Dusty Rhodes

“Kevin Sullivan? He's Anthony Hopkins. The Prince of Darkness. The devil himself. Against the 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes, the chubby plumber's son from Austin, Texas. My God, those billboards go up, and you're going to want to go see it.”

“One night in 1974, I made the comment, 'Here I am, this fat kid, the son of a plumber. I don't look like a body builder; fist fight in a parking lot, it doesn't matter. I'm getting ready to sell out this building. I'm going to sell out Madison Square Garden one day. This is the American Dream. I'm living it.'”

“When I became 'The American Dream,' they needed a hero down here. I had no money - I couldn't buy a car without being tied under - but I had to have a Cadillac with blue stars on the hood no matter what it cost because just driving in it will set how they look at me and perceive this guy; they'll know.”

“What takes Hollywood weeks and months to film takes professional wrestlers and the companies behind them literally minutes to put together. A spontaneous explosion of emotion unleashed before your very eyes.”

“You look at driving down the road, night after night, tryin' to make a town, getting $25 - that's hard times. It's our duty to make it good times for the fans that pay their money to see us perform each and every night.”

“There's nothing like being a Texan, and I'm proud to be one.”

“Hard times are when a man has worked at a job for 30 years - 30 years - and they give him a watch, kick him in the butt, and say, 'Hey, a computer took your place, daddy.' That's hard times!”

“They say behind every successful man is a powerful woman. And there is no more powerful performer I would rather be in the ring with for a conversation than Stephanie McMahon.”

“Terry Funk. Any time I got to wrestle with him, it was cool. Superstar Billy Graham was another one.”

“Believability and respect are two of the main ingredients in professional wrestling that are sorely missing today.”

“I admit, I don't look like the athlete of the day's supposed to look. My belly's just a little big, my heinie's just a little big, but, brother, I am bad, and they know I'm bad.”

“I did not cause the downfall of Jim Crockett Promotions. Not by a long shot.”

“You pay your dues and work your way up through the system, whatever system there is - something guys in the business today don't really understand, don't have a clue.”

“If I could not be in this free and wonderful country - I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, mind you - Mexico is where I would live. I love Mexico, and I love the Mexican people.”

“I love teaching. I love coaching. I love teaching communications class. I love giving back to the kids and the industry.”

“At the time when I started, coming out of football, I always used a forearm or an elbow. When it became Bionic is when I said it was Bionic. I went to some secret doctor in Istanbul who put some Bionic stuff in there.”

“I wasn't always Rhodes, but I was always Dusty. I was never called Virgil - not by my family, not by my friends. Even my teachers at school didn't call me Virgil.”

“The business is my life, the ring my salvation, the locker room and roads my nourishment.”

“For as long as I can remember, my nickname was Dusty. I remember my dad naming me that because of the streets where we lived.”

“If I'm selling, I want them all selling in the audience. If I'm coming back, I want them all coming back. If I'm bleeding, I want them bleeding. If I win, they win. If I lose, they lose.”