Thanks to Ryan Ross for the following:
Wrestling legends Dusty Rhodes and Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat appeared on the Best Damn Sports Show Period as part of their “Best Damn Wrestling Week” promotion. Among other things, they discussed TNA, the Wrestle Reunion Show in Tampa, and the Best Damn Wrestling Special, which is set to air tonight and tomorrow night (Nov. 10th & 11th) on Fox Sports Net.
The interview began with Chris Rose asking the guys to give Tom Arnold some advice on his “upcoming match” with Puppet. Steamboat told Tom to start out on his knees and Dusty advised against standing with your legs wide open. Funny stuff!
Talk turned to the changes in the business from the 70’s and 80’s to today’s product. Dusty commented that today we don’t have guys like Ricky Steamboat who can go out and wrestle for hours upon hours every night and tell a great story like we did back then. Steamboat added that we don’t have a Dusty Rhodes either.
Chris Rose then brought up the WM III match between Steamboat and Randy Savage and how many people regard it as the greatest wrestling match ever. Steamboat was gracious in his reply saying he enjoyed the match as well. He compared it to his series with Flair in ’89, saying both were great in their own way but he enjoyed working with Flair more because they just “winged it” as opposed to scripting every single move and spot like he had to with Savage. He said winging it was more fun and was what the fans really wanted, which drew a pop from the audience.
Tom Arnold asked Dusty about the origins of the “Bionic Elbow”. Rhodes said the name came from Gordon Solie and was derived from the popular 70’s television show “The Six Million Dollar Man”. Rhodes then quickly diverted the conversation toward a plug for TNA, pushing both the successes of Victory Road as well as the impending Turning Point PPV next month.
Brian Cox asked Steamboat why he was always a good guy when the fans actually cheer the heels (yes, he actually said “heels”). Steamboat replied that back in his day, fans cheered the faces almost exclusively. But now that the business has been exposed, people simply cheer who entertains them the most. Dusty followed that up with a humorous quote in true Dusty Rhodes fashion. Unfortunately, that quote escapes me at this time.
The interview wrapped up with the guys plugging the Wrestle Reunion Show in Tampa, FL on January 28th, 29th & 30th. Steamboat said that many legends and other well-known names from the past will be attending. The guys then joked about how they actually got Bruno Sammartino to agree to participate. I’m not sure many in the audience got the significance of that.
Finally, there was some last second hard-selling for the “Best Damn Wrestling Special” on Fox Sports Net, saying that this will be like no other wrestling show ever seen before.
Overall, it was a typical BDSSP interview … extremely casual and not very in-depth. Obviously, the main objective was to promote the big TNA/BDSSP collaboration effort, which they did an admirable job of.
