Breaking Down the Greatness of Dusty Rhodes' Famous 'Hard Times' Promo

Dusty Rhodes' impassioned speech about falling on hard times is the pinnacle of the art form that is the pro wrestling promo.

So often, promos are just loud, angry rants filled with promises of ass kicking. With Rhodes' opus, though, he managed to take a tirade directed at an enemy and turn it into a work of theater that feels as relevant today as it did in 1985.

The late Hall of Famer was known for his gift with words. Throughout his career, he worked up the audience with a blend of charisma, wit and self-deprecation. Compile the list of wrestling's all-time best talkers and Rhodes' name is among the top names.

Something about his "hard times" promo struck people even more than his usual array of trash-talking feats, though.

Even now, some 30 years after he delivered it, it's still a common topic among wrestling fans. It's still alive in both memory and imitation form. Musicians 7L & Esoteric sampled (song contains brief NSFW language) the promo in "Ring Music." TV host Maria Menounos recreated it, and Mick Foley's son did his own version as well.

That's a testament to both Rhodes' charisma and to the power of what he said that October night in 1985.

In the midst of a bitter feud with Ric Flair, Rhodes returned to TV after recovering from a beatdown laid out by The Nature Boy and The Four Horsemen. Very early on in the speech, it is a standard monologue about revenge, boosted by Rhodes' masterful work, but still, very much a traditional promo.

He thanks fans for sending him letters while he was injured. He mentions his upcoming title match with Flair. 

And then he widens its scope, moving from just talking about what Flair put him through to talking about the hard times people suffer daily. In addressing the struggles that textile workers and laborers face, the speech begins to encompass more than just a wrestling feud.

Credit: WWE.com

As ESPN's Brian Campbell writes, "Rhodes fully encapsulated every ounce of his charm by endearing himself to blue-collar mid-America."

The key to this promo's success goes beyond the everyman rhetoric; it's built around passion and energy. Those traits married with a sense that Rhodes was being truly honest in that moment for an unforgettable result.

When he says to his audience, "My hand is touching your hand," he's not far off. He creates a connection to the crowd here that sticks. 

Writing for Vice, Ian Williams describes the speech as "intimate in a way that wrestling, for all its posturing and noise, can be when it works." Williams is right. This speech feels as if Rhodes is sharing his vulnerability with those watching.

He lightens the mood, moving from the plight of the proletariat to taking pot shots at his own appearance.

He says, "I admit, I don't look like the athlete of the day is supposed to look. My belly is just a little big. My hiney is just a little big."

No one could have scripted this for him; this was Rhodes tearing open his chest on-camera and allowing us a look inside himself.

The off-the-cuff nature of the performance is a part of that. Rhodes told Steve Austin on The Steve Austin Show that he didn't write any of it beforehand. He just went out there with the basic idea in mind and spilled his guts.

Austin said of the famous speech, "I was drawn to what you were saying because I knew you were feeling what you were saying."

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Not having to work off a script like so many wrestlers have to today contributed to that. The same is true for him not as much playing a character as showcasing an amplified version of his own personality. 

Rhodes' ability to use that exaggerated self to connect was rare. His goal, as he explained it, was to have the audience experience what he did.

He told Stone Cold, "If I'm selling, I want them all selling in the audience. If I'm coming back, I want them all coming back. If I'm bleeding, I want them bleeding. If I win, they win. If I lose, they lose."

That's the heart of what he accomplished with his most revered promo.

Firing off deft lines certainly made this great. "There were two bad people. One was John Wayne and he's dead, brother. The other one's right here," is the kind of remark that writers dream about composing.

A fervent delivery, his signature lisp and a red-hot crowd bolstered this performance as well.

In the end, though, its success is a result of him having the fans feel like he was fighting for them, that when he went after Flair, when he sought out the world title, he was doing it in their name with them in mind. Rhodes was the squared circle's blue-collar superhero and this was his call to battle.