Dusty Rhodes is one of the most influential and successful professional wrestlers of all time. He was a force to be reckoned with in the NWA, WWF, and WCW, among the other wrestling promotions he’s been affiliated with. This book, Dusty, came out in 2005. Today, 15 years later, Dusty is no longer with us. In the book he talks about how his son Cody is out in Hollywood trying to be an actor. These parts made me laugh because Cody now runs and wrestles in one of the top professional wrestling promotions in the world. Considering Dusty died just 10 years after this book came out, I’m glad he took the time to write it as it would have been a shame if he hadn’t done so.

My main takeaway from Dusty is that he had a massive ego. I’ve read countless books by wrestlers and Dusty Rhodes comes off as the one who is so full of himself that he borders on delusional. Yes, Dusty Rhodes was a big deal. However, I wouldn’t put him in my top five list of the greatest wrestlers of all time. After reading this book, you’ll assume he thinks he should be number one. If anything, it made me respect him less. Autobiographies shouldn’t do that. They should make you like the person more, not less. So, in that regard this book failed.

The narrator for this audiobook did a serviceable job. However, he regularly mispronounced people’s last names that he shouldn’t have. While I didn’t care for the chapter dedicated to Dusty Rhodes top 10 fans, I did enjoy the one where he created a dream card entitled Starrcade Prime. In this chapter Dusty shared his thoughts on what wrestlers, bookers, managers, and more would ensure the perfect dream card, in his opinion, and why. I found this fascinating because it provided me with a glimpse into his thought process.

Dusty is a good book. It’s not great or excellent, just merely good. Had Dusty Rhodes not come off as such a conceited person in this Audible Original, I probably would have enjoyed it more. But him fanboying over himself was a buzzkill that permeated the entire experience. This book is worth checking out if you go into it with low expectations and an understanding of its shortcomings.