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.

[13][14] In 1974, Rhodes's character became a hero after tag team partner Pak Song and manager Gary Hart turned on him during a match in Florida against Eddie and Mike Graham.

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 had feuds with Abdullah the Butcher, Terry Funk, Kevin Sullivan, Blackjack Mulligan, Nikita Koloff, Harley Race, Superstar Billy Graham, "Crippler" Ray Stevens and, most notably, The Four Horsemen (especially Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard).

The long-standing storylines and the frequent use of the aforementioned "Dusty finish", techniques that had worked well during the NWA's territorial days, had now started to leave many fans dissatisfied with the promotion's booking.

[28][29] Rhodes was fired after Starrcade '88, because of a taboo on-screen bloodletting (laid down by the Turner Broadcasting System following their purchase of the company) during a November 26 altercation with The Road Warriors.

[30] Meanwhile, in late 1988 during the acquisition of Jim Crockett Promotions the duo of Mike Graham and Steve Keirn were attempting to revive the dormant CWF Championship Wrestling from Florida territory.

Dusty Rhodes made his debut for the company on March 4, 1989, at an event in Titusville, Florida, when he teamed with Steve Keirn to defeat the duo of The Big Steel Man and Dick Slater.

[21][38] Rhodes was introduced to WWF audiences through a series of vignettes in which he would gregariously and enthusiastically perform working class roles (including that of a plumber, butcher's apprentice, gas station attendant, taco cook, trash collector and pizza delivery man), eventually being recognized by others at the end of the skit ("Hey!

After dispatching the Boss Man, he next became embroiled in a heated storyline with "Macho King" Randy Savage and his manager/partner Sensational Queen Sherri, who in turn found a rival in Sapphire.

After a confrontation between the two couples, Savage's ex-manager Miss Elizabeth allied herself with Rhodes and Sapphire and was instrumental in helping them win the WWF's first mixed tag-team match during WrestleMania VI.

Later that night Dusty was scheduled to face Randy Savage in a one-on-one encounter; prior to the match Ted DiBiase announced that Sapphire had left Rhodes for The Million Dollar Man's money.

[56][57] He began making house show appearances early in the year, usually in tag-team matches involving Dustin that saw Paul E. Dangerously tied to Dusty as part of the stipulation.

Later that summer Dusty was again in the corner of Ron Simmons, this time on August 2, 1992, when he defeated Big Van Vader to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

[59] As 1994 progressed Dusty became involved in another angle with his son and The Stud Stable, offering commentary on the May 21, 1994, edition of WCW Saturday Night on Col. Robert Parker's efforts against Dustin.

This ultimately led to Dusty's second match since departing the WWF, where he would team with Dustin to defeated Terry Funk and Buckhouse Buck at Clash of the Champions XXVIII.

After a vignette that saw Dusty travel to "The Scrap Bar" to recruit The Nasty Boys, he teamed with them and Dustin to defeat Buck, Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, and Rob Parker in a War Games match at Fall Brawl 94.

His last in-ring match for World Championship Wrestling in this run came on November 24, 1994, in Albany, Georgia, where Dusty and Dustin Rhodes defeated Arn Anderson and Bunkhouse Buck in a steel cage.

[4] On January 28, 2000, he wrestled his first match in over five years, teaming with Tommy Dreamer to defeat Corino and Raven at a ECW on TNN episode that was taped in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Rhodes began appearing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2003, returning to the ring to feud against the villainous Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction.

After taking a few months off Rhodes returned on May 19, 2004, where he and James Storm defeated Dallas and Kid Kash in a "Bunkhouse Brawl" this led to the duo getting a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Championship on June 2 but they failed to win the titles.

In May 2005, TNA President Dixie Carter asked Rhodes to move onto a creative team, which included Jeremy Borash, Bill Banks, and Scott D'Amore.

Rhodes made his first indy circuit appearance on April 12, 2003, for Ring of Honor (ROH), when he participated in the "I Quit Bunkhouse Riot" as a member of Homicide's team.

In a match that featured Jimmy Valiant as the special guest referee, Jarrett retained the title after Terry Funk made a surprise appearance and interfered.

[73] Rhodes participated in the first WrestleReunion, competing in an eight-man tag team match with D'Lo Brown, The Blue Meanie, and Tom Prichard against Steve Corino, Andrew Martin, Evil Clown, and the Masked Superstar.

[83] On the December 10 episode of Raw, Rhodes was at ringside to see Cody and Hardcore Holly defeat Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship.

Rhodes made his return to Raw on September 16, 2013, after accepting a "business proposition" from Stephanie McMahon in an attempt for WWE to rehire both his sons Cody and Dustin.

[87] Rhodes also appeared at Battleground in the corner of Cody and Goldust as they took on The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns with Dean Ambrose at ringside) in a tag team match.

[88] The stipulation of the match would be that if the Rhodes Family won, Cody and Goldust got their jobs with the company back, but if they lose Dusty would be fired as an NXT trainer and none of them could appear on WWE programming ever again.

During his late years, Rhodes became a trainer in WWE's development territory NXT, where several wrestlers like Kevin Owens,[103] Becky Lynch,[104] and the tag team FTR,[105] praised his lessons.