Our
guest writers also did bang-up jobs. If you didn’t check ‘em out,
I highly recommend you go and do so:
These
folks gave me a much needed break from not only Needless Things but
from being Phantom Troublemaker, which is something that hasn’t
really happened in around six years. Between the site and maintaining
some sort of social media presence, I’ve been this guy 24/7 for a
long time now. It was nice not thinking about it.
While I was away the world lost two great icons. I wanted to take today to say some things about a couple of performers who meant a lot to me.
As
I’ve stated before on the site, Christopher Lee is my Dracula. I
grew up watching Hammer horror with Granny Troublemaker and his
gruesome, intense portrayal is the one that imprinted on me.
Note
to Funko: Pick up the Hammer license, please.
As
the years passed I saw Dracula in more and more things and was always
somewhat wary of him. Even as celebrities became more exposed over
the decades and social media created an all-new paradigm of awareness
and interaction, Mr. Lee remained an awe-inspiring figure to me.
Those early encounters with the Prince of Darkness were too firmly
rooted to be entirely dismissed. I never had the opportunity to meet
the man, but I’m honestly not sure I could have handled it if I
had.
I
certainly didn’t see The
Wicker Man
when I was a kid. I believe it wasn’t until Anchor Bay released
their edition in 2001. I didn’t actually have any familiarity with
the movie at the time. The only reason I bought it was because it was
from Anchor Bay and starred Christopher Lee (excellent reasons to
take a chance on anything). This is one of those rare films that left
me feeling dirty and with an overwhelming sense of dread and despair.
And I mean that in the best possible way. It’s one of the most
powerful movie experiences I’ve had, to the point where I still
can’t even consider watching the remake.
No
– not even for the bees.
Yes
– I understand that you’re going to say some things about Darth
Vader. That’s another discussion. I’m here to talk about
Christopher Lee.
I
can’t overlook Lee’s portrayal of Saruman in Peter Jackson’s
epic Lord
of the Rings
movies. Once again, he brought a massive presence to a role that had
to deliver a lot of power in a relatively small amount of screen
time. Sir Christopher only needs a few seconds to establish a
dominance and sense of menace that few other actors could manage.
I’m
delighted that Christopher Lee chose to spend his final years working
in genre films. We now have a multitude of wonderful movies to enjoy
rather than wondering, “what if…?”.
But
he will still always be Count Dracula to me.
Christopher
Lee made his mark in my consciousness at an early age and is someone
that I have always admired. I’m upset that he passed, but at 93
years of age he had a fuller life than most ever will. His passing is
sad, but not tragic.
When
my wife told me about Dusty I felt like I had been punched.
I
didn’t believe it at first because you can’t believe anything
anyone reads online. But it was very quickly verified and I, for a
short time, couldn’t breathe.
Dusty
was too big to die. He was one of my heroes for so many reasons –
being the best talker ever, being a fat guy that worked his ass off,
having an incredible mind for the business, and being one of the best
storytellers I have ever heard.
Dusty
Rhodes was engaging from the second you first saw him. When he
appeared it was time to pay attention. In my personal opinion the
only wrestler to have the same kind of natural energy and presence as
Dusty was the Rock, and he only had it for a few years. Dusty was
always
on.
As
I sit here writing this, my eyes are filling up and I cannot believe
that he is gone. I just looked at a picture of him and it hurt.
Nobody was more full of life and exuberance.
My
early wrestling years were dominated by the WWF, so my first memories
of Dusty were all polka dots and Sapphire. I didn’t understand how
this big, fat guy fit into the world of the WWF, but every time he
was on screen I was entranced. And his interaction with Sapphire was
groundbreaking. It made a huge impact upon how I saw the world. I was
raised to believe all people are equal, however I grew up in the
South, so my parents’ words and reality often did not mix. But I
could watch WWF on Sunday mornings and see Dusty and Sapphire –
clearly social equals – dancing around the ring, having a great
time. Nobody dared
talk down to Sapphire.
Here’s
how big Dusty is – I work with a lot of straight-laced people who
don’t do a lot of pop-culture things. Very few would admit to
having more than a passing knowledge of wrestling. But when I arrived
at work the morning after Dusty’s passing, some of them were
talking about him and doing the “Dusty voice”, but in a
surprisingly respectful way. I didn’t get the usual, “Hey – I
heard one of your wrestlers died. What happened? Drugs?” There was
a certain reverence for Dusty that surprised and touched me.
Dusty
joined the nWo just like everyone else did and unfortunately became
just another part of that sideshow. I think he would have been much
better served as a mouthpiece for WCW.
I
actually got to see Dusty in a match at an ECW show in Georgia on May
19, 2000. I didn’t know very much about ECW at the time, but I had
a couple of friends who were big fans. I wish I had a better
recollection of the event because according to
ProWrestlingHistory.com
it was a great
show:
TNN
TV Taping
May
19, 2000 in Duluth, GA
Gwinnett
Civic Center drawing 1,000
Chilly
Willy beat Todd Wimbleton.
Simon
Diamond & Johnny Swinger beat Jorge Estrada & Tom Evans.
Danny
Doring & Amish Roadkill beat Little Guido & Sal E. Graziano.
Masato
Tanaka pinned Balls Mahoney.
Jerry
Lynn pinned Yoshihiro Tajiri.
Raven
pinned CW Anderson.
New
Jack pinned CW Anderson.
Justin
Credible & Francine beat Tommy Dreamer in a "handicap"
match when Credible pinned Dreamer.
Sandman
pinned Kentaro Kanemura.
Dusty
Rhodes beat Jack Victory in a "bullrope" match.
Literally
the only things I remember about it were running into my high school
friend, Shannon (also known as Daffney and Lucy Furr), being blown
away by Lynn and Tajiri, and marking out HUGE for Dusty while being
spectacularly unimpressed by Jack Victory. I still don’t understand
how that guy was ever over.
Side
Note: I poked around to check my facts because, quite frankly, my
memory isn’t the best in the world. Wikipedia says that Dusty
didn’t arrive in TNA until 2003, which would mean that I am not
correct about any of this, but for whatever reason Dusty is
inextricably linked to the early days of TNA to me. I’m not sure I
trust Wikipedia, but I can’t find a whole lot of thorough
information about the early days of TNA.
While
Dusty will be best remembered as an inimitable (and yet imminently
imitable) in-ring character, his contributions behind the scenes were
massive. He worked and booked for pretty much every promotion in
America at some point. He created matches, coached newcomers, and ran
his own Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion for years. He
lived and loved the business and is one of the most influential
figures in modern wrestling, with perhaps only Vince McMahon and
maybe
Eric Bischoff topping his accomplishments.
I
can say all of the above without even referencing the bulk of Dusty’s
career, which I didn’t really discover until WWE released The
American Dream: The Dusty Rhodes Story
on DVD in 2006. I loved Dusty for his charisma and presence, but as
soon as that set arrived in the mail, a whole new aspect of the Dream
was revealed to me – he was an incredible worker.
It’s
hard to imagine that there was a time when I did not know this, and
that it was so recent, but it’s true. I sat and watched every
minute of that three-disc set, amazed at what I was seeing. I had
read Dusty’s autobiography the prior year (I was huge
into wrestling autobiographies in the early aughts; as was everyone
thanks to Mick Foley), but reading about someone talking about how
awesome they were and actually seeing it are two totally different
things, if you will.
Dusty
was just as good a storyteller in the ring as we was on the mic.
Every match I saw pulled me in, despite the fact that I didn’t have
the full context of whatever feuds might have been going on. Every
action meant something and every moment was Dusty’s. I don’t
think there’s another set that WWE has released that has had quite
the same impact on me.
And
of course, Dusty’s legacy is more than just his influence on other
wrestlers, promoters, and managers. He gifted us with two sons that
are excellent performers in their own right. Dustin has made his
cemented his own legacy with his work in WWE and elsewhere, while
Cody is making his own mark on the business and has the potential to
be a future Hall of Famer. My sincerest sympathies are with the
Rhodes boys and all of Dusty’s family.
There
will never be another like Dusty.
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