Ron Garvin thinks Dusty Rhodes was overrated

[héad.casé]

"Dusty Rhodes was overrated. He was the booker most places he went, Florida, Carolinas, I didn't like what he done a lot of times. A lot of politics, he put himself in places he shouldn't have been, he didn't draw the big ol' money. When he was in the main event, he booked 30 men on the card and had more gimmick matches. Rock n' Roll Express, those kids were so over. So over, that they would sell out and Dusty Rhodes would book them in small towns because he didn't want them on the same card as him because he wanted the thunder."

www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/02/former-nwa-world-heavyweight-champion-says-dusty-rhodes-was-650473/

[Guacamole Anderson]

Meh. Dusty in Florida did gangbusters for quite some time.

I thought Dusty was overrated in the Carolinas. But I remember as a teenager in the 80s, there were true believers in Dusty... He had his fanbase and they were all in.

[CeilingFan]

I know that Garvin abruptly left in 1988 because Dusty was going to bury him, so it must have been awkward when both of them ended up together in the WWF.

[warriorthug4edge]

I mean, Dusty booking himself and his buddies at the expense of others isn't breaking new territory. He was still an insane draw and incredibly over as a talent.

[Milkman Norm]

This has to becoming for a place of person animosity. Because there is no way that a guy who has been in wrestling as long as Ron Garvin can look at Dusty's initial babyface run in Florida from 74- the early 80's and say that he was overrated as a draw.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

While Dusty didn’t hold a world title for a long time and his run in the WWF wasn’t on top like when he was with the NWA he definitely drew in Florida and the Carolinas. Dusty made plenty of money as a draw in the NWA so Ronnie Garvin sounds bitter if he’s denying that fact. Garvin would’ve been better off knocking his wrestling ability by saying Dusty wasn’t as good as Flair or Windham or Blanchard or Anderson. He’d get a lot more people agreeing with a take like that. Hate the guy all you want but at least tell the truth about him while you’re doing it.

[Joe Neglia]

Ron's not wrong. Dusty did exactly what he said he did for the reasons he said. Dusty was popular for sure, but he was screwing over a lot of people in the process of keeping himself in that position.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Feb 2, 2019 12:25:10 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Ron's not wrong. Dusty did exactly what he said he did for the reasons he said. Dusty was popular for sure, but he was screwing over a lot of people in the process of keeping himself in that position.

I believe Tully Blanchard put it best, “If he could, Dusty would only book himself against Dusty”.

Complaining about Rhodes booking himself as the star got him kicked out of Crockett’s private jet.

[romanstylesiii]

Rubbish Ronniei Garvin

[Deleted]

I watched this full interview on youtube and Ronnie’s totally right the nwa with Dusty in charge was overbooking city you got like 30 titles so pretty much every match is a title match so the titles mean nothing,guys juicing every match,gimmick matches galore and it worked for awhile until it didn’t and with Dusty booking and him being so insecure he wasn’t gonna let any babyfaces get more over than him.Dusty was his own worst enemy when booking in 85 every one loves him,in 86 the cracks are starting to show and a small portion of the crowds were starting to turn on him so he would stop his promos to attack those fan and then he’d do 4 promos a show and have every wrestler on the card talk about Dusty’s programs instead of their own he was the original Poochie.Rock N Roll’s are getting over now dusty’s the main focus teaming with them,Roadwarriors are getting over or Sting and he does the same thing.

Garvin was really over when working with the Horsemen he wins the title and dusty has him immediately in his first promo after winning announce he’s not defending the belt for 3 months in a total non babyface move when Flair the heel is defending it all the time,Garvin loses the title in his 1st defense and then he’s teaming with The Mighty Wilbur and the post starrcade tv’s are more about Dusty doing a fake retirement after beating Luger for the US Title.

[Joe Neglia]

Feb 2, 2019 10:19:04 GMT -5 The 1Watcher Experience said:

While Dusty didn’t hold a world title for a long time and his run in the WWF wasn’t on top like when he was with the NWA he definitely drew in Florida and the Carolinas. Dusty made plenty of money as a draw in the NWA so Ronnie Garvin sounds bitter if he’s denying that fact. Garvin would’ve been better off knocking his wrestling ability by saying Dusty wasn’t as good as Flair or Windham or Blanchard or Anderson. He’d get a lot more people agreeing with a take like that. Hate the guy all you want but at least tell the truth about him while you’re doing it.

Except it's a long-known fact that Dusty did exactly what Ron says he did. Every single hot property that came along - Road Warriors, Magnum TA, Nikita, Luger - Dusty booked himself to be their partner and would make himself the focal point of the angle. Every single time. This is not some new dark secret.

He also single-handedly murdered the Florida promotion when he befriended Crockett and started pulling BTS crap like convincing other Florida workers to bail and sign with JCP, all while still a Florida roster member.

There's a lot of good about Dusty, but Dusty wasn't a saint and he did some pretty awful stuff business-wise over the years. This is, after all, the guy that fired Baby Doll because she wouldn't sleep with him and got married to Sam Houston instead.

[Mozenrath]

I'm going to level with you, I thought Ronnie Garvein was dead for years. Glad he's not, always kinda liked the guy.

I like Dusty, but I agree with Garvin (and Madison). I think Dusty's booking gets slagged off more than is sometimes fair, but he had definite weaknesses as a booker, and that he let his ego make him feel threatened or try to put himself alongside every hot act is a big one.

Even people who had a lot of love for Dusty like Flair, Barry Windham, or Cornette will talk about his ego. Makes me glad that, seemingly, Cody got some of the modesty that eluded his dad.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Feb 2, 2019 14:26:03 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Feb 2, 2019 10:19:04 GMT -5 The 1Watcher Experience said:

While Dusty didn’t hold a world title for a long time and his run in the WWF wasn’t on top like when he was with the NWA he definitely drew in Florida and the Carolinas. Dusty made plenty of money as a draw in the NWA so Ronnie Garvin sounds bitter if he’s denying that fact. Garvin would’ve been better off knocking his wrestling ability by saying Dusty wasn’t as good as Flair or Windham or Blanchard or Anderson. He’d get a lot more people agreeing with a take like that. Hate the guy all you want but at least tell the truth about him while you’re doing it.

Except it's a long-known fact that Dusty did exactly what Ron says he did. Every single hot property that came along - Road Warriors, Magnum TA, Nikita, Luger - Dusty booked himself to be their partner and would make himself the focal point of the angle. Every single time. This is not some new dark secret.

He also single-handedly murdered the Florida promotion when he befriended Crockett and started pulling BTS crap like convincing other Florida workers to bail and sign with JCP, all while still a Florida roster member.

There's a lot of good about Dusty, but Dusty wasn't a saint and he did some pretty awful stuff business-wise over the years. This is, after all, the guy that fired Baby Doll because she wouldn't sleep with him and got married to Sam Houston instead.

Dusty absolutely booked himself into major angles and took advantage of his booking position. Dusty’s ego was so big that I wouldn’t doubt that he always saw himself as over as when he broke out in Florida, if not more so by the time he was booking the NWA. I certainly never said Dusty was a saint by any means. He fell into a lot of the same patterns that bookers do by milking the same tired out gimmicks just because they worked well before. I simply pointed out that he was a big draw in Florida and the Carolinas. The crowd reactions for him were huge. A lot of people came out to see him. That’s the only issue I had with Garvin’s claims. 

[lucas_lee]

Dusty is a great wrestler and personality but booking wise was one of the worst ive seen during the 1980s

[Doctor No]

Active wrestler as the booker favors himself?? Next we’ll be hearing that promoters have over pushed their family members.

[Deleted]

Can anyone recommend any good Ronnie Garvin? I've heard he was quite good pre WWE. Any good stuff on the network?

[petef3]

He was good in WWE, especially when working with Valentine. Forget what the superficial idiots at OSW think of him. His best match on tape is probably his title win over Flair in the cage in Detroit.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 2, 2019 23:28:01 GMT -5 petef3 said:

He was good in WWE, especially when working with Valentine. Forget what the superficial idiots at OSW think of him. His best match on tape is probably his title win over Flair in the cage in Detroit.

They actually liked Garvin, they just thought calling him "Rubbish Ronnie Garbage" was funny, but they gave the Valentine submission match high marks.

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2019 22:07:38 GMT -5 @phoenixtrigger said:

Can anyone recommend any good Ronnie Garvin? I've heard he was quite good pre WWE. Any good stuff on the network?

Him and Tully had some good matches on Worldwide.Him & Windham vs Midnight Express.Him vs Arn.

One of the problems for him being remembered properly now is that The WWE Network airs the weakest show from that 85 thru 88 period which was mostly just squash matches and promos while Worldwide,Pro and Main Event had top tier main events from hot arena’s.

[Deleted]

Dusty is a good example of why you shouldn't be an active wrestler AND the booker at the same time. I can't think of many successful examples of it.

You're always going to look out for numero uno, which means you're always going to book yourself at the top.