USPW - Dusty Wynter; last of a dying breed?

[sheepy]

Dusty Wynter – The Man Behind The Powerhouse (Part 1)

 

Dusty Wynter, a wrestling champion from wrestling’s early heydays and now one of the most decorated head bookers in the business today. Over this two part special, we will be taking a look at the man who took started Sam Strong on his way to immortality, presided over the most controversial match in SWF history, took TCW to within touching distance of the SWF and is now setting about doing the same with Sam Strong’s USPW.

 

In this edition we will be looking back at the match which proved to be the pinnacle of his career and the toll it took on him. We will find out what was going through Dusty’s mind as he secured the 1,2,3 over Corporal Doom in one of the hottest matches wrestling had seen up to that point. We will also get the man’s thoughts on what proved to be a short lived title reign as factors beyond his control spiralled out of control and lead to him being forced into retirement just 6 months after being crowned the SWF champion.

 

All the trials, the tribulations, the highs and the lows behind what made Dusty one of the most important head bookers in North American History.

 

 

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Dusty Wynter - "It was weird to be cheered for, for the first time in my career the fans wanted to cheer for Dusty Wynter"

 

 

And so the scene was set, February 1980, a packed out arena gathered to watch Dusty Wynter going up against the most hated man in wrestling at that point, Corporal Doom. Dusty himself had often played the heel however back in October 1979, after Dusty earned the right to a title shot he was brutally taken out by Corporal Doom leading to a face turn and a four month long pursuit featuring countless beat downs at the hands of Doom before finally getting the one on one title shot he had earned.

 

This all culminated in February where he finally got his shot at Doom and the SWF Title

 

“It was weird to be cheered for, for the first time in my career the fans wanted to cheer for Dusty Wynter. Of course if I was up against anyone else but Doom they’d have been all over me but they loathed the guy, real straight out loathed him. If you wanted to see heel heat then this was it at its best. You could have put Ronald Regan in the ring with him and the fans would have cheered him justcause they wanted to see Doom lose so bad!”

 

 

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Corporal Doom - "You could have put Ronald Regan in the ring with him and the fans would have cheered him just cause they wanted to see Doom lose so bad!”

 

 

The bell rung and the two men began started out on what would become the defining match in Dusty’s career and cement Doom as one of the promotion’s greats...

 

“When the crowd’s that hot you feed of the emotion. It lifted both our games. There was nothing more either of us could have given. If any of the guys ask me ‘Dusty, what’s the best match you ever had’ the answer’s always the same. Back then getting title shots used to mean a lot more and hell I’d earned it and the fans wanted to see me finally getting my shot after being taken out so many times before.

 

“That’s smart booking. You create a pursuit that becomes more than just a title shot. It becomes a journey and the fans get to come along on the ride, through all the highs and all the lows. That’s the difference between now and then. Now it’s all about hot shotting titles around like there ain’t no tomorrow.

 

“Na, this meant something. The fans were emotionally invested and me and Barry (Doom) both knew if we delivered this would go down as the greatest rivalry in wrestling history. Some would crumble under that pressure but me and Barry loved every second. Ask him what his favourite match of all time was and he’d say this one. It was a masterclass...”

 

 

What followed was 19 minutes and 17 seconds of bare knuckle brawling with both men being left battered and bruised by the end of the match...

 

 

“Fans back then didn’t come to see suplexes and fellas jumping off the top rope. They wanted real stories. Two guys who were generally beating the crap out of each other cause they loathed each other’s guts. They wanted to see guys pummelling the **** out of each other and then coming back for more. One bloke gets tired cause he’s been beating the crap out of the other guy for too long and then the other guy getting a chance cause the dude who was doing the beating ain’t got the strength in his arms to continue.

 

That’s psychology. You work on that. The momentum swings one way and then straight back the other way. You play on people getting tired. You play on people getting injured. You don’t disguise it, you get injured during the match you bloody well want the world to know about it so the other guy can get heat by working it over.”

 

 

Dusty did pick up an injury in the match...

 

 

“Yeah I blew my knee around the 14 minute mark. Heh, still dunno what it was, we didn’t get doctors in back in those days, just a couple of bottle of bears and you walk it off. I think Barry looked down at me as I was clutching it after coming off a power slam awkwardly. Go figure, one the simplest moves to pull off and I manage to get me knee all twisted up.

 

So anyway, Barry’s there staring at me as I’m clutching it nearly in tears. For a moment he’s clearly thinking what the f’ do I do now. I look at him and for about 2/3 seconds we just stare at each other. Then he kicks me in the knee and the fans boo like crap. I never thanked him for that but that kick probably made it the greatest match the decade saw!”

 

 

For another 4 and 32 seconds minutes Dusty battled on, working through the pain barrier until finally the finish came.

 

 

“It was supposed to be a much cleaner ending but due to my knee being shot to **** I couldn’t set him up for my finisher. Coming up with something on the fly wasn’t the easiest when you can’t barely stand.

 

For most of my career I’d been using the low blow / running punt to the head combination. It weren't spectacular or pretty but the fans hated it and it had got me over as a heel - no one had ever kicked out of it. Since I’d been set up for the face turn it had been phased out and I hadn’t used it in months but in a moment of desperation I figured, why the hell not. I ain’t much good for anything else at this point and the fans were so wrapped up in the drama they’d probably cheer if I took a two by for to him!”

 

It was probably the least convincing punt you’ll ever see. I could barely walk over to him let along take a decent swing. Barry however sold it like I’d taken a baseball bat to him. After the match we joked about how he could sell a fly landing on him like he was hit by a car.

 

Thankfully the fans were so into it they didn’t notice. I think that’s probably the loudest cheer a low blow has ever got and they were so wrapped up in the moment I could have missed completely and they would have believed it.”

 

 

Dusty on one leg dropped to the floor to cover Doom and three seconds later had been crowned SWF champion for the first and last time in his life...

 

 

“The fans went wild. You don’t get moments like that. Never. Winning that title is a once in a life time kind of deal. I’ll never forget how Richard gave me that opportunity, never. Everything since then don’t tarnish the fact he set me on the way to becoming the most over worker in North America in February 1980”

 

 

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SWF World Heavyweight Title - Back then getting title shots used to mean a lot more and hell I’d earned it and the fans wanted to see me finally getting my shot after being taken out so many times before.

 

 

Unfortunately for Dusty though the knee injury didn’t go away. This coupled with the fans being reluctant to cheer him against any wrestler other than Doom and the later emergence of Sam Strong led to him losing the title only three months later...

 

 

“It was bad luck on two counts. One my knee blew up and two, I don’t think the fans could really accept me as a face. Against Doom it was different and had we not had the tainted ending maybe it would have been a different story...”

 

 

Richard has since gone on record as stating that the plan was always to put the title on Strong.

 

 

“So here I was as a champ without any heel opponents. Barry was out soon with a pretty bad injury he picked up at a show somewhere in Delaware and I was left without the perfect foil and in pretty terrible shape. At the same time Sam was coming riding a wave of momentum. Richard wanted to create a new fan favourite for the next 20 years and Sam fitted the bill. You never know, maybe if things had been different I coulda been the one in his shoes.”

 

 

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Sam Strong - "Richard wanted to creat a new fan favourite for the next 20 years and Sam fitted the bill"

 

 

Dusty faced Sam in what would go down as a disappointing match and one of the last matches Dusty would compete in the ring.

 

 

“The knee was in pretty bad shape and I could barely walk let alone wrestle. The booking team did a great job disguising this. Sam couldn’t target the knee as he was the face and the face targeting my knee would have turned the fans against him. The plan was 13 minutes of back and forth before I tried the same finish as the last month, low blow punt to the head. We had to cut this down to 7 minutes as I just couldn’t take much more.

 

I’d revereted back to my heel roots soon after winning the title, more out of necessity than anything else. I set him up for the low blow and the punt, connecting with Sam’s cranium. I go down for the 1,2,3 and Sam, this new up and comer, kicks out from a move that no one had kicked out from before. It had put out top wrestlers for months but now, for the first time ever someone had kicked out of it. The arena went wild”

 

 

The fans had a new hero as the reign of Dusty drew to a close...

 

 

"Sam then powers back, hits his finisher, 1,2,3 the fans go wild and they have a new hero. Barry came back a few months later and feuded with Sam for a while, really setting him on the path to immortality. I came in for a few guest spots alongside Barry to cement Sam as the underdog able to overcome the odds but truth be told I was pretty much done in the ring.”

 

 

Dusty was forced to permanently retire 5 months later having wrestled only 4 matches in total since his win over Doom...

 

 

“Was it sad, course it was. When you’ve been at those heights to then disappear off the face of the earth in a matter of months was a terrible way to go. At the end of the day though I can say, I was the champ, I wrestled in one of the greatest matches seen in the SWF and I set Sam Strong on his way to becoming the most over wrestler in wrestling history.

 

 

That’s not something you can take away from me. Not even time will fade that memory.”

 

 

And so Dusty had to set off on a new chapter of his life.

 

 

“I looked at some things, announcing, being a manager. I’d cut decent promos in my time but at the end of the day I’d gotten to where I was by being a no darn good scumbag. That’s great for a wrestler but not really something you can get over with as a manager.”

 

 

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Richard Eisen - "Were it not for him I could have been left on the wrestling scrap heap for the crows."

 

 

With Dusty seemingly headed for the wrestling wilderness Richard made him an offer of helping out backstage as a road agent.

 

 

“That’s probably the second thing I’ve gotta be really thankful to Richard for. Were it not for him I could have been left on the wrestling scrap heap for the crows. He gave me the chance to work behind the scenes, a chance that eventually lead me to becoming the head booker for the SWF...”

 

 

 

In Next Month's Edition

 

On Christian Faith

 

“I said to Richard, Christian Faith will carry this company for the next 20 years if you give him the shot. He looked at me and said, ‘you may have been a great wrestler but you don’t know a damn about who’s gonna carry this promotion’!

 

Two months later he put the title on him and look where he is now.”

 

 

On Nemesis vs. Cornell and his departure from the SWF

 

“He was yelling at me over and over, literally I thought he was gonna have a heart attack there and then. I couldn’t get a word in edge ways. I’d told him Nemesis was a loose wire months back and he should have canned him. Richard wasn’t having any of it. He pinned the whole thing on me and I was out the door faster than you can say bloodbath”

 

On Shane Sneer's SCCW

 

“Two years to the day, some upstart called Shane Sneer calls me and offers me the book. I ask him why the hell should I work for a punk like him? He asks me if I’d looked at my bank balance recently. Turns out he’d gone to my bank manager and managed to sweat talk his way into finding out my financial position so he could blackmail me into the job....

 

... Kid was clever and you could see he’d go far. Booking SCCW was the best 3 years of my life. I’d never had so much fun as I did back then. Really when I look back I shouldn’t have left for the SWF but when Richard comes knocking you don’t say no.”

 

 

 

On Eric Eisen and his second departure from the SWF

 

“The kids a jackass. He made the call, not Richard. Do I wish Richard had fought for me? Yeah, why the hell not but let’s get this clear, all this stuff with Richard and me ain’t nothing. He gave me the break and I had a lot of respect for him. Eric? Kid was still in his diapers and he’s made the decision to cut my head off just six months after joining? What, cause I didn’t wanna give him a title shot?

 

Kid’s a spoilt jackass who’ll no talk his way into winning the SWF title someday."

 

 

On appearing in TCW just 3 months later

 

“They were doing any and everything they could do raise their profile so ‘stealing’ the SWF’s head booker was right on their to do list. I don’t think Tommy really wanted me and Sam talked him into it. Don’t get me wrong, Tommy’s a hell of a guy. He’s been there and done everything. Guy’s got a great mind for the business and no doubt someday, when jackass Eisen is champ they’ll finally overtake the SWF"

 

 

On Sam Strong's USPW revolution

 

“Sam came in with all these ideas for this little promotion called USPW. I knew of them as we’d signed Rick Law from them not so long ago. I knew Doom was working down there as well so thought I'd pop along and seen what was happening.

 

When Sam decided to take them over I was a bit shocked. Sure they stuck to the old fashioned basics we’d been delivering 30 years ago but they didn’t have the makings of a phenom waiting to happen. The enthusiasm Sam had for this made me sit up and take notice. You should have heard him, first we’re gonna get Bruce back, then we’re gonna sign Dread, Peter’s already on his way, then we can sort something out with Rip... he just went on and on.

 

Three years later and here we are. The number three wrestling promotion in North America sporting a main event of Bruce The Giant, James Justice, Peter Valentine, Enygma and Tyson Baine. You’ve gotta hand it to Sam, when he says he’s gonna do something he don’t half do it!”