I wish I could have wrestled back in that era of the NWA with my dad. Real old-school style.
— Goldust
The past is history. I can't change any of that.
I've had my day in the sunshine with wrestling.
I've had a WrestleMania moment.
Eventually, and thanks to my dad, I started working for Total Nonstop Action for $1,000 a show. He was the boss, right under Dixie Carter. TNA wasn't doing too well at that point, but I had a job making okay money.
Before Dad passed, we talked so much about the Goldust character, what it grew into, and how much he was proud of it.
I came out of my mother's womb wanting to be a professional wrestler. But then notoriety and stardom happened, and I started getting cocky.
I'm not going to retire until I win the NWA World Heavyweight Title, the same belt my dad had. I'm going to win that title before I hang it up.
I try not to forecast the future and look down the road as far as my wrestling, because it's there. All I have to do is walk in a ring and light up the crowd.
The backstage stuff is not for everybody. I'm very hands on; I like to train and teach young guys now because there's so many of them. There are certain ways to do things, to get crowd reactions and sell your emotions and sell stories.
I've wrestled just about everybody there is to wrestle, done just about every character reincarnation that I can come up with.
The wrestling community loves the Rhodes Family - not only loves them, but we know what we're doing.
If anything, I was the definite edge of the spear into The Attitude Era, I believe, so it was way before its time, the stuff I was doing, and it kind of set the tone for what was to come.
Push yourself to the limits, and you'll be John Cena, you'll be C.M. Punk, instead of complaining about other people that have done so, so much in the business.
I'm kind of a lone-wolf type of person.
Chicago, to me, is the best wrestling crowd on the planet. They are the best. They are loud, they are ruthless, and they will tear you down if you let them.
There are times when I wish I would have gotten a degree, but the past is history, and tomorrow's a mystery.
My dad is to professional wrestling what Babe Ruth was to baseball - he's an icon. Working with him and having him around as I try to get this new character over with the fans has been a major help.
I never could have imagined or dreamed where my career would be taking me the way it has with the Goldust character. It's awesome.
My sister, Kristin Ditto, was a part of the Cowboys organization from 1998 to 2000 as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
I've done everything that there is to do in this business.
A dual-sport champion, man. That's unheard of and pretty impressive, man.
I am Dusty's son, but I learned the hard way I was never going to be 'The American Dream.' That was difficult for me, and I made some molehills into mountains.
I want to be World Heavyweight Champion, but unfortunately, that didn't happen.
Working heel works different for me, being Dustin Rhodes for so many years and then a giant switch of a character and everything.
At the beginning of me getting out of rehab and thinking about going back to work, I was scared because I didn't know if I could do this clean and sober.
You talk to the boss about your ideas and things like that, and all he can say is yes or no. I mean, you don't open your mouth, you don't give him your ideas, you're not really trying.
If you want to shake a hand, if you want a story, I'll be more than happy to sit down with you and talk with you. It's what I love to do.
As far as children out there that hate their moms and dads, just get over it, because you get one dad and one mom. You know, suck it up. Learn something.
You might be sitting at NXT for six years. But, if you're sitting there at NXT for six years, and they haven't called you to the main roster, then you're not doing something right. That's just my opinion.
I love the wrestling business. The wrestling business will never die. It will be around forever.
Goldust is a singular character. I don't need to be put with anybody.
I go to the gym twice a day. I take no days off. I do three days of DDP Yoga, and I do Pilates twice a week. Every day, I've got some kind of program.
Dad lived such a hectic, hard life on the road, and I didn't get to spend as much time with him as I would have liked.
I just take it a day at a time, and that's how I get through each day.
You can't live in someone else's shoes; you've got to branch out and fill your own shoes.
Pay-per-views and television are so fast-paced. It's very hectic.
It took me a long time to get my life screwed up, and it's going to take a long time to get it back.
You have Superstars, and then you have mega Superstars. Brock Lesnar is a mega Superstar.
I've kept evolving the character. At first, you hated Goldust with a passion, then you laughed with him.
It's no easy job being a World Heavyweight Champion; these guys like Cena, Sheamus, these guys are modeled around that and are champs for a reason.
That's how I live my life now, just day-by-day.
I had been hired and fired so many times and been so very blessed and lucky.
Tell a story. You don't have to do a thousand things in two minutes when you can do one just as good and still tell that story with your face or how you land or your reaction. That's a lost art. Storytelling is a big part of our industry, and if given time, you can do it properly.
Everyone makes mistakes along the way, but we learn from our mistakes.
Savio Vega kept pushing me, pushing me, as he was teaching me, too, how to be a heel and things. And how to... 'Let's just try this tonight: just, we'll lock up, you'll go behind me, rub up and down my chest.'
I've had stuff pulled for me on big shows and stuff like that. You can get frustrated all you want, but the show must go on, and there are reasons for it.
At first, when we had the Golden Truth, it was fun - but it was always in the back of my head that I'm destined for so much more. I can be so much better than this, than the old comedy act that they want me to be.
The fans really have never concerned me.
Here are the five guys I learned the business from: Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Bobby Eaton. Those guys taught me how to do everything in the ring. I learned so much from each of them.
