After a ref bump, with Race lying prone on the mat, Rhodes trapped him in the spinning toehold for several seconds, with Race appearing to submit. Another referee made his way to ringside, but by then both men were battling outside the ring, and the match was officially ruled a double count out. Rhodes claimed to have been robbed once again and had now beaten the NWA Champion with not only his figure four, but also his spinning toehold. "Stardust" said that it was now only a matter of time before he "brings the big one home!" 

Adding to the bad blood that had already existed between them, Rhodes had claimed for years that he "softened" Funk up for Race's title win in Toronto.  Rhodes had wrestled Funk the night before he lost the strap, in St. Petersburg on Feb. 5, 1977, and severely damaged his knee with the figure four leglock. Funk limped into Toronto where Race applied the Indian Deathlock to an already injured knee and walked from the ring with the gold. Funk had blamed Rhodes numerous times for him losing his title, and Race even acknowledged this controversy in an interview with the Florida wrestling program, "The Grapevine." 

Rhodes spent the summer of 1979 chasing Race, as well as battling Sonny King and his "Army" of King Curtis, Pak Song, Don "Magnificent" Muraco, Jos LeDuc, and others on CWF turf. On August 21, 1979, Rhodes and Race met once again, this time in Tampa. It had been just over a decade since the last NWA Title change in Tampa, when Dory Funk, Jr. defeated Gene Kiniski on February 11, 1969. Back then, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship meant something. The belt changed hands only once every couple of years, often even longer than that, and not at every TV taping. Long before the days of pay-per-view and the Internet, a World title changing hands was considered a special event, and CWF was about to see two spectacular changes in less than a week. 

Rhodes finally achieved his goal and captured his first of three NWA Championships on that balmy August night. In what was described as "a delirious standing room only crowd," Rhodes and Race battled fiercely in and out of the ring for over twenty minutes. "Stardust" gained the victory when Race came off the top rope with an attempted headbutt, only to meet his opponent's "Bionic Elbow" instead. After several more elbows, Rhodes pinned Race and was crowned the new NWA Champion. Fans filled the ring and celebrated with "The American Dream." "My people did it for me," Rhodes shouted following his victory, "and I did it for them. I said I was going to bring the big one home, and I did!" 

Rhodes made his first official appearance as NWA World Champion on Championship Wrestling From Florida the next day in Tampa on August 22. He was introduced by "Dean" Gordon Solie and footage of his victory was shown on television. Rhodes went on to wrestle his first match as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion that evening in Miami Beach, teaming with Sweet Brown Sugar to face two of the scariest heels the state of Florida had ever seen, Jos LeDuc and King Curtis. Rhodes and Sugar proved to be victorious, with Rhodes scoring the win over Curtis.  

Rhodes made his first official title defense on August 23, 1979, in Key West, in a return match against Harley Race. Rhodes' first defense would turn out to be successful as he defeated Race in fourteen minutes. His second title defense came two days later on August 25, in St. Petersburg. He faced his old nemesis, Terry Funk, once again in the Bayfront Center where they had battled in the past for the NWA Title. But this time Rhodes was Champion, and Funk was the challenger. The match was brutal and bloody with Funk battering Rhodes outside the ring on the timekeeper's table. Both men returned to the ring and Rhodes caught Funk with a drop-kick and got a quick two count.  Rhodes then went for his spinning toehold, but was caught by Funk in an inside cradle for another two count. The challenger then put the spinning toehold on Rhodes, but he also was caught in an inside cradle for yet another 2 count. Rhodes would win the match after pinning Funk cleanly in the ring. Rhodes defended his World Title on a three PM afternoon show the next day in Jacksonville on August 26, pinning Don "Magnificent" Muraco. He then headed down to Orlando and the Orlando Sports Stadium to defend his belt against Race the same evening. 

The second return match between Rhodes and Race had a special stipulation.  The Disqualification rule had been waived, meaning that if the Champion gets himself DQ'd for any reason, he'd forfeit the title back to Race. As Rhodes and Race stood in the ring waiting for the match to begin, Rhodes was attacked by a crazed Terry Funk. Funk, looking for revenge after the St. Petersburg match in 1977 where Rhodes had injured and cost him the NWA Title, attacked The Dream's arm. Rhodes suffered what would later be announced as a fracture of the ulna, which is one of two bones connecting the elbow to the wrist. Race took full advantage of the injury throughout the match, as the Champion struggled to retain his newly won crown. Rhodes gutted out the match, though his "bionic elbow" had been immobilized by Funk's actions. Race went for a piledriver, and Rhodes instinctively lifted his opponent up and backdropped him over the top rope, causing an automatic disqualification. Rhodes' five day reign as NWA Champion had ended with a disqualification loss, and Race began his third tenure as the NWA Titleholder. 

Funk would claim that he had finally gotten even with Rhodes for costing him the NWA Championship two and a half years earlier. To add insult to injury, Rhodes had been forced to vacate the Florida Title as well as the Florida Television Title upon winning the NWA strap. Ironically, Funk would be the victor of a tournament to decide a new Florida Champion, defeating Steve Keirn in the finals.  

Rhodes took off very little time until making his comeback, and when he returned he would be sporting a cast on his right forearm. Against the objections of Terry Funk and Harley Race, the NWA would set forth a ruling deciding to allow Rhodes to actively compete sporting the cast. Funk claimed that Rhodes would use the cast as a weapon, which turned out to be a completely accurate prediction, and that the NWA's ruling was unfair. Rhodes returned to Florida rings, feuding with not only Funk, but also the remnants of what was once Sonny King's "Army." "Stardust" would continue to chase the NWA title, and in Atlanta on June 21, 1981, twenty-two months to the day of his first victory, he would defeat Race once again to begin his second reign as champion. 

For more information on Dusty Rhodes or Harley Race, visit www.dustyrhodes.net, and www.harleyrace.com.

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