[Hotdiggity11]

Pretty much it has been said the polka dots were Dusty's idea. By that point, he was in his mid-40s and was never going to be featured as a serious main event contender. If anything, the gimmick endeared him to the WWF audience at that time and he actually did get featured in some high profile feuds. Plus that theme song was fire.

Besides look what super serious and stoic Greg Valentine was doing at the same Wrestlemania that Dusty Rhodes defeated Randy Savage in a tag team match LOL.

 

[Hotdiggity11]

HTM was getting heat back then, has to be the funniest shoot interviewer ever too, he doesnt care about any love for the boys , and it shows 🤣

Well, to be fair, his chauffeur in that video became a multi-time world champion and he didn't.

Exactly @Hotdiggity11 even the addition of sapphire was supposedly his input thing is this all took off like most things and it gets forgotten both Vince and his Father through Eddie Graham liked Dusty especially Junior who was obviously inspired by those superstar vs dusty matches

now was there a little competitive heat at one point sure absolutely Dusty was literally his toughest completion pre Nash & Hall debuting on nitro but Vince respected Dusty

Yup, I think at that point Dusty was fine not being a serious character and having fun. I heard the same thing about Sapphire being his valet. He had 2 decades of being a serious character in other territories. I think his WWF run was mostly just a last chance to make money as a full time wrestler after getting fired by JCP/WCW. He only left after getting offered a booking job by WCW.

 

[Hotdiggity11]

Dust was also nursing a broken toe for a good part of that run which he has stated was possibly his most frustrating injury of his career

Being a tall top-heavy guy with any sort of foot or ankle injury is absolutely the worst. That's over 250 pounds bearing down on your feet every time you take a step. I was a big guy in college and had an ankle injury so I can testify.

 

[Hotdiggity11]

Why does Backlund look 12??

His nickname was Howdy Doody for a reason lol.