Dusty Rhodes Book

Crockerinho

Dusty Rhodes: The American Dream is the life story of former NWA champion Dusty Rhodes, which "explores the life of Dusty Rhodes from his childhood through his amazing career. In his new book available for immediate shipping from the PWInsider.com Online Store, Rhodes recounts all of his famous angles, feuds, and road stories."

In this exclusive excerpt on PWInsider.com, the former NWA champion discusses his relationships with Ric Flair, Terry Funk, and Harley Race, three of his greatest rivals in the ring:

Another one of my favorite people is Terry Funk. I could write an entire book about Terry, but I guess he already wrote one himself and with the same damn publisher that I have. I know I probably wrote too much about him already in this book, but because we are still beating the sh** out of each other on the Indy circuit, wit him being sixty and me being five years younger than him, it is very hard to keep carrying him! I love his wife Vicky and deep down I love him. I enjoy being around him a lot! His matches against Shane Douglas, Sabu, and Mick Foley while he was in his 50s with ECW are classics. His acting in movies was almost as good as mine... he played Johnny the Thumper in Paradise Alley and had a role in "Over the Top" with Sylvester Stallone, while I played Deputy Johnny Morton in "Paradise Park" and also had roles in "Gold Raiders" and "It's My Turn" among some others.

Then there's the "King of the Ring" himself, Harley Race. To me Harley was the greatest NWA champion of all time and we made a lot of money together, buddy. "Mad Dog" or Dog as I called him earlier, was also a tough son-of-a-b***** in the ring. I remember one night at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, standing in the middle of the ring. He noticed that I put an earring in my ear and he said, loud as f***, "What kind of man would put an earring in his ear?" and then tried his best to rip it out. Only my great speed kept him at bay! Great memories of hour-long matches and of course my favorite match with him at "Last Tango in Tampa." He was a great champion when the NWA belt meant something.

Of course, there's also the guy who many fans consider to be the greatest NWA champion of all time, Ric Flair. Now that's one hell of a statement if they've seen guys like Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers, Gene Kiniski, Dory Funk, Jr., Jack Brisco, and Terry Funk in their prime. From day one of our meetings, "The Nature Boy" had that outgoing, charismatic attitude. He looked up to Murdoch and me for some of the wrong reasons - beer and raising hell was I think what he looked up to, but in my chase, I think that the swagger I had made him want to be like me. "Rambling" Ricky Rhodes. Like I mentioned earlier, 'Be Yourself. Be The First Ric Flair,' I said to him and he did. Much is said about our relationship- partly true, partly fiction - but one thing is sure, in my mind the good outweighed the bad. Day after day, night after night, when you spend that much time with one very talented athlete such as Flair, you become very close; close enough to know how insecure he us, but he didn't have to be, he was too talented. His lack of trust in me as a booker was really unjust. Even though I got some thick skin, it hurt me as all of his friends or so-called friends only told him what he wanted to hear. Only Arn I think was really close to him, the rest just hangers on. It made him bitter about who and what brought him to the dance. Sometimes his sh** was purely flimflam! Most of the time he blamed it on me - I was was able to stand it then and I can still handle it! I will not write about my parties with him, because anyone who really knows Ric Flair has seen him naked; the matches with him because we had so many good bouts, but only to say he was good. Not the best, but good. I'll enjoy my good memories of us together and if truth be told, I was his F***ing closest friend!

Jackie Pies

hey crock
what the hell is wrong w/ la parka's legs in that pic

Crockerinho

He's doing a little dance

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

yea, its the dance he used to do when he would wiggle his legs.

Jackie Pies

oh yes, i blocked that out of my memory