So Much for Kayfabe...

Many years ago in Atlanta during the Ole Anderson / Ivan Koloff versus Dusty Rhodes and any host of partners, Ole came up with an angle that proved to be a real winner and made a lot of money over a few months. The deal was on a Friday night in Atlanta. I do not remember who Dusty's partner was but it was a partner that had built up over a few weeks and Big Dust had asked for this partner. The interviews were done, the air was explosive and the City Auditorium in Atlanta was sold out. 

Match time in Atlanta was 8:30 p.m.. The announcer made an announcement at 8:30 that Dusty had not arrived, however they were sure that he had probably missed a connection and would arrive in time for his match. The first intermission was after the third match, somewhere around 9:25 p.m.. A second announcement was made that Dusty still had not arrived. As you can imagine the crowd booed, hissed and settled into a strange roar. Two more matches and then the main intermission, just before the main event. A third announcement was made that Dusty was not there.

The bell rings for the main event and out comes Ivan Koloff and Ole Anderson laughing and carrying on like they had raided the safe at Fort Knox. I want to say that Dusty's partner for this match was Stan Hansen (I may be wrong). Stan comes out and says Dusty has not shown up and and he had not called. This was totally out of character for him and something must be wrong . Ole and Ivan demanded a forfeit, to which Stan replied he would wrestle them both and with that the battle was on. Stan fought them both for a short time and then the beating began. Stan was bloodied and beaten and needless to say the fans were getting quite agitated, when suddenly from the side door of the auditorium a bloody, beaten, and clothes tattered figure rushes to the ring. The American Dream rises from the ashes and cleans house, saves  his partner from a further beating and runs the evil duo of Anderson and Koloff away to fight another day (next Friday as a matter of fact). 

Now the rest of the story... 

The angle was Koloff and Anderson jumped Dusty outside his hotel and beat him down so he could not wrestler nor show up at the auditorium.

Dusty's plane arrived in Atlanta at 9:20 PM that night. I met him at the airport and we were to arrive at the auditorium so he could do the run in at exactly 10:25 pm. Most people do not realize how precise some things have to be in order to pull them off. A Bob Hope special on TV was a sixty minute show. They would rehearse for weeks for that sixty minute show. We put our shows together in the dressing room an hour before bell time. This angle required a little more planning and timing, so it was worked out Friday afternoon about 4:00 o'clock. 

Dusty and I arrived at a side parking lot about 10:15. We got out of the car in the dark and I ripped his clothes. He gaffed his head and arms so the blood was flowing pretty good. Upon inspecting him I thought he was ready and we had about five minutes to wait. You wonder about the title to my story...

 Dusty spied a mud puddle in front of the car. He proceeded to roll in the mud and get muddy to the point he could barely see. The combination of the blood, torn clothes and mud made him a ghastly sight. We heard laughter and looked up to find about eight City of Atlanta Firemen standing on a balcony at the back of a firehouse watching everything we had done... so much for kayfabe... 

One other note... All the announcements that Dusty had not showed up?  No one could demand their money back for a failure to appear reason, they were told and they decided to stay...