The Story of Dusty Rhodes in ECW

This is a script for a video on my YouTube channel. You can find the video version here: https://youtu.be/Sh5i4l_jK74

On February 6th 2023, Cody Rhodes stood in the Monday Night Raw ring, opposite a man who has a lot of history with his family, Paul Heyman. Cody talked in depth about something he has mentioned in the past but not in so much detail. He talked about a time in his young life when his family was broke. He talked about Dusty doing car commercials not for the money, but to get to keep the car. That night Dave Meltzer confirmed all that Cody had said, and also told a story on Observer radio of Dusty selling his own rolex to get Cody and his Sister into acting classes, which seem to have paid off all these years later. Cody then talked about Paul Heyman booking him at ECW and paying him very well, thus giving him his confidence back. Cody wasn't just referencing a single appearance though. While it was supposed to be a one off, in early 2000 Dusty would appear for ECW as part of a storyline to help get a young talent to the next level. This is the story of when Dusty Rhodes went to ECW and feuded with Steve Corino, and in this video we're going to stop at every single time Dusty appeared on TV, or Corino would mention him. I'll also include time stamps in the description if you want to skip to the bigger moments.

For a little context on how Paul Heyman came to book Dusty, the two actually have history going back to early 90's WCW. Heyman has told the story a few times of how he would sneak into Dustys production meetings, eventually talking his way into sitting next to Dusty just so he could learn booking from him. From the way Heyman has talked about Dusty through the years, there is clearly a genuine respect there, and we are seeing that come out in the current Wrestlemania build.

Late 1999 was a transitional time for Steve Corino in ECW. He was previously been the comedy heel, scared of his own shadow never mind the rest of the ECW locker room. But in recent weeks he had been trying to get himself taken more seriously, which isn't exactly an easy task when the ECW faithful think you're a joke. On the December 3rd 99 episode of ECW on TNN, Corino would try to make a name for himself by going ion stage and interrupting a Limp Bizkit concert. He even gets to have an argument with Fred Durst, until he turns around into an attack from Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten and New Jack.

On the following weeks episode ECW would come from the Tabernacle in Atlanta Georgia, a well known music venue that is still open to this day. Steve Corino would come out to be interviewed about the Limp Bizkit incident by Joey Styles. He already blamed hardcore wrestling for the way he saw America going, but now he was turning his attention to hardcore music as well, proclaiming acts like N-Sync and the Backstreet Boys far superior, truly dating this while segment. Corino points his finger for starting all this counter culture at one man, Dusty Rhodes, who was standing in the crowd. When it looked like Dusty was leaving, he would then come down the walkway, and get into the ring.

As Dusty gets into the ring Corino continues to berate him, calling him among other things an old fossil. According to Corino reflecting on this moment years later, the only instruction he had been given backstage was not to mention Dustin, who I believe around this time had done the terrible Seven gimmick on WCW Nitro, and would soon be out of the door. Corino then hits Dusty with the lightest slap possible, and he and his hapless manager Jack Victory proceed to take the famous Dusty Rhodes elbows. In the interview I referenced earlier with Mike Maraldo, Steve Corino gushes over meeting Dusty that night, and how excited he was to take the elbows from him. Knowing this and watching it back you can tell Corino is doing all he can to enjoy the moment, while selling. Corino also noted that they may not have been able to use the footage given that the same week Dusty had left WCW, but when Dusty made it backstage, he wanted to work more with Corino, so this was aired as the catalyst for what was to follow. I'm making this video a couple of weeks removed from the segment on Raw between Cody and Paul Heyman on Monday Night Raw. In the segment It's very possible that the booking Cody was referencing was this interaction with Steve Corino, and Dusty in return stayed for a while to eventually have matches with Corino, but we'll get to that.

On the Christmas day edition of Hardcore TV Steve Corino was set to wrestle Balls Mahoney and Alx Rotten to get revenge on them for what happened at the Limp Bizkit Concert. That match never takes place though as we see Corino, Victory and their associate Rhino leaving Balls laid out in a locker room. There is blood both on Rhinos fist and the chair Victory is carrying. Corino says this is a a warining to anyone who messes with them, and mentions that this includes Dusty Rhodes. Balls manages to stagger to the ring for the match. Balls fights for all he can, but is outnumbered. Once Balls has had enough the Sandman enters having been feuding with Rhino, but he gets gored through a table for his efforts. Balls manages to take advantage of the Sandmans appearance by decking Corino with a chair and pinning him to win the match, but Rhino gets revenge right after by hitting him with a gore, and Corino's crew leave on top. While Dusty Rhodes doesn't appear the message here is simple, Corino should be taken seriously when Dusty rolls back into ECW.

The next time we would see Dusty Rhodes would be at the Guilty as Charged pay per view from Birmingham Alabama. While Corino and his crew put a beating on Jerry Lynn following a match, he gets on the mic and resumes running down Dusty Rhodes. While Corino is running his mouth however, Dusty appears from the crowd, and clears the ring with elbows, before doing his big elbow drop on Tommy Rich, ECW's resident Full Blooded Italian from Hendersonville Tennessee. Things don't end well for Dusty though as Rhino enters to attack him, and Corinos Old School group pile on until the ECW locker room empties to chase them away. The segment ends with Paul Heyman getting in the ring to check on Dusty as the crowd loudly show their appreciation.

Corino mentioned in the interview that a lot of their feud took place on house shows for the live crowds, but Dusty would soon be returning to ECW television. On the January 15th Hardcore TV, Corino announces that Dusty and Tommy Dreamer had challenged Rhino and Steve Corino to a match next time ECW came to Florida. Corino very notably talking really tough while clearly hiding behind his monster Rhino. A couple of weeks later on the January 28th TNN episode from New Orleans, Corino and Rhino would have a tune up match of sorts, as they would take on Tommy Dreamer and a man called Josh Wilcox, who Joey Styles notes is not a full time wrestler, but he was a starting tight end for the New Orleans Saints, and had wrestled a couple of matches here and there. Most of the match is worked by Rhino and Dreamer, as Corino comes in only when Rhino is winning to put the boots in, and Wilcox comes in for the hot tag, or so we thought. When Wilcox gets the tag it looks like Corino is going to back away from him, Wilcox however turns the chair to his own partner, turning on Dreamer. Steve Corino is again made to look cunning and dangerous. Heres a trivia fact too, Josh Wilcox would go on to be part of Los Angeles Xtreme, the only championship winning team in the XFL in 2001.

Just when I thought this was going to end here, Corino gets on the mic and turns his attention to his upcoming match with Dusty Rhodes, and actually appears in the building. As soon as he is mentioned he appears, reminding me of Vampiro sat at ringside waiting for his music to play... Corino notes that last time Dusty came through the crowd so he is ready for that, but what he wasn't ready for was Dusty sneak attacking him from the entrance way. Dusty makes short work of Corino and Victory before dropping the big elbow on Wilcox to make the crowd happy.

On February 4th 2000, ECW finally arrives in Fort Lauderdale Florida, and the match finally happens. Corino starts the match by taunting Dusty into wanting to start, and when the American Dream obliges, Corino back away and tags Rhino in. At this time Dusty isn't as agile as he used to be, but what he can do the crowd loves. He tackles Rhino and puts on a figure four leg lock, while Dreamer, Corino Jack Victory and Francine who is with Dreamer work around them. After a wild brawl around the arena where Dusty makes Corino bleed, the match settles back into the ring with Rhino beating down Dreamer just like the match in New Orleans. Tommy hits a suplex off the second rope and finally gets to tag Dusty, and this time his partner doesn't turn on him. Dusty goes for the bionic elbow on Rhino but misses. Just when it looks like Rhino is going to piledrive the Dream, Tommy makes the save, leading to Dusty hitting the big elbow on Steve Corino to win the match.

Despite Dusty getting the victory over Steve Corino the story wouldn't end there. The Following week in Tallahassee Florida Dusty Rhodes would appear in the ring again. After taking a piledriver from the Impact Players and laying motionless in the ring for several minutes, the programme comes back from the break with Paul Heyman and Dusty Rhodes checking on the possibly injured Raven. This leads to an in ring confrontation between Rhodes and Cyrus, who is more interested in getting the show going again for the sake of the Network. Dusty talks to the people while Cyrus cowers in the corner, drawing Steve Corino out. Before Corino can begin Dusty clears the ring until Rhino enters and the three attack Dusty, with Jack Victory even using a trademark of the Rhodes family, a bullrope. Bizarrely, the Sandman appears on the entrance way and the show just ends without us seeing what happened next.

On the following night's Hardcore TV in Jacksonville Florida (Feb 12th) Dusty would get in the ring again, as he and Dreamer once again took on Corino and this time Jack Victory. How would Corino fair this time without Rhino to hide behind? Not very well to begin with, as Tommy and Corino brawl into the crowd, and Dusty and Victory fight around ringside in what is announced to be a street fight. Corino manages to slow the match down for a while using a ladder, but Tommy eventually uses it himself, and tags Dusty in. Rhodes and Dreamer quickly team up and win the match with stereo bionic elbows, but as soon as Dusty gets the pin he is attacked by Rhino. Just like the previous night the show ends with the Sandman running in, but this time we at least get to see him cane Rhino and Corino, and save the day before the show ends.

Things would go cold in the storyline for a couple of weeks, as Rhino would continue to feud with Sandman, Tommy Dreamer would go back to his lone time story with Raven, and Dusty would not be seen for a while. On the March 3rd TNN episode, Steve Corino would come out dressed in a cowboy hat lookin a lot like Dusty, also equipped with a bull rope with a cowbell on it. He confronts a confused seeming Eric Watts, son of territory promoter Cowboy Bill Watts, and explains that he chose Watts as his opponent, and that the match will be an 'old school style' Bull rope match. The match never actually begin however, as Steve Corino assaults the referee with the cow bell because said ref was sick of Corino bashing Milwaukee, where they were that night. Watts then joins Corino in beating up the referee. Steve Corino then goes too far. First he officially challenges Dusty to a Bull rope match at the next pay per view, Living Dangerously, then he proceeds to accuse Dusty of some awful things, the worst being cutting the brakes of Magnum TA's car, referring to the car accident that would cut Magnums career short in 1986.

On March 11th one day before Living Dangerously, Dusty responds in a taped promo from his home. Dusty accepts Corino's challenge and promises to deck him with his cowbell in a way only Dusty Rhodes can.If this ECW run helped Dusty get him confidence back, you can hear it in this interview.

Finally we get to March 12th 2000, ECW Living Dangerously from Danbury Connecticut. Steve Corino kicks the night off in the ring now adding cowboy boots to his American Dream cosplay. Before Dusty can come out however, Corino picks a fight at ringside with Lori Fullington, the wife of the Sandman who is sitting in the crowd. This is all part of Sandman and Rhinos feud which runs through most of 2000. Lori ends up getting gored through a table, so the Sandman has to forfeit his match with Rhino in the vacant television title tournament because he goes to the hospital with his wife. Once order has been restored as much as it can be in ECW, Dusty Rhodes makes his entrance for the match.

In the early going Corino tries to back away and not put on his end of the Bull Rope, but as chance would have it the referee for the match is HC Loc, the same referee that Corino attacked in Milwaukee, who makes sure to get the rope strapped to Corino. Every time he tries to retreat all Dusty has to do is yank him back with the rope, and it doesn't take long until Corino meets the cow bell with his face. Dusty then drags a helpless Corino on a tour through the crowd. The match once it gets back to the ring can only be described as Jim Ross would say, as bowling shoe ugly, but it is at least a definitive pay off to the feud. The end comes when Dusty tapes a second cowbell to Corinos head with help from the referee Corino attacked before, and drills a chair into it. Dusty then hits the big elbow to the mat for the pin. From just a couple of months ago when this story began, Steve Corino had effectively managed to change his chcracter from a comedic loser to a serious competitor, and this was helped by having a strong hero to work off like Dusty. There is still one thing left to do though, and that is to get Corino a big victory to elevate him.

On the March 25th TNN episode Steve Corino comes out still carrying s cowbell and wearing his cowboy boots. He proceeds to confront HC Loc, the referee that Corino attacked, who got his revenge at Living Dangerously. Corino claims to have destroyed Rhodes, showing that he clearly got his cowbell rung, before calling himself the new American Dream. Loc doesn;t back down though, even challenging Corino to a fight, but Corino in his cowardly ways sends another wrestler known as Chilly Willy in to take his place. As you might expect this starts very one sided, but Loc actually gets a comeback in which the crowd root for, but he makes a mistake by jumping off the ropes. Corino throws Chilly Willy the cowbell, but Loc gets to use it and counts his own pinfall. HC Loc gets the win!

The next week, Corino comes for revenge on the extreme official, challenging him to a match himself, but it being Steve Corino, he doesn't do it alone as Jack Victory blindsides the referee. The two proceed to have a match with Corino mostly taking charge, but Loc does his best to fight back. Eventually having seen enough, The real American Dream returns, with a lady on each arm. Dusty again makes short work of Corino and Jack Victory, before pulling Loc on top as Jim Molinaux counts the pin.

The next time Dusty would appear would be the April 21st TNN, and this time he would be in action again but with a difference. Originally this match begins as an extreme bullrope match between Steve Corino and Tommy Dreamer, but things will quickly descend into chaos. I should add here that by this time the evil stable known as the Network had been established, consisting or Corino, Rhino, Jack Victory and Tajiri led by Cyrus the Virus, known these days as AEW's Don Callis. The Network name being a reference to TNN itself who was airing the show, who by this point Paul Heyman didn;t have the best of relationships with. That information will come in handy for this section. After a few minutes of a really cool brawl of a match in which the bullrope is merely a suggestion given how many times it comes on and off their wrists, Jack Victory runs in to help Corino and it all goes to pot from here. Victory's presence triggers the Sandman to come to Dreamers aid, but not without taking his time while his Metallica theme song played. Sandman would even the odds for his side until he is attacked by Yoshihiro Tajiri who enters next. By this point I realised that we were seeing Paul Heyman book Dusty as part of a 'Dusty finish', a term that comes from his time in creative where he would book angles where wrestler after wrestler would run in to end a segment. He would do this so many times that the angle is still named after him to this day. Dusty wouldn't be the next man out though, as that would be New Jack, bringing his trademark weaponry. From here we have wrestlers and weapons everywhere, with Dreamer and Tajiri even brawling into the crowd. After Tajiri accidentally spits the green mist at his own partner Corino, New Jack pins him to earn the win, but it wouldn't end here as this would cause the Network final boss to enter, that being Rhino. Just when it looked like the Network had gotten revenge, out comes Dusty Rhodes, who clears the ring. His trusty bionic elbow hit several times could not drop Rhino to the mat, but Sandman's cane could. This allows the team of good guys and New Jack to celebrate in the ring to close the show.

Remember how I said earlier that the one this left to do was for Dusty to elevate Steve Corino? On April 22nd Dusty would do just that as at Cyber Slam 2000 he would lose in a singles match to Corino.Clips from the match would air on the following weeks episode of ECW on TNN, which is the most I could find of it anywhere on the internet. The clips show that Victory and Corino used the cowbell on the bullrope, giving Corino the win. Corino was slightly robbed in a sense as the main thing people remember Cyberslam 2000 for was a changing of the guard in the main event, as Taz, who was with WWE by this point and had returned briefly to get the belt of Mike Awesome, would lose to the man many consider to be the beating heart and soul of ECW, Tommy Dreamer. Most wrestlers might be glad to find out that they would be winning the world title, but not Tommy. His path through ECW had deliberately been one of just coming up short, such as going nearly two years without defeating his main rival Raven. In the rise and Fall of ECW documentary WWE made in 2005, Tommy explains; "The night I won the belt I was actually pissed off. I wanted to go my entire ECW career without ever winning a title. When Mike Awesome left Paul put the title on my because he knew I wasn't going anywhere. The only reason I won titles was because guys left." Tommy has also said that he wanted his character to be remembered as the never man, and so a plan was made that made everyone involved happy. Tommy would win the title, but would be immediately challenged by the up and coming villain Justin Credible, and Tommy in his pride would accept only to lose the title fairly quickly to a new top star for the promotion. All of this to say, nobody really talks about Steve Corino getting his win on this night.

Jack Victorys involvement in Corino's win would lead to Dusty's final ECW match, as the two would face off in a Bullrope match on the May 27th episode of Hardcore TV. We would join the match in progress with Dusty already bleeding. What we see of it is brief and pretty much one sided, with Corino failing to help his ally and Dusty getting the win on his way out of ECW.

By the end of the year 2000, Dusty would be readying to return to WCW, about to feud with Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett teaming with Dustin, and Steve Corino would be enjoying a two month reign as ECW World champion, a title reign that helped him to remain a main eventer in the years post ECW. Dusty and Corino would continue to wrestle in various promotions in the following years, including Dusty's own indie promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling which he both owned and wrestled in. In 2004 he would join TNA as a member of creative and an on screen authority figure. His best remembered idea from this time might be the Lockdown concept, a pay per view where every match would take place inside a steel cage. While this was heavily criticised at the time, Lockdown would last for may years, one such event being TNA's highest bought pay per view ever. Eventually Dusty make his way back to WWE, famously being one of the early figureheads of NXT, still fondly talked about by those he helped to develop from Kevin Owens, to Seth Rollins, to even the Tribal Chief.

The ECW tenure did a lot for Steve Corino's career in giving him a story the fans could watch him develop and change through, but it maybe did even more for the American Dream, who in his sons own words in 2023, was down on his luck and lacking in self belief until he entered the land of extreme. To quote Cody, Dusty went from Undesirable to Undeniable.