Dustin Rhodes Considers The Future For His Career

Dustin Rhodes has been virtually everywhere in the world of pro wrestling. Getting his start in the territory days in his father, Dusty Rhodes’ Championship Wrestling from Florida in the late 80s, he’s competed in WCW, WWE, AEW, Japan, Impact, and on the independent circuit. He’s one of the most well-travelled wrestlers still currently active.

A legendary career that spanned multiple gimmicks (some successful, some failed) and plenty of controversy has certainly left Dustin with plenty of war stories. He recently talked to Way of the Blade about his career. He reflected upon where he’s come from, where he is, and where he might go in the future.

“For regular people, they get in the business and become a good pro wrestler. I can understand them getting out and maybe not liking it as much as me, right? Or as much as somebody who was born into it, because you look at the sons of the famous wrestlers, like Mr. Perfect or Barry Windham, like me, like Cody (Rhodes), like — there’s a few that really stand out and it’s because we were kind of raised around it I think and to be honest with you, our fathers were really good and my father was not a great wrestler, right? He had charisma though. He could shake and tell those stories with his face and bounce around and the people felt that thing and Cody has a little bit of that but to me, I believe that I am the true wrestler out of the family; really good storyteller, really good worker.

Could I be better? Hell yeah I could. Do I regret anything? Absolutely not, none, zero. I’ve had a hell of a career and you know, I wanna keep contributing as much as possible before I retire but you know, I look at Sting right now and he’s 62 and he’s utilized a little bit. He’s not utilized a lot (in the ring) and that’s good. So I can do this man. I know I can do this but I don’t wanna be a Ric Flair, to where I have to wrestle to pay my bills, right? I don’t want that. I don’t wanna go abuse my body. Utilize me and Tony [Khan’s] really good about that; taking good care of me and I know that he will and I believe in that.

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There’s a trust thing that I have with Tony. He’s been very good to me so that’s all I can ask for man and if he asks me to do something, I’m gonna do it (to) the best of my ability and bring a rating because every time I’ve been on the TV, my ratings have been strong so I’m good, I’m good with it and whatever comes next is great.

As long as I can stay healthy because let’s face it, my knees are hurting, my shoulders are hurting, I need replacements and I put on a little band-aid from time to time to get through and I do a good job of it and I take care of my body and I try and stay in shape and I’m always, always on the go in the gym because I truly do believe if you sit down and you just relax, it’s gonna catch up to you real quick and you’re gonna die, that’s it. You sit, you die. I believe in that, truly so I got to keep stepping.”

Dustin Rhodes most recently wrestled for AEW against Bryan Danielson. He received praise from fans for his World Title Eliminator Tournament bout. Dustin says he’s going to continue rolling with AEW for as long as Tony Khan lets him.

Who do you want to see Dustin Rhodes wrestle next in AEW? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks to Post Wrestling for the transcription!