Dustin Rhodes Opens Up About The Worst Decision Of His Life

Dustin Rhodes has opened up about a period of estrangement from his late father, Dusty Rhodes, which he feels is the worst decision of his life. 

In an interview with Chris Jericho on the "Talk Is Jericho" podcast, the AEW star discussed his famed Goldust character in the WWF and how it initially upset his father because he thought former WWE chairman Vince McMahon was trying to embarrass the family.

When McMahon presented Rhodes with the idea for Goldust, he remembered how some thought McMahon humiliated his father by making him wear polka dots when Dusty joined WWE from WCW.

"I had that in the back of my head, like, is he ribbing me for this?" Rhodes said. "But at that point, I had been trying to follow in my dad's footsteps for so long and it was like, 'it's not working man, I have to do something else.' We had a falling out, which was the worst thing, the worst decision of my life ever –- you've got one dad, one mom, so it's good to work things out, right? But we were in that downtime where we weren't speaking to each other and Vince had just called me and he presented that and I just said yes."

Rhodes said his brother Cody Rhodes told a story about their dad seeing the character for the first time. "[Cody] looked back at dad's face, and dad's face was like, 'What ... ?' He didn't know, and now his son is dressed up like this and he said ruining the Rhodes name or the legacy. I don't look at it that way. I just look at it as me stepping into my own shoes and trying to do something on my own, and did it."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Talk Is Jericho" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.