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What Really Matters AKA The Ridiculous Hypocrisy of the IWC and Dirt Sheets
One of the legends in wrestling, Dusty Rhodes, died. Some of my earliest memories of wrestling involve sitting with my grandfather, my uncle, my father, my grandmother and my mom watching NWA. All of the matches from that Era captured my young attention span, but Dusty I couldn’t stop watching. I remember actually crying when he got ambushed in the parking lot by the four horsemen and I was roughly five and it was still real to me. My grandpa sat me on his lap, and said “Don’t worry, kiddo. He’ll be back in a couple of weeks to pay them back.” Wrestling was always a family affair. And watching Dusty, that was a highlight. Yeah, I was and am a Mark. Loosing him, being a fan, is hard enough. I can’t even imagine the pain that Dustin and Cody are dealing with right now. My thoughts and prayers are definitely with them right now.
Watching the outpouring of support and memories from superstars from almost all federations, as well as tweets regarding it from other wrestling companies was really mind blowing to me. How incredible must you be as a wrestler and a human being to branch lines of wrestling politics, and be acknowledged not only by the fed you worked for, but others that you hadn’t. Somewhere Dusty has to be smiling, because if there was any doubt that he had influenced the entire industry, it was cleared up tonight. Well, maybe not all of them.
ESPN ran a segment on Dusty’s passing with an interview with Jonathon Coachman. Jonathon Coachman actually did a good job putting him over, sort of. He told a fairly funny Dusty story, complete with an impression of Dusty that I thought was way too soon, considering. It wasn’t until the end of the interview that I really got up in arms. A wrestler from the generation that in ring storytelling was just as, if not more important, than mic skills. This man said No, Dusty sucked in the ring, but he could entertain. Really? You picked the day of the man’s death to disrespect his entire career? Just hearing it infuriated the hell out of me. So much so I’m up at 11:17 at night writing this because I couldn't sleep from how pissed off it got me.
Then I realized something. No dirt sheet was covering this comment. Not Wrestling Inc, not Ringside, Not even Dave “You heard it here first” Meltzer is covering this. Jeff Lane is taking heat for talking about a Dusty promo from 2002, but the IWC is giving Coachman a free pass for basically saying He sucked at wrestling, but he could talk ? Hypocritical much ? How is Coachman’s twitter not blown up. How is his email not swamped by mounds upon mounds of hate mail and death threats? Why isn’t ESPN’s phone ringing off the hook to demand his termination, or at least a public apology for his ill timed and disrespectful comments? Well, maybe it makes sense because he’s not Jeff Lane or Vince Russo. *insert sarcastic eye roll here*
The IWC will scream out in protest over some four year old tweets by a woman that can actually wrestle and did apologize for. They will proclaim HHH’s innocence from the rooftops. They will slam Scott Hall for relapsing. Dave Meltzer will scurry around like a rat in a maze to get the cause of Dusty Rhodes death, but he doesn’t make a comment about ESPN essentially shredding Dusty on national television? They will watch and pick apart a twenty minute radio interview , but they give a free pass to an international broadcasting company destroying one of their legends in a three minute interview. Hypocritical Much ? Or maybe just selective outrage. More like selective reporting.
Why am I a Vince Russo fan and a Brand member? Like him or hate him, he’s straight forward. He’s got nothing to lose and no horse in the race, so you get an honest opinion each and every time. You might not like that opinion, but at least it isn’t selective self serving bullshit. To hear the words Dusty Rhodes can’t wrestle on the day that Dusty Rhodes died should have infuriated the entire IWC. In one collective voice, we should be demanding an apology from ESPN. Instead I’ll bet anyone willing to take it twenty bucks I get more hate mail over this opinion piece.
Feel free to send your hatemail to [email protected]. Each and every one of you will get a response.
