Vince McMahon's First Pick For WWE Champion Was Dusty Rhodes, Not Hulk Hogan

Vince wanted to strap a rocket on Dusty's back.

Dariel Figueroa | Oct 3, 2024

IMAGO / Newscom World

In a 2023 interview on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg, Cody Rhodes said his father, Dusty Rhodes, told him he was Vince McMahon's original pick for WWE champion when he took over the company. McMahon was on a warpath to expand WWE at the time and needed a charismatic wrestler to front his organization as he pushed into enemy territories.

As a kid, hearing that story from Dusty, I didn't believe it. I'm watching VHS videos of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior and I thought it was his way of catching up, 'I was really special too,' he didn't need to do that, but everyone has an ego. Come to find out, one day I'm sitting by the ring, this is before I left, I'm still doing Stardust, Vince told me the exact story. How mad he was that Dad left and he was going to give him the whole world and he wanted him to be the Hogan and all this.
- Cody Rhodes

MORE: WWE Legends Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels Weigh In On Vince Vs. Mr. McMahon Debate

In Netflix's recently released Mr. McMahon docu-series, Vince McMahon opened up publicly about his intentions for The American Dream, confirming that he considered him first choice for next WWE champion.

"Okay, there was Dusty Rhodes as a possibility," McMahon said in a sit-down inteview with the docu-series filmmakers. Rhodes unfortunately declined the invitation, McMahon adding that "Dusty did not take advantage of the opportunity."

"I had only ever been told by my father that he just didn't believe in it," Cody Rhodes said in Mr. McMahon. "It seemed too large of an endeavor."

MORE: Hulk Hogan on Dusty Rhodes: ‘He Was The Main Reason I Got Focused on Pro Wrestling’

Vince McMahon eventually turned to Hulk Hogan to help lead WWE's charge into the pop-culture zeitgeist. Hulkamania became the expanding promotion's rally cry as it tore a path through the country and into every living room. Things probably worked out exactly as they should have, but it's fun to think what Dustymania would have looked like.

Dariel Figueroa joined On SI and The Takedown in 2024. He previously served as senior features writer at Uproxx, and has written for Heavy, Fansided, and Paste. Figueroa graduated with a double bachelor’s from Rowan University in journalism and multimedia production, respectively. You can follow him on X (fmr. Twitter) @figgyflow.

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