Dusty Rhodes And Not Hulk Hogan Was Vince McMahon’s First Choice To Become WWE Champion

In a 2023 interview on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg, Cody Rhodes revealed that his father, Dusty Rhodes, had once told him that Vince McMahon initially wanted Dusty to be WWE champion when he took control of the company.

At the time, McMahon was aggressively expanding WWE’s reach and needed a charismatic figure to lead the charge as he moved into rival territories.

“As a kid, I didn’t really believe it,” Cody admitted. “I was watching VHS tapes of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior and thought maybe Dad was just trying to stay relevant, like, ‘I was special too.’ He didn’t need to do that, but everyone has an ego. Later, before I left WWE while I was still doing Stardust, Vince actually told me the same story. He was upset that Dad left and said he was ready to make him the next Hogan and give him everything.”

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This story was further confirmed in the recently released Netflix documentary series about Vince McMahon, where McMahon himself admitted Dusty Rhodes was his first choice to become WWE champion.

In a sit-down interview for the docuseries, McMahon shared that Dusty was considered a “possibility” but ultimately passed on the opportunity. “Dusty did not take advantage of it,” McMahon remarked.

Cody, in the documentary, added that his father had always explained his decision by saying he “didn’t believe in it” and thought the venture was too ambitious.

Eventually, McMahon turned to Hulk Hogan, who would go on to lead WWE’s explosive rise to fame, with Hulkamania becoming the company’s battle cry as it spread across the country and into households everywhere. Cody reflected that things probably unfolded as they were meant to, but it’s intriguing to imagine what “Dustymania” might have looked like.

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