Cody Rhodes is now a three-time WWE Champion, but he doesn’t feel like his legacy in the company has surpassed his father’s yet.
Rhodes won his third WWE Championship by defeating Drew McIntyre on SmackDown last Friday. Appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet after the title win, Rhodes was asked if it’s occurred to him that he’s already eclipsed Dusty Rhodes’ accomplishments in WWE. Rhodes said Paul Heyman had mentioned the same thing to him. But while Rhodes is flattered by the comment, he believes his father’s legacy is unique because it still continues to have an impact years after Dusty passed away.
“I don’t think he’d mind me sharing this, Mr. Heyman told me that,” Rhodes said. “And I thought he might be the one guy I believe it, right? Because I don’t, even when I’m by myself and doing one of these [interviews], I still don’t believe that. Because I think Dusty’s legacy had such a final chapter that it still goes on today.
“I mean, they’re still doing things of his today. And there’s a whole fandom that will never even know they were his brainchild or something that he — this is a silly one, but for example, the cage lowering with the [sound], that’s a Dusty thing. These production things are still in play.
“I appreciate you saying it. I think I have a lot more to do. But, yeah, that’s really nice.”
Dusty Rhodes did compete for the WWWF and WWF, though he’s by far best remembered for the work he did in the NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions. He worked behind the scenes in NXT prior to his death in 2015, helping to mentor some of WWE’s biggest stars like Becky Lynch. Dusty was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.
When Cody Rhodes won the WWE Championship for the first time at WrestleMania 40, the storyline was that he was looking to finish his family’s story by capturing the won title that Dusty was never able to win. Cody is now set for a title defense against Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42 this April.
If Dusty Rhodes were still alive today, his son Cody believes he would have been a huge fan of Solo Sikoa.
A new episode of Cody’s “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast debuted on Wednesday with Rey Mysterio appearing as the guest. During their conversation, they discussed how Dusty always spoke highly of Mysterio on commentary in WCW. Cody said that, as an old-school wrestling booker, Dusty would quickly become attached to wrestlers he saw something in. He thinks that same thing would have happened if Dusty were still around to watch Sikoa.
“I think classic wrestling booker, producer 101 sometimes is going, ‘That’s my guy. That’s my girl. There’s something about them.’ You saw something they did one night or two nights and whatever maybe and that’s my guy,” Cody said. “That’s what it was. It was, ‘That’s my guy.’ A couple matches in with Dean [Malenko], whatever, that’s my guy.
“And I wanted to bring this up because there’s someone today that I was watching, and I can’t believe I’m going to say it because I don’t have a great, like, interaction with him. But there was a guy I was watching and I shared it with one other legend backstage the other day because I thought if my dad was still alive, that’d be his guy. And it was Solo Sikoa.
“And I couldn’t figure it out. I’m like, he would just eat him up. Just something about exactly what you just said. Go out there and take what I have, but also we’re going to have a good time. We’re going to have a good time. Like, there’s pressure. You know when you get to those points when there’s pressure and it’s almost like that’s all there is. Well, this is just all pressure. And then there’s also, we’re going to have a good time.”
Sikoa, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi and younger brother of The Usos, is a former United States Champion and now holds the WWE Tag Team titles with Tama Tonga. He has not held his first World Championship yet but did work a WWE title program against Cody Rhodes in 2024.
Before passing away in 2015, Dusty Rhodes worked behind the scenes in NXT and helped shape the careers of some of WWE’s modern stars. He was especially important to Becky Lynch and would help pick her up whenever she felt discouraged.
With John Cena, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and El Hijo Del Santo all set to wrestle their final matches in the next few months, now Cody Rhodes, the biggest star in the world’s biggest promotion, is discussing the end of his career as well.
“The next contract I sign with WWE is probably going to be my last, and finish my days with WWE,” Rhodes said during an appearance on the All the Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes. “It’s the house that built me, and it’s the house that brought me back.”
Is the American Nightmare closer to the end than we think? 😳 ⁰The Undisputed WWE Champ keeps it real about legacy, timing… and calling it quits on his terms.⁰⁰ALL THE SMOKE: Unplugged with Cody Rhodes is LIVE on YouTube 💨🔥 pic.twitter.com/Gllpm1HARO
Asked about his two daughters—one aged four years, the other just eight weeks—Rhodes said:
“You can only go so long. And I think I know my number, where I’d like to get with this. I was lucky that my dad, who I thought was the best dad ever, he was out of the game. He was in it as a producer and in it as a creator, pop in here as an old man wrestler every now and then, but he was out of the game. So he was No. 1 Dad, at every game, he coached our football team. He’s known in Cobb County as ‘Coach’ more than ‘the American Dream.’ I’d like to make it by the time I hit that age that I’m not gone that often or I can’t really walk around that much.”
Rhodes’ father, three-time world champion Dusty Rhodes, was done as a full-time pro wrestler by 1990, when Cody Rhodes was 15 years old. Obviously, his own daughters won’t reach that age for over a decade. Dusty Rhodes was 45 years old in 1990; Cody Rhodes turns 45 in 2030.
Conrad Thompson of AdFreeShows.com recently spoke to former WWE creative team member Andrew Goldstein for The Insiders podcast. As part of the discussion, Goldstein revealed how a former NFL star ‘helped’ Dusty Rhodes to come up with the MVP gimmick, bringing together the full body suit and sports-styled presentation of the former US Champion and current AEW star.
How Dusty Rhodes came up with the MVP gimmick
“You could just see the wheel spinning, I mean, the best example of that is MVP” Goldstein would reveal, discussing how Rhodes would come up with gimmicks and characters for stars in developmental at the time.
“MVP was in developmental. He was doing some version of what he became, but it was very rudimentary. I’m a big Eagles fan and it was the time when the Eagles had Terrell Owens. There was the whole thing where Terrell Owens was like wearing neck to ankle Under Armor body suits and doing sit ups and pushups in his driveway while the Philadelphia media was trying to get a soundbite from him” Goldstein added.
“And he [Owens] was just like at the height of his diva powers” Goldstein would note. “We just put our heads together and we’re just like, ‘we got to make this guy Terrell Owens.’ And that’s where the bodysuit gear came from.”
Who is Terrell Owens?
In case you aren’t aware, Terrell Owens, often referred to as “T.O.,” is a former NFL wide receiver and one of the most polarizing stars in American football history. Known for his incredible athleticism and equally unforgettable antics on and off the gridiron, Owens played 15 seasons in the league for teams including the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys.
Cody Rhodes discussed his brother’s team with Ross and Marshall Von Erich in a new interview with Sports Illustrated.
Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs won the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships at Battle of the Belts XI last month. Dustin then cut an emotional promo after the match and thanked Kevin Von Erich for everything he’s given to the wrestling business.
Cody told Justin Barrasso that he studied Kevin Von Erich and found Dustin teaming with Kevin’s kids to be “very touching.”
“Dustin doing the spot with the Von Erichs was so cool,” said Cody. “I have such a love for the Von Erichs. I don’t think Kevin knows this, but I studied Kevin, I watched Kevin, I was so fascinated by Kevin Von Erich. To see his kids and Dustin, it was very touching.”
Dustin and the Von Erichs also participated in the ROH TV tapings last night at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Spoilers from the show are available here.
Cody continued to discuss his family’s history in wrestling.
“In addition to that, behind the curtain are my nephews Dalton and Dylan. They’re close with Dustin, and to see them go from playing around to the point where now I can see it–it’s one of those things where, once you start, you can’t stop. They’re both at the University of Texas and more than anything, my mom would like them to finish. But I look forward to the decisions they make. They’re not ready to wrestle Jacob Fatu just yet, but they’ll get there.”
Dalton and Dylan are the sons of Dusty Rhodes’ daughter, former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Kristen Ditto. They have wrestled under the names Wayne Rhodes & Wyatt Rhodes on Rhodes Wrestling Academy showcase events. Their tag team name is The Texas Outlaws, the former name of Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch’s team.
“It doesn’t–and won’t–end with me. We have our own bloodline,” Cody said.
Two members of the Rhodes family are preparing to start their story.
Dustin Rhodes has announced that his nephews Wyatt and Wayne Rhodes will make their pro debuts this weekend at the Rhodes Wrestling Academy Showcase event.
The brothers will wrestle as The Texas Outlaws, borrowing the name from their grandfather’s tag team with Dick Murdoch.
They will compete for the RWA tag titles in a two-of-three falls match on Sunday.
Dustin Rhodes wrote:
The #Rhodes Legacy is strong and growing. Introducing my nephews Wyatt and Wayne Rhodes, #TheTexasOutlaws who will make their debut at #RWA’s showcase this Sunday March 24th at 7/6 central on #RWA’s @youtube channel in the main event 2out of 3 falls 30 minute time limit for the new #RWATagTeamChampionship Please tune in Sunday. #prowrestling #YouTube RT please!
The #Rhodes Legacy is strong and growing. Introducing my nephews Wyatt and Wayne Rhodes, #TheTexasOutlaws who will make their debut at #RWA's showcase this Sunday March 24th at 7/6 central on #RWA's @youtube channel in the main event 2out of 3 falls 30 minute time limit for the… pic.twitter.com/GGjiMU5N8x
The brothers are sons to Dusty Rhodes’ daughter, former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Kristen Ditto. Kristen has a blurb about her boys on the front page of her website. It reads:
But my most favorite job of all is being Mommy to my boys, Dalton Wayne and Dylan Wyatt (aptly named the “Texas Outlaws”). We live a happy life @ DK Ranch in the hill country of Lake Travis
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I present the conclusion of the near-book length Dusty Rhodes biography by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
This is part of my “From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter” subseries where I look back at some of Meltzer’s biographies and history pieces in historic Observers.
On the DragonKing Karl rotation of classic pro wrestling themes, we are back around to “From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter” where I look back at some of Dave Meltzer’s biographies and history pieces in historic Observer newsletters.
Today, I begin a three-part series on the massive Dusty Rhodes obituary — basically a book on the life and times of one of the most influential and popular pro wrestlers of all-time.
If you’re a subscriber, here’s the first installment of Dave’s look at “The American Dream” from June 2015 so you can follow along.
Les Thatcher and I are back with a new Wrestling Weekly to discuss the late “Superstar” Billy Graham, AEW Collision coming to TNT, and whether or not CM Punk is coming back to AEW or not.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including RAW getting all messed up due to travel issues but still pulling it together, a wrestling commission shoot axing a main event, big ratings on Friday night, all the news and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: 30th anniversary of Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada
1:52: Raw changes due to flight issues
5:13: Dusty Rhodes A&E Biography
9:58: Nick Wayne update
13:06: NJPW lineups
21:31: Tournament to face Kenny Omega
29:21: Triplemania Monterrey is this Sunday
38:09: Ratings
44:11: Robbie Lawlor vs. Rory MacDonald fight being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame
Just days before the Final Justice PPV, Dusty Rhodes was removed as booker from TNA.
Rhodes officially resigned on 5/10, when he showed up for a booking meeting in Nashville, saw Jeremy Borash, Bill Banks and Scott D’Amore there, and was told by Dixie Carter that they were going to book by committee from this point forward. According to sources close to Rhodes, they were told they were going to sit down and put together the PPV show on 5/15 and the subsequent TV tapings on 5/17. Rhodes said the decisions for both had already been done. Then they went to take about what to do about the NWA title situation. Rhodes said there was nothing to discuss, that A.J. Styles was going over for the championship at Final Justice. Carter said that they needed to debate the pros and cons of Styles as champion and rethink the decision. Rhodes supposedly said that he didn’t have any problem with a booking committee, but felt some of the people on the committee didn’t have enough product knowledge and shouldn’t be there, and wanted to be able to have a say in who was on it. Mike Tenay, who lives in Las Vegas and was not at the meeting, is also believed to be a key person on the new committee. Jeff Jarrett won’t be on the new committee, but he will have input, and Borash is closely aligned with him. It’s said that all major creative decisions will also have to be approved by an executive committee, which would likely be Dixie Carter and new TNA CEO Frank Dickerson.
Dustin Rhodes says he knows his father would be happy with Cody Rhodes’ promo the night after WrestleMania.
Dustin appeared on an episode of The Sessions with Renee Paquette released on Tuesday. During the discussion, Paquette asked Dustin what he thinks Dusty would have thought of Cody’s promo on Raw that night.
“I knew dad always wanted us to be happy. And he would have his suggestions and things like that and try to lead us in the right way but ultimately these are our decisions, right? Money’s money and dad would always say, ‘Take the money.'”
“Cody is very, very passionate about his promos, about every single word that he is going to say which is very important, right? Especially for that first one, which was very important, you’re making a huge impact on a lot of people the first time you’ve been back in years, and he did. And I know dad would be happy. He’s sitting in the rafters, that’s where I pictured him when me and Cody wrestled at Double or Nothing.”
Dustin also addressed getting to wrestle his brother at Double or Nothing 2022.
“Having an opportunity to work with my brother and not knowing what to expect with an AEW audience. I had no idea if I was going to get any reaction at all and just the fact that we went out there and I got a reaction and the match was just, for me and him, perfect.”
“I’ll never do it again, I’ll never wrestle him again. It did a lot to me that night,” he continued to say about wrestling his brother.
Regarding Cody signing with WWE, Dustin is happy for him but does miss him at AEW.
“I was happy for him but I also miss him already and I miss him being there but I know he’s young and, you know, let’s go, go do your thing. So, I’m very happy for him and I’m like, ‘Hey man, more power to you, go get that title and win it all and do your stuff.'”
Dustin was also asked about how he feels a character like the original Goldust would work in modern wrestling.
“It absolutely would not work. The way Goldust was portrayed back in the 90s, he was very androgynous, we would never say the word ‘gay.’ I don’t think it would work because those things back then were like way, way ahead of its time.”
“It was just very pushing the envelope as far as you could possibly do it, stepping over that line? Today, trying to do something like that? No.”
Dustin also addressed his match against CM Punk from the AEW Dynamite on April 20.
“He’s always been a dream match of mine to have. He’s one of those bucket list things,” Dustin said of Punk.
“My big thing I told him, I said, “Look, I don’t care about all these moves that we’re going to do, I just want to make the people feel something.’ So, we did that. And he sold an arm and I sold a leg. Babyface vs babyface. You’re selling, he’s selling, it gets a little heated, we start slapping each other. Then it’s not really a he’s a heel or I’m a heel, it’s just two guys slugging it out having a pro-wrestling match.”
“You’re looking around the arena and you start seeing [fans] standing up at certain times. It’s a build, right? It’s all part of a story and I love to tell stories. That night, knowing that I could do that with CM Punk and did it, I knew for a fact that in 2022, you can still go out there and have a pro-wrestling match without doing a whole bunch of bulls**t.”
The MLW Global Crown Tag Team Championship tournament continued as “Dr. Death” & PJ Friedman and The Extreme Horsemen advanced to the finals.
We had an MLW World title match between Satoshi Kojima and Mitsuya Nagai.
We also saw the birth of the Extreme Horsemen as Steve Corino met Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk in a three-way Florida deathmatch.
Show Review:
We opened with a pre-tape from earlier in the day as Steve Corino pulled up to the building in his fancy car and talked about how the Extreme Horsemen are higher class while Terry Funk is white trash. He compared cars, houses, and their day-to-day lives. Everything with Corino was higher class and he said he had hit Funk’s achievements (ECW champion and NWA champion), but, of course, he won those titles quicker than Funk. He said the fans will be seeing violence, but not at his expense…but at Funk’s.
Joey Styles welcomed us to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and ran down the recent events between both LA Parka and Sabu and Vampiro and Raven, and that we will be seeing the Extreme Horsemen in action later on.
In another pre-tape from earlier in the week, we went outside the dojo of “Dr Death” Steve Williams where PJ Friedman told the cameraman to come back next week to see how they are preparing for the tag tournament.
“Dr. Death” Steve Williams & PJ Friedman defeated Jimmy Yang & Mike Sanders to advance to the MLW Global Crown Tag Team Title tournament finals (07:32)
This was quite the standard tag team match until Williams made the pinfall save for his partner and then absolutely destroyed Sanders with a powerbomb. From there, the match spilled to the outside where Williams dropped Sanders through a table.
Sanders briefly fired up after a commercial break as we had a glitch in the continuity timeline as we were told that EZ Money and Julio Dinero had made it to the tourney finals without seeing any of their matches yet. Yang continued their team’s comeback as he hit a springboard top rope corkscrew for a close two count. Friedman crotched Yang on the top rope and tagged in Williams who used his strength to overcome Sanders with a doctor bomb and then Yang with a backdrop driver to pick up the win.
With this win, Williams and Friedman also had advanced to the finals of the tournament.
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– Styles hyped up the debut of CM Punk, calling for us to watch out for his Pepsi Plunge from the top rope.
– Next up was the Samoan Island Tribe who said that they might not be the most electrifying men in sports entertainment, but they are the power source. They are coming to kick butt, and if you smell something stinking, it’s them, because they are the sh*t.
– MLW World Champion Satoshi Kojima cut a subtitled promo in Japanese, letting us know that Mike Awesome, Mr. Gannosuke Nagai, Shinjiro Otani, Vampiro, and Taiyo Kea are all on notice because he is the most fighting world champion ever.
MLW World Champion Satoshi Kojima defeated Mitsuya Nagai to retain the title
This was filmed in All Japan Pro Wrestling and was a highlight package, complete with 90s style high tempo video game theme music playing throughout. The match reminded me of a modern-day strong style match with a lot of knees, head drops, pop-up no sells, high angled suplexes, and of course, Kojima’s famous lariat for the win.
The champion was bleeding from the ear after the match but was able to get to his feet and take in the applause from the AJPW crowd. This brought the “Koji count” to 2-0 as we learned that Kojimania was running wild in the USA, established in 2003.
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– Styles brought us back up to speed with the goings-on between Raven and Vampiro: Raven wants Vampiro, Vampiro has a title shot against Kojima and whatever the outcome, Vampiro will address Raven at the next set of tapings. Give them their due: MLW certainly knew how to hype up their next big show as “Friday night, May 9th at Taboo in Orlando, Florida” must have been mentioned at least ten times throughout the show.
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The Extreme Horsemen (Simon Diamond & CW Anderson) defeated Los Maximos to advance to the MLW Global Crown Tag Team Title tournament finals (6:19)
There were no entrances for this one as we jumped right into the start of the match with Diamond and Jose. They exchanged some nice test of strength monkey flips out of the corners and quick-fire arm drags as we were told the Samoans have been calling out Los Maximos recently, so they better be looking over their shoulders.
Back from the break, Anderson planted Jose on his head with a german suplex. He then hit a great delayed vertical suplex from the middle rope for a close two count. It was here that the earlier mentions of Dinero and Money being in the finals made sense as the finals were a triangle tag team match also featuring Williams and Friedman and the winners of this match.
Los Maximos fired up after the hot tag. Joel ran wild and hit Anderson with a german suplex, Diamond with an enzuigiri and a big moonsault off the top rope, before planting Anderson on his head for a close two count.
Diamond hit a series of suplexes and a Falcon Arrow for a two count of his own as the match began to break down into a four-way. After another cut in action, the Extreme Horsemen came close to winning after a slingshot and superkick combination. Moments later, Anderson caught Jose coming off the top and planted him with a spinebuster to pick up the win and advance to the finals.
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Before our main event, we heard from Dusty Rhodes in a backstage promo. He said he didn’t like any of the Funks: Dory, Papa, Terry, or mother Funk. He called Corino a pumpkin head and a walking contradiction of pro wrestling. For those paying attention, they would have spotted a few lines from this promo that made their way into the opening credits of the MLW opening montage.
Before Styles insulted Triple H by saying Kojima wasn’t a paper champion and didn’t get the belt handed to him by a general manager or because he was sleeping with his boss’ daughter, Styles was hyping up more matches for, you guessed it, Friday night, May 9th at Taboo in Orlando as we cut to outside the building where Los Maximos had been attacked by some mystery men.
We then heard from Mike Awesome who promised us he will be the next MLW Champion and also that he was going to powerbomb Masato Tanaka over the top rope and right through a table on Friday night, May…alright, you know when and where.
Steve Corino defeated Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk in a three-way Florida deathmatch (13:07)
Funk and Corino were on the same page early on as they took turns going one-on-one with Rhodes but eventually used their numbers advantage and a trashcan to get the legend down on the mat. However, their alliance was short-lived as Funk turned his back on the youngster and clobbered him with the trashcan as well.
A brawl outside the ring included Rhodes exposing Funk’s backside (to the horror of both Styles on commentary and the live audience), a steel chair that did the rounds with everyone taking turns, and a few bionic elbows for good measure.
Inside the ring, Rhodes hit Funk with a shovel, but, moments later, took the handle to the groin as he was jabbing Corino. To make matters worse, Funk drove the shovel into Corino’s throat and on the outside, he slipped off the guardrail and caught his leg between the rungs.
As Rhodes was hitting Corino with some more bionic elbows, Anderson and Diamond interfered and took out Rhodes’ ankle with a steel chair. Rhodes was taken to the back leaving Funk on his own against Corino, Anderson, and Diamond.
Being the underdog lit a brief fire in Funk as he ran wild and waffled them all with another trashcan. The numbers game eventually caught up as Corino floored him with a DDT. The referee refused to count the pin due to the interference, so Corino gave him a DDT, too. Replacement referee Jon Finnegan eventually made the count and declared Corino the victor.
Underground closed with a promo from Raven talking about Vampiro. He thought he was jealous and maybe it is time for the protege to step up and beat the master. He warned Vampiro not to antagonize him and said they would end up in Raven’s Clockwork Orange House of Fun.
Next Show:
Jerry Lynn vs. Mike Awesome for a shot at the MLW World Championship
MLW returned to its roots with this week’s Anthology focusing on Steve Corino and the Extreme Horsemen. Corino battled Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk in a three way Florida Death Match that saw the debut of the Extreme Horsemen after the bloody battle. The Horsemen then entered the two ring, double cage War Games match when they took on Funk and his Funkin’ Army.
Show Review:
Steve Corino defeated Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk in a three-way Florida Death Match (13:07)
War Memorial Auditorium | Ft. Lauderdale, FL | December 2002
Funk and Corino were on the same page early as they took turns going one-on-one with Rhodes, eventually using their numbers advantage and a trash can to get the legend down on the mat. However, their alliance was short lived as Funk turned his back on Corino and clobbered him with the trash can.
A brawl outside the ring included Rhodes exposing Funk’s backside (to the horror of both Joey Styles on commentary and the live audience), a steel chair that did the rounds with everyone taking turns, and a few bionic elbows for good measure.
Inside the ring, Rhodes hit Funk with a shovel, but moments later, he took the handle to the groin as he was jabbing Corino. To make matters worse, Funk drove the shovel into Corino’s throat and on the outside of the ring, he slipped off the guardrail and caught his leg between the rungs.
As Rhodes was hitting Corino with some more bionic elbows, CW Anderson and Simon Diamond interfered and took out Rhodes’ ankle with a steel chair. Rhodes was taken to the back so it left Funk on his own against Corino, Anderson, and Diamond.
Being the underdog lit a fire in Funk as he ran wild and waffled all three men with another trash can. The numbers game eventually caught up with Funk, however, as Corino floored him with a DDT. The referee refused to count the pin due to the interference so Corino gave him a DDT, too. Replacement referee Jon Finegan eventually made the count and declared Corino the victor.
The Funkin’ Army (Terry Funk, Sandman, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Sabu & Bill Alfonso) defeated The Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, Barry Windham, CW Anderson, Simon Diamond & PJ Walker) (20:16)
War Memorial Auditorium | Ft. Lauderdale, FL | September 2002
Anderson and Sandman were out first for their respective teams. We got the full Metallica “Enter Sandman” entrance which was a delight to see and hear unedited. In a smart piece of booking, we not only got to see Sandman make the entrance at his own pace but since the entrants were only two minutes apart, the action never lagged and no one was exposed in the ring for too long.
Then-MLW World Champion Corino was third out and interestingly announced as “The King of Kings” which sounds familiar. Corino had barbed wire wrapped around his fist and, of course, he took the wire to Sandman’s forehead, busting him open more than his Budweiser can did during his entrance. They harkened back to ECW with a caning spot as Anderson held Sandman and draped him between the two rings set up for the match.
Funk was out next to even the sides, throwing a chair into the ring from the elevated entrance stage and immediately going straight for Corino to continue their ongoing war. We were told Funk had an upcoming title shot and chose a dog collar match for the stipulation. Funk dragged Corino from one ring to the other and dropped the champion with a piledriver.
The Horsemen got the upper hand when Simon Diamond entered to make it 3-2 in their favor. Both Global Crown Tag Team Champions (MLW’s first name for the belts) were now in the ring as Diamond took a chair to Funk while Anderson ran Sandman’s face against the steel fence.
Steve Williams was next out to even the score as we were told this was the last member of Funk’s team. Jerry Lawler was originally supposed to be in the match but “the evil McEmpire” pulled him out according to Styles. Funk had agreed to take the match even though they were two men short as Barry Windham had been recently added to the Horsemen team.
PJ Walker (Justin Credible) brought a ladder out as he gave the Horsemen a 4-3 advantage. He and Anderson whipped Sandman into the ladder as Funk seesawed between the ropes as Corino fired off right hands. But moments later, the crazy Funk did his signature airplane spin ladder spot, taking out some of the Horsemen in the process.
Windham was supposed to come in next, but Sabu made a surprise return and ran wild, evening the odds and bringing Funk’s team back into the match. Sabu’s left arm was heavily taped up and did not look fully healed from the injury that had previously kept him out of action.
Windham was out next and the Horsemen’s bounty hunter took out all members of Funk’s team. However Bill Alfonso, who came out with Sabu, got on the mic to declare the uneven teams were bullsh*t and he became the fifth member of Funk’s team.
Sabu came off the top rope and put Walker through a table with a legdrop. Funk then brought a flaming branding iron into the ring, branded Corino across the back, and spat fire into his eyes. He then locked in his famous spinning toehold to make Corino give up, winning the match for his team.
**********
– Josef Samael told us in a propaganda video that he and CONTRA will abuse their power and spread their evil message throughout the world.
– It was then time for Pulp Fusion, the weekly video update on the current stars of MLW:
Low Ki and King Mo continued their war of words, only Ki was talking in Japanese and Mo was gloating he had beat him so bad he had knocked him loopy.
Mance Warner was on the phone to “Dirty” Dutch Mantel trying to book a bear to fight him in his triple cage.
The Parks were working out with sledgehammers and tractor tires while the Von Erichs were working on their grip strength with some rope and squeezing apples.
“Filthy” Tom Lawlor was debating the legitimacy of the Von Erichs whereabouts, saying they were in front of green screens all the time. He was stressing out and said he didn’t need this before his big trip as he wiped his brow with what looked very similar to a New Japan Pro Wrestling scarf.
Myron Reed told us to open our minds and vibe with him as he is dropping an album soon called “BANGers 4Ever”.
Konnan asked where Salina had been all this time. He said she was not on his level and told her the devil knows more because of his age, not because he is the devil.
Hammerstone was playing his guitar before he drank some of his own special Dynastic coffee brew that made him work out like a mad man.
Logan Creed has been unleashed. From where? I have no idea.
Salina de La Renta finished the montage by telling us all she knows we want it, she knows we need it, and said everyone is asking her where she has been when everyone should be asking, “What has she done?”
Next week: CONTRA Unit gets the Anthology treatment
