty Rhodes was one of the men back in the early stages of wrestling (late 70's/early 80's) who was able to have a crossover appeal with fans that rarely anybody could touch. He trancended racial barriers & was accepted by all because the fans could legitly feel like he was one of them. You can call him "The Common Man" or even "Mr. Soul" but he was truely The American Dream.

The docuementry kicks off talking about him being a son of a plumber and overcoming obsticales as a kid before going into college & breaking into the business. His heel run with Dick Murdock as part of the Texas Outlaws was talked about including how they were out of control in & outside the ring and what led to Dusty breaking off from the team. His transformation into the American Dream & what his role was within Flordia Championship Wrestling was talked about next with comments from Mike Graham as well. His first run in the WWF was based about his fued with "Superstar" Billy Graham and his three matches in MSG with Graham are discussed. Dusty becoming the NWA Champion, his heavy road schedule, and his unbelievable promos & catchphrases are talked about leading up to his fued with Ric Flair leading up to their famous Great American Bash cage match in which Dusty won the title. Dusty's reign as booker in WCW and how he gets a bad rap for some of the things he's done (the Robocop angle, the "Dusty Finish" full of run-in's & false finishes) along with some of the positives (Ron Simmons becoming the first African American World Champion & his ideas for PPV's such as Great American Bash, Starrcade, and Halloweed Havoc) are profiled along with how it ended up coming to an end. Dusty's entrance in to the WWE as "The Common Man" is heavily discussed from all the promos ranging from the pizza man to the gas man to the meat man, his manager Sapphire, and his "polka dots." The storyline involving Ted Dibiase & how that led to Dustin Rhodes coming into the WWE & teaming with Dusty is a big story in this documentry as they also talk about their seperation & eventual reunion along with the story of how Dustin had to become Goldust to escape his father's shadow round out this documentry on Dusty's career. A real negative I would concider here is how they left out Dusty's long run in WCW as an announcer along with his short run in ECW as he was over & universally accepted by the ECW fans (WHICH IS VERY HARD TO BE) just based on his legendary status in the industry.

This DVD set includes 47 Dusty Rhodes promos spanning from Flordia Championship Wrestling, NWA Mid-Altantic & Georgia Championship Wrestling, and the WWE. Some of these promos include interviews from his first WWE run in '77, from his fued with Ric Flair in '85/'86, all of the promos from his Tully Blanchard/Baby Doll storyline, and all the Common Man promos leading up to his second run in the WWE. There is also an inteview featuring Dustin Rhodes & Terri from '97 talking about his character Goldust & his relationship with Dustry. Also here are two hidden easter eggs talking about Mike Graham's first encounter with the Texas Outlaws and Ted Dibiase telling the story behind how his bodyguard Virgil got his name from Dusty.

Matches Include:
vs. WWWF Champion Billy Graham - This was the beginning of a series of battles between two of the most charismatic wrestlers at that time. Dusty just knew knew how to work the crowd and had them hot for every single thing he did while Graham tried to ground Dusty with headlocks & bear hugs. This was a good start to a classic series.
"MSG" Sept. '77

Bullrope Match vs. Billy Graham - This was similar to their first encounter except that this was very violent for it's day as both men used the cowbell on the bullrop various times & were heavily bleeding to the point where Chief Jay Strongbow, the special referee for the match, had a white shirt that was covered in blood.
"MSG" Aug. '78

vs. NWA Champion Harley Race - This was a rare occurance as the NWA Championship was defended in Madison Square Garden. Dusty heavily worked on Harley's neck with various headlocks & even wrenching a half-nelson on the mat at one while while Harley lived up to his reputation as one of the toughest men in the business as he had Dusty heavily bleeding.
"MSG" Dec. '79

Steel Cage Match vs. NWA Television Champion Tully Blanchard - This match had a special stipulation in that if Dusty won, he not only won the Television Championship but also won the services of Tully Blanchard's valet, Baby Doll. This was your typical cage match in that both men were brawling & bleeding while grinding their heads into the steel cage.
NWA Great American Bash '85

Steel Cage Match vs. NWA Champion Ric Flair - This was very similar to the previous cage match in that it was very competitive match between both men with both heavily bleeding & using the cage as a weapon various times against each other before Dusty walked away with this final NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The real bonus here is the commentary with Dusty along with Mike Graham on this match.
NWA Great American Bash '86

Steel Cage Match vs. NWA United States Champion Lex Luger - Wow, don't recall another superstar having this many steel cage matches on their set. This one was for the United States Championship with the stipulation that Dusty was going ot be suspended for 90 days if he lost and they had Johnny Weaver at ringside as the gatekeeper. Dusty worked a different offense than usual as he kept going to sleeperholds throughout the match including the "Weaver-lock" that Johnny Weaver made famous while grinding on Luger's arm to take away the Torture Rack. Luger also worked over Dusty's arm & used his power along with the used the cage to bust Dusty open. The ending would not only result in Dusty gaining the United States Championship but also mark the beginning of the end of Luger's membership in the Four Horsemen.
NWA Starrcade '87

Barbed Wire Match w/Road Warriors vs. Ivan Koloff & Powers Of Pain - This wasn't a "no ropes" barbed wire match that we're used to seeing in this day & age as they had one thin string of barbed wire wrapped up across all three ropes together so it looks very "tame" by today's standards but hardcore for that day & age. This was pretty short & sweet as the Warriors & Dusty (complete with his own Road Warrior facepaint) got dominated & got their revenge for the eye injury Animal suffered which forced him to wear a hockey mask in this match.
"NWA Clash Of The Champions" Mar. '88

NWA United States Championship Match vs. Ivan Koloff - With the exception of some interference from Paul Jones & cheating from Ivan such as choking & using his chain, this was a dominate Dusty from start to finish.
"NWA Main Event" Apr. '88

w/Sting vs. NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - This was a classic "faces vs. heels" encounter as Sting & Rhodes kept getting the upperhand & dominating the Horsemen resulting in Anderson & Blanchard resorting to double teams & illegal tactics with J.J. Dillion at ringside and even Sting on the recieving end of a DDT on the floor. This was a back & forth match with the crowd hot from start to finish but this match did it's job in establishing matches & feuds going into the "Great American Bash" PPV the next month.
"NWA Clash Of The Champions" June '88

w/Sting vs. NWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors - This was during the Road Warriors' heel run which didn't get over well concidering how the fans were still cheering for the Warriors as well as Dusty & Sting. It was a good match but nothing really special or memorable.
NWA Starrcade '88
("Starrcade: The Essental Collection")

vs. Honky Tonk Man - This was Dusty's WWE PPV debut...decked in yellow polka dots. This was very entertaining in the beginning but moved into a normal wrestling match with Honky on the offense for most of the match before Dusty made his victorious comeback.
SummerSlam '89

Elimination Match w/Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, Red Rooster vs. Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, Honky Tonk Man, Rick Martel - There were no real highlights in this match although it was just solid from beginning to end.
Survivor Series '89

w/Sapphire vs. Randy Savage & Sherri - We all know how great of a inring workhouse Randy Savage was throughout his career but this match was more about showcasing his "entertaining side" as this was one of those matches that if you took it for what it was, you'll enjoy it. This was a fun mixed tag match with some very comical moments but also a solid inring performance from both Dusty & Savage.
WrestleMania VI
("Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection")

w/Dustin Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase & Virgil - It's a nice treat to put this rare match between these two teams on here instead of their more well known Royal Rumble match. This was a nice match between both teams with Dustin being impressive in this match for still being such a young rookie. It should be noted that Jimmy Hart & Honky Tonk Man were doing commentary and they ended up playing a factor in this match.
"MSG" Nov. '90

Bullrope Match vs. Steve Corino - For those who didn't know about this feud, Steve Corino was proclaiming himself to be a legend killer in his own right & even proclaimed himself "The King Of Old School" resulting in him having so many confrontations with Dusty Rhodes that led to them meeting in Dusty's match, a bullrope match. The referee in the match also had a prior history with Corino, and his manager Jack Victory, as they attacked & bloodied him weeks earlier. This was your typical ECW style brawl with them fighting through the crowd and Dusty even getting a few shots in on Victory while the cowbell busted both men open at times. The referee also got his revenge on Corino before Dusty Rhodes dropped his infamous "old school" atomic elbow to get the victory.
ECW Living Dangerously '00

w/Dustin Rhodes vs. Ric Flair & Jeff Jarrett - This match was very ironic in a various ways in that this event turned out to be WCW's final PPV before being sold to Vince McMahon two weeks later...however this was the first & only time that Dusty & Flair ever had a match on PPV. Flair was in his street clothes (if you want to refer to a hawaiian shirt along dress slacks & socks & shoes at "street" clothes). This was just as entertaining as you expected with it being full of charisma from Dusty & Flair along with various comedic spots. This was very entertaining from start to finish with an aftermath that would give Rikishi's "stinkface" a run for it's money.
WCW Greed '01

Other matches include Dusty's time in the AWA as a member of the Texas Outlaws against a young Don Muraco & Billy Robinson along with two matches against Dick The Brusier & The Crusher. His CWF matches (that were never shown in full & were just highlights) include a tag match with Pak Song vs. The Grahams where he became the "American Dream", Terry Funk, and two matches against Harley Race with one being a lumberjack match & another being his NWA title victory. Matches from his first WWWF/WWE run against Stan Stasiak & Johnny Rodz round out the extra matches on this DVD set.

This is a dream set for those who were professional wrestling fans before the days of Hulkamania & sports entertainment. Back in the territorial days of professional wrestling where the NWA name was just as powerful (if not more) than the WWE name. I highly recommend this for any wrestling fan. Also the box being able to talk isn't bad either.

Having viewed the majority of everything on this set, for the most part I really liked it. That is until I got to disc 3. First, I want to talk about the positives of this set. Unlike many here, I think the documentary was well done and interesting. Especially the part when the issues with son Dustin back in the 90s are addressed. Finally we get the real story, not the trumped up internet version about Dusty turning on his son because of the ambiguity of the "Goldust" character. Myth 1 taken care of. This was moving and the emotion very raw. How can anyone say "why is this talked about"?! Dusty's relationship with a son who got involved in wrestling isn't important?!

As far as the Crockett days are concerned, much of what Dusty said has also been said by David Crockett, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Tell me those guys are just "covering up" for Dusty. The one thing that may have been glossed over a bit was how and why Dusty left. Dusty seemed to imply he left because he didn't agree with Jim Herd's vision of what the NWA/WCW should become. While this is probably true to an extent given most wrestlers accounts about Herd, it's common knowledge that he lost a powerplay with Ric Flair concerning booking of his match at Starrcade '88. During Crockett's last months in power he demoted Dusty as head booker and Flair was put in charge. I think this had more to do with his departure than anything else, but that is just my opinion and mine only.

On disc 2, I was very pleased with this as well. His match with Tully Blanchard from Bash '85 is presented raw and uncut with no commentary. This is particularly cool since you can hear the exchanges between the wrestlers and Baby Doll's verbal clashes with people in the crowd. To clarify, you're not going to hear them calling spots since you had 2 guys who knew how to work and what each other was thinking.

The match with Ric Flair from Bash '86 is not a rehash from "Greatest Cage Matches". This is the raw, uncut master footage from the event, complete with Ric Flair's full entrance, and Dusty's post-match celebration. In the previous release, WWE had used the version from the commercial VHS tape JCP released back at the time. Props for really making good use of that tape library! Only downside for me was that the commentary by Rhodes & Co. was totally kayfabed. I would have preferred to hear more of the backstory on the booking of this match and how they decided what they were going to do. Still, it takes nothing away from the match.

Now for what I had problems with, especially with disc 3. I agree with the other reviewers who stated there was too much made of his career with the WWF. An entire disc of this era is overkill, especialy since many view this as an embarrassment for Dusty. However, things are made much, much worse with the removal of Jesse Ventura's commentary. Do you know how painful it is to hear those long pauses with only the soundbytes of Tony Schiavone?! Not to mention listening to a Wrestlemania match with only Gorilla Monsoon seemingly talking to himself. Everybody knows the exchanges between Jesse and Gorilla helped many a sub-par matchup seem interesting. Big friggin' deal if Jesse is suing for royalties. For a company like WWE who likes to file a lawsuit every chance they get, it's pretty ironic how much they back down when someone goes after them for a change. If this is how it's going to be, than I would just assume they not include any matches from this period at all, or wait until things are settled. Note to Vince McMahon: you are not powerful enough to erase memories!!!

As mentioned earlier, there are more mistakes with dates as there have been with other releases. How the production team continues to do this is beyond me. These are things almost any fan of the time wouldn't screw up, so this tells me the people working on these releases may be like the script writers for WWE. They just work there, they aren't fans. Oh well.

Lastly I enjoyed most of the promos, and some of the WWF matches aren't all bad. I got quite a few laughs from his match with Honky Tonk Man (watch for the spot where he totally messes up Honky's hairdo). I wished they had included their singoff from Primetime Wrestling which was hilarious back then. Gorilla: "If they hung either one of them for being a good singer, they'd hang an innocent person!"

This is not exactly what I would call a definitive collection, but again, I enjoyed it for the most part. It was fun and interesting to watch. Maybe if they do a Four Horsemen set we'll get the parking lot attack and other confrontations from the Crockett years.

The documentary of Dusty's life didn't seem to have a lot of effort put into it. It's like they grabbed a handful of guys who were around at the time and asked them to say something about Dusty. Even John Cena mentions something on the documentary. None of the old school guys came in to say much and the few that did didn't enlighten us a whole lot. I think Arn and Tully say a few things and they recycled some stuff Flair said about Dusty in his dvd set once again.

One reviewer said they had more questions after watching the documentary. I would have to agree with that. While it was cool to see Dusty's rise to fame, it seemed to skip over a lot of stuff. He blamed overspending for Jim Crockett Promotions going out of business. Of course WWE didn't get someone from Jim Crockett promotions to say anything and I know they could have because they did it for the Flair dvd. I guess some things better left unsaid.

Then the argument over the polka dot phase of his career. I thought it would have been best for McMahon to just say it was a rib and clear the air. Instead, we have this weird section of the documentary where people are saying it is and it isn't. Either way, I liked the way Dusty handled it and he actually pulled it off. He could have become a joke in wrestling, but he refused and he actually made it work. For that fact alone, I actually became a Dusty fan by the end of the documentary. Makes me wish WWE had taken more time to clearly tell this man's life story. He seemed so interesting.

The wrestling matches, especially those from the 70s and mid-80s are well worth the price of the dvd set. Included are tons of his interviews and vignettes. These are really cool and some were pretty funny. While the documentary should have been thrown back and redone, the rest of the dvd set was thoughtfully put together. Sure I expected to see more matches from his days in Florida, but I can forgive them from not making everyone happy on the matches. Over a 30 year career, it is tough to cover all the great matches. This dvd at least gives you the highlights and also tells a great father-son story throughout the set.

This has got to be the greatest dvd set, besides the Ric Flair collection that the WWE has came out with. First of all, anybody who claims to be a real wrestling fan should know who Dusty Rhodes is and should at least know that being the NWA World Champion on 3 occasions was not an easy task, that's just going on who he beat for the title not who he defended it against. Second, the work Dusty has done behind the scenes is unparallel to anything these newbies are doing to promote the business. In the days of the territories you had to prove your selfworth to promoters all over the country and overseas. Pretty much sell yourself. You didn't have a huge empire backing you. Third, I grew up in Lakeland Florida and watched CWF and WCW/NWA wrestling and Dusty came up with some of his best stuff right here in Florida. The only complaint I have is no Rhodes/Sullivan matches, they need more of that classic feud. I've been waiting on this forever. It's gonna be awesome.

I expected this to be a top shelf documentary. I was not totally disappointed but note the length of time devoted to Rhodes' days in WWF/WWE. There was great emphasis on the Superstar Graham rivalry and his installment as the 'common man' complete with polka dots. This isn't to say that the rivalry with Graham wasn't worth the time devoted to it in the DVDs, the matches between the two were monumental but it overshadowed Rhodes' tours of other promotions, most notably Jim Crockett's Mid Atlantic/NWA group and Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), which Rhodes was a stockholder. I won't even comment on the polka dot phase but Rhodes does say it was his biggest payday. Many of us who had watched Rhodes' career skyrocket sat in disbelief while he became a cartoon character during his second WWF run.

The documentary completely runs through his days in Florida. Most notably there is not commentary provided by Blackjack Mulligan (Robert Windham) and his sons Barry and Kendall. The Windhams were longtime tag team partners. While in Florida there was also the legendary rivalry between Rhodes and Kevin Sullivan, which was not highlighted.

Naturally because WWF/WWE produced this DVD series it is bias towards them. The best part of this documentary? The rumor that Mike Graham, whose father Eddie owned CWF, was paid a cool million for the stock footage.

I'm a huge Rhodes mark, but this set falls far below the expectations I had coming in.

Too Much:
- later WWF matches (not the Graham atuff, but the polka dot days)
- Dustin-related material...let Dustin have his own DVD.
- promos...some of them are pointless for this box set, although he cut some of the best in the business.
- did we really need to see the ECW match?

Not Enough:
- Florida footage...the feud with Kevin Sullivan (and others) was ignored.
- footage from other territories...he also wrestled in Texas, California, Mid-South, PWF, and Japan, and other places, but no footage of that?
- really needed to pay more homage to his feuds with Race and Flair, with some more matches...those feuds were the hottest feuds of the '70s and 80s, and really cemented Rhodes as a top draw.

Mistakes:
- someone seriously needs to double-check their facts...the footage labeled as being from The Omni in Atlanta ('81 title change w/Race) is actually from '79 in Tampa. For the second time on a DVD release, Rhodes refers to the '81 title change as his first NWA title.
- the Sgt. Slaughter promo, labeled as being in the late 80s was actually from about 1980, right around the time Slaughter was the US champ. How could the production team overlook such a huge mistake?

If you're a Rhodes fan, this will quench your thirst. But if you're a Rhodes mark, this will come up short...remember, this IS a WWE-produced set.

Dusty Rhodes is one of the greatest professional wrestlers EVER. To say he hasn't contributed much to the industry shows a lack of knowledge of its' history. If all you know of Dusty is the year-and-a-half polka-dot common man run in the WWF, you don't know the real Dusty Rhodes. He has had great matches with most of the biggest stars in wrestling from the '70's through the '90's. This dvd set barely scratches the surface of his career. Hopefully they will put more out, with more stuff from the '70's and '80's when he was in his prime. I don't pretend to know or even care about much of his behind the scenes activities, except that he came up with some great themes and matches (Starrcade, Great American Bash, Wargames, etc.). I have always watched wrestling to be entertained and Dusty never let me down. He is a mega-star in wrestling and he deserves much more than this.

First, I want to say that I really wanted to like this DVD. I was never a huge fan of Dusty Rhodes the in ring worker, but I always enjoyed his mic work and thought he delivered some of the best promos in wrestling. Plus, I didn't know a lot about Dusty's early career in the 70s and things about his personal life, so I was intrigued by this release.

The worst thing about this DVD, which caused me to give it only 2 stars, should have been it's strongest part and that's the documentary. First, it has a very watered down, thrown together, this isn't really important feel to it. There are some very key parts of Dusty's career that were either left out or just barely mentioned. For example, I think anyone, even a casual fan like myself, who is a fan of Rhodes, would say that his greatest rival was Terry Funk. His feud with Funk is barely mentioned and Terry wasn't even interviewed for this release. Speaking of the interviews, they really slapped them together. You get new comments from the usual WWE documentary contributers: McMahon, Pritchard, Lawler, Triple H, etc.. However, Ric Flair's comments were taken straight from his Ultimate Ric Flair Collection DVD. So, they didn't even bother to do a new interview with Flair.
Then, there's the rewriting of history. Rhodes takes credit for coming up with and pushing for Ron Simmons to win the WCW World Title when that was all Bill Watts' idea. Also, Rhodes takes NO responsibility for Jim Crockett promotions going under. Rhodes pushed himself on the top spot of that promotion for too long and never allowed the younger guys to carry the ball for the company and this was a very decisive factor in that promotions demise. So, there's a lot of spin going on here. Then, they poorly chose what to focus on and spend a lot of time talking about on the documentary. They spent a lot of time trying to disprove the rumor that Vince McMahon put Dusty in polka-dots during his WWF as payback for the competition Rhodes gave them during his time with Crockett as the booker. They just really beat this to death, and half way into it, I was wanting them to just wrap it up and move on, but it's one of the longest subjects in the documentary. The WWE has released some great documentaries before, but this isn't one of them. Which is a shame because like him or not, there's no denying that Dusty Rhodes is one of the most influential people to be involved in the wrestling business in the last 30 years, and he deserved better treatment and care then what was put into this production.

With that said, there are some great and rarely seen moments from Rhodes career that are worth a look. The matches unfortunately, are not great and most are not even very good, because Rhodes wasn't a great in ring worker. WWE acknowledges this by loading the DVD with promos and tv vignettes. The mic is where Dusty shined and his classic moments behind the mic are here. One of the best parts of this collection, are the old interviews that a young Vince McMahon did with Rhodes in the old WWWF. Rhodes came in as part of a trade between territories at the time (this was done a lot back then) and you could just see that Vince thinks Rhodes is incredible on the mic. You can almost see dollar signs in Vince's eyes as he interviews Rhodes because he probably wished that he could have signed Rhodes to his Dad's promotion right then and there. So, the promos are king here, but promos alone on a wrestling DVD can't save it. There are only a handful of matches here that are enjoyable. There's the cage match with Flair from the 1986 Great American Bash, which has been on 2 other WWE DVD releases, but they give it new life here by having Dusty, Steve Romero and legendary promoter Mike Graham do new commentary for the match, which is great. You also get 2 tag matches with Rhodes and Sting taking on the Road Warriors and Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Plus, the Superstar Billy Graham bullrope match is good, but only to die hard fans. Then, they put several matches from his "common man" run from 89-90 in the WWF which was terrible. To make things worse, all of Jesse Ventura's commentary has been cut from this release. So, if you're watching these matches and wondering why there are long gaps with no commentary, it's because Vince is still bitter at Ventura over their lawsuit and instead of paying Ventura for his commentary, he's just cutting it. Makes you wonder what all those Saturday Night's Main Event matches that will be on "The History of the WWE Title" DVD and the "Hulk Hogan Anthology" DVD will be handled.

Overall, this release will satisfy Dusty's hardcore fans, but casual fans may wonder what all the hype is about, because the documentary really leaves you wanting more and asking more questions than feeling like you were getting an in-depth look at this man's career. The packaging is great, perhaps the best the WWE has put out. I thought the sound chip that you can press on the cover and hear classic Dusty promos was a creative and great idea, but it just come together like it should have. I would say, buy it for the promos, but DO NOT expect a great documentary or any matches that you'll want to watch over and over again.