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Dusty  By  cover art

Dusty

By: Dusty Rhodes,Howard Brody
Narrated by: Kerry Woodrow
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Editorial reviews

Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr,. is a wrestler (and former journalist) better known as Dusty Rhodes, "The American Dream". Dusty, written with Howard Brody, is the story of a man whose dreams have come true through a larger-than-life career.

In chatty, expletive-laden prose, Rhodes takes the listener from his first wrestling match to the heights of the sport, and includes accounts of his friendships with other famous wrestlers like Andre the Giant and his rival Ric Flair.

Kerry Woodrow tells Rhodes’ story with a deep southern drawl and a conversational tone.

Publisher's summary

There has been much said about Dusty Rhodes, the 'American Dream', over the years by both his fans and peers. Aside from the frequent fictional prose penned by wrestling magazine journalists and internet smart marks that run rumor-mill websites, however, there has not been much written about him. Until now.

With the exception of a select few, there has been no bigger name or personality in the annals of pro wrestling history than Dusty Rhodes. Of those few, none of them can claim the compelling back story Rhodes shares in Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream of an industry plagued with political loyalties and disloyalties, greedy promoters, manipulative bookers, destructive personalities, multi-millionaires, and great leaders. Behind the "million-dollar smile" and the million dollar gate receipts is a man with a story to tell - not just of tall tales, yarns, and fabrications, but of a life filled with aspirations, dreams, disappointments, challenges, controversies, angst, conflict, success, and reflection.

Dusty: Reflections of an American Dream is the story of a transformation from mediocrity to superstardom. It is the story of how the boy Virgil Runnels Jr. became the man Dusty Rhodes and truly lived the 'American Dream'. This is his story.

©2005, 2006, 2012 Dusty Rhodes and Howard Brody (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

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What listeners say about Dusty

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 Stars
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

What a horrible job

The narrorater ruined this book, he butchered every name he tried to say. Who ever was in charge of the audio version should be ashamed

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

terrible narrator

stories were great, narrator was awful. get Bruce Prichard to read it in Dustys voice

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Decent at best

Some good stories in this book. A little too much background on his time growing up. But overall a good book. However, the narrator is just plain awful. He clearly had no knowledge about the wresting business or the people in it. He mispronounced many names in the book. Really took away from the enjoyment of the book.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • dj
  • 08-07-14

Do not waste your time

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Kerry Woodrow?

No

Any additional comments?

If you are going to narrate a book at least research the subject matter. I know this is not Shakespeare or Austen but for the love of God at least learn how to pronounce the names of the characters.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, horrible narration.

I liked the stories and the writing style, but the narrator was absolutely awful. Not only did he mispronounce most of the names (e.g. Ted DiBiase [DEE-Be-YAH-See] he says "Ted DeBase." Additionally, he tries to do the voices of the people who are quoted, but shouldn't even bother if he isn't going to sound anything like them (KEVIN SULLIVAN HAS A THICK BOSTON ACCENT. JIM ROSS IS AN OKLAHOMAN WITH BELL'S PALSY. JUST STOP.)
All in all, I enjoyed the stories, but if Kerry Woodrow is featured on other books, I will avoid them like the grating plague his voice made this listen.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The American Dream

man I wish the dream read this himself. long live the American dream dusty rhodes

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not really a book, more a collection of stories

If you're expecting a comprehensive book of Dusty's career this will leave you extremely disappointed. This is more a collection of stories from over the years. The book jumps all over the place, repeats itself a lot and isn't read very well. With that said, some of the stories are really interesting and some are very funny.

As I said the reader isn't very good -- he reads in what I guess he must thinks Dusty sounds like since it's sort of a Texas drawl -- of course if you're getting this book you know Rhodes sounds nothing like a typical Texian so it doesn't make much sense. Also the additional voices, which I know are done so you can seperate who is talking, are for the most part really bad. Finally he mispronounces numerous names and locations. With all that said I'll still give him 3-stars since if he did a straight read I think it would have been even worse since this book is written at a pretty low level.

So overall just know what you're getting, a collection of stories. If you can accept that you'll probably enjoy much of the book - but it's still quite disappointing that someone with so much knowledge of the industry would produce such a poor effort.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Horrible reader

Story is good, the guy reading it does a horrible job trying to sound like Dusty. If you don’t understand Dusty and his family it is slightly condescending.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Bio... If You Will!!!

It was an ok bio. Would have liked more in ring stories. The narrator is at times so bad it makes it "good". It made me lol at the various name pronunciations. For example, the guy had at least 3 or 4 different ways to say Jarrett. And let's not forget the classic Bis-ch-off

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good book, TERRIBLE narration

Great stories from one of the all time greats in wrestling. The narrator though may be THE WORST of all time. He reads in a fake, overly exaggerated southern accent with mispronunciations galore. He obviously did ZERO research on how to pronounce names, towns, etc. Just GOD AWFUL.

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1 person found this helpful