Dusty: Reflections of Wrestling's American Dream by Dusty Rhodes & Howard Brody

Author:Dusty Rhodes & Howard Brody
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: vl-wrestling
ISBN: 9781613212448
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2012-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

—MIKE GRAHAM

There were just a few guys who said about me, “Man, what an asshole this guy is.” But when they really stop and think about it, they had no talent. I remember this one guy who used to badmouth me at WCW all the time was in all honesty booked because Jim Barnett called me in to his office and said please keep this guy here. Obviously that was the only reason the guy was there.

You talk about behind-the-scene politics? That is the worst, when you get called in to an office and are told to make sure so and so stays in the territory and keeps his job. Barnett would tell me I didn’t have to do shit with these guys, but that’s the reason why they were there. Certain members of the wrestling crew were kept on not because they were talented, but because Jim Barnett, one of the most powerful men in all of wrestling at the time, wanted them to stay on.

Now you’ve got to remember, I respected Barnett. My admiration for him was unreal, and I hope that has been apparent in what I have written about him thus far. He was my friend, booker, one of my mentors, and next to Eddie, the man I learned more from about this business than perhaps anyone else. But that is a part of the politics that you have to keep in mind. Because just like Andre would rib me to keep me grounded so I could keep things in perspective, Barnett would pull those type of power moves that sort of said, “You don’t have that much power just yet … you will, but you don’t have enough power just yet to tell me we can’t keep this guy here.”

And it didn’t just happen at WCW, it happened in other territories too, and I’ve seen it my whole career. There were always guys who were kept on in a territory because someone wanted them to stay in that territory, whether it was the owner, the booker, or the top draw. Whoever had the power would leverage that clout and use it frequently. And some guys were given titles, even World titles, again not because of their talent, but because they were kept around for a particular purpose, and I’m sure if you use your imagination, you can guess what that purpose was. So these guys were going to be made stars no matter what the consequences were to the territory. Like I said before, I never cared who was fucking who in the ass, except when it directly affected our business. So as reluctant as I was to discuss this, this is something that had to be told, because sometimes it did affect our business, and it was and is a part of the business that is just wrong, but it nevertheless is a part of this business, the dark side of this business.

On the positive side of that double-edged blade, however, if you were

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