06/12/15 – Friday News Update

I just feel really beside myself over this whole Dusty Rhodes passing. Obviously thoughts, prayers and positive thoughts go out to his family. But man… this is really sad.

Everyone has touchstone wrestlers that helped hook them on the business, and for me that was Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. Growing up, watching wrestling with my Nana, Dusty was the man, and Flair was his biggest antagonist. Little contrarian that i was, I rooted for Flair, while Nana was a Dusty gal. Reading all these thoughts and memories of Dusty has brought up a ton of memories for me as well. I find myself shockingly emotional over Rhodes’ passing.

Hugh Little and I will be back this weekend with another edition of our podcast Talking Sheet looking at all the coverage of the Rhodes passing, and memories they raise. We’ll also, of course, have Hugh’s Power Rankings and an Observer ’87 Rear View!

Our latest article takes a look at the controversy surrounding a recent, canceled contest on the Bryan & Vinny Show that offended some listeners.

Check out the latest cartoon by our comic satirist MeatyFist right here.

Friday News Update

** Dave Meltzer had a nice little summation and personal note about Dusty Rhodes’ passing in yesterday’s news update where he wrote:

“Dusty was a captivating larger than life individual. He had a hand in so many lives whether they were people he worked with or fans from the 70s and 80s when he was one of the top stars in the business. He was an amazing character and there’s a lot of good, and some bad, that can be said, but we all owe so much to him and in big ways and little ways, it is amazing how much we were all influenced by him, right down to my son and his best friend who are named Cody and Dusty.”

** Lots of sites have picked up Dustin Runnels’ Facebook message regarding his father’s death.

“Yesterday my father passed away with his four children, my daughter and his wife of 38 yrs. he was our hero and the greatest father in the world. He is the reason why I am who I am today. He taught me so so many lessons in life. He had 1 thing that he wanted to be and that was he wanted to be forever young. Now he is. Now he is dancing with angels in heaven. He was my mentor, my hero and a dad that I strive to be like. I love you dad. Thank you for all the overwhelmingly amount of love and support. He would have been on cloud 9 with this. Thank you all. Dustin Runnels.”

** The Torch has, by far, the best coverage of Rhodes’s death so far. Countless updates from all sorts of angles. Really great audio show with Bruce Mitchell and Wade Keller Thursday night. I know ultimately Dave Meltzer’s obit/feature on Rhodes will blow everything away, because they always do, but right now in the midst of the news, and reactions, the Torch is easily the best resource.

** PW Torch has a bunch of details surrounding the death of Rhodes here.

** The Torch also has a great collection of twitter reactions from wrestlers reacting to the superstar’s passing here.

** Another article looking at wrestling legends reacting to the Dream’s death, including Roddy Piper, Jerry Brisco, and former WWE Creative team member John Carle here.

** Detailed account of Jim Ross’s reaction blog and Fox Sports column are also available at the Torch.

** ProWrestling.net has a recap of Ric Flair’s appearance on the Busted Open satellite radio show talking Rhodes, reacting to his death and recounting a conversation with Dusty’s son Dustin here.

** F4Wonline.com has the grand dame of wrestling divas, Missy Hyatt’s, reaction and memories of Dusty here.

** PWInsider has a piece touting a video of Tully Blanchard reacting to the passing of his great rival while filming a sequence for the upcoming Mid-Atlantic Memories documentary here.

** PWInsider is also reporting that the WWE Network will be celebrating the life and times of Dusty Rhodes on Monday.

** Vince Verhei had a fully appropriate reaction to Jonathan Coachman on ESPN saying Dusty Rhodes was a great entertainer, but a terrible wrestler, when he said “From the bottom of my heart, with all my soul, fuck off, Jonathan Coachman.”  Indeed!

** Happy Anniversary to F4Wonline.com as the site turns 10. Also, happy birthday to site founder Bryan Alvarez, who turned 40 today.

** WrestlingInc. has a recap of Paul Heyman’s appearance on the Chael Sonnen podcast talking about why the crowd turned on Roman Reigns initially.

** We got word that Dave Scherer lashed out at a reader last night for alerting him to a larger than normal number of typos in one of his articles on Rhodes dying. Knowing Scherer’s track record I don’t doubt it for a second, but we’re looking deeper into it to learn more details.

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