Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. Rhodes was considered a star wrestler and presented the persona of an American everyman, the American Dream personified. Following his retirement from wrestling, he made occasional on-air appearances on WWE television and pay-per-views and worked as a backstage booker and producer in WWE's NXT developmental territory. Billed as "the son of a plumber", Rhodes did not have a typical wrestler's physique; his character was that of the " common man ", known for the personality exhibited in his interviews.
In , Rhodes saw an advertisement in the newspaper for Tony Santos' professional wrestling promotion Big Time Wrestling, based in Boston. Rhodes drove to Boston, and despite not having any wrestling experience, bluffed his way into working for the company by using his real life friendships with Bobby Duncum and the Funk brothers.
Having little money, Rhodes slept in his car and spent Thanksgiving with Rufus R. Jones in a Boston soup kitchen. It was in Texas where Rhodes first adopted the ring name "Dusty Rhodes".
Rhodes reportedly replied: "Well I don't plan on being 'Lonesome'. I think I'll stick with Dusty. Rhodes became a rule-breaking heel with Hart as his manager , teaming with Don Jardine , better known as The Spoiler. Rhodes did not have a typical wrestlers' physique, but he was well known for his personality, charisma and interviews. This led him to break out as a solo wrestler, primarily in Florida , referring to himself as the "American Dream", a working class hero, and aligning himself with Eddie Graham.
Rhodes won the first match on September 26 via countout, [ 16 ] [ 17 ] and lost the second, a Texas Death match , on October Rhodes also teamed with Magnum T. They were one of the more dominant tag teams in the promotion until , when Magnum's career was ended in a car accident. In October , during his feud with Flair, Rhodes gave an interview that became known as his "Hard Times" promo, [ 24 ] arguably his most popular promo :.
