John Layfield paid tribute to the legendary Dusty Rhodes, sharing how “The American Dream” overcame doubts about whether he even belonged on top.
Speaking on Something to Wrestle, JBL marveled at the way Rhodes made everyone around him feel important. “Dusty made everybody feel like you were the most important thing in the world. When you saw Dusty, he lit up a room,” JBL said. “So many people will tell you, man, I was good friends with Dusty, and these guys aren’t lying, because that’s just who Dusty was.”
JBL noted that Rhodes’ rise was far from a sure thing, bringing up that the old guard once resisted using him as NWA World Champion because of his unconventional look. “You had guys that literally didn’t want to use Dusty because they didn’t think he looked like a champion,” JBL said. “He doesn’t look like Dick Hutton, he didn’t look like Lou Thesz, he didn’t look like Jack Brisco. We can’t use him.”
Of course, those doubts proved misguided, as Rhodes became one of the biggest draws in wrestling history. JBL even drew a parallel to the current skepticism around Sami Zayn. “The fact that so many people out there are now on the Dusty train, they weren’t always on the Dusty train,” he said. “And they’re not on the Sami Zayn train, either.”
