Bailey Guardado

My audience is blue collar workers.

Thats Hard Times

If you were to write a top 5 list of best wrestling promos of all time, Dusty Rhodes

Hard Times promo would be up in the top 3. On October 29, 1985, Dusty Rhodes, coming

back from an injury at the hands of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Heavyweight

Champion, Ric Flair, gave his Hard Times speech. This speech, also known as a promo, is

recognized as one of the greatest promos in the history of wrestling. Dusty Rhodes argument is

based on one simple idea, that the problems in the lives of working class citizens in America

were being ignored for the wealthy, and the growth of what we know now as the economy today.

Rhodes use of ethos, pathos and logos make this promo one of the most hard hitting and truthful

promos in the world of profession wrestling and sports entertainment.

At the start of the promo, he immediately establishes his ethos. He starts off somewhat

level headed, thanking the reporter and promoter in a calm, yet firm way, establishing himself as

a face character, or good guy. The ethos in his promo is most relevant in the quote, ...and I

admit, I dont look like the athlete of the day supposed to look. My bellys just a lil big, my

heinys just a lil big, ... His slick southern drawl and his look give credibility to his position and

his argument. Immediately after the self-deprecation, he then reminds everyone that he is, in his

own words bad. And they know Im bad. There were two bad peopleOne was John Wayne

and hes dead brother, and the others right here. He was able to overcome his injury at the

hands of Flair in order to come back and take Ric Flairs championship. Not only his words, but

his emotions lend to the argument even more so.

 His pathos is most apparent in the part that can be seen as Dustys argument. He starts by

comparing the prejudice and damage administered onto him by Ric Flair, to that of the blue-

collar worker in a hastily ever-changing America. This connects him to the audience as a

sympathetic face, fighting with the everyday Joes and Bobs against the evil Flair. His emotions

turn from the firm, temperate man at the start of the promo, to throwing sharp spears of fury and

repulsion. Hard times are when the textile workers around this country are outta work, they got

4 or 5 kids and they cant pay their wages, cant buy their food. Hard times are when the auto

workers are out of work and they tell them go home, and hard times are when a man has worked

at a job 30 years, 30 years they give him a watch kick him in the butt and say hey, a computer

took your place daddy. Thats hard times, that's hard times, and Ric Flair, you put hard times on

this country by takin' Dusty Rhodes out, that's hard time, and we all had hard times together.

These situations show the unfairness of the white-collar workers to the blue-collar workers of the

time. He uses these raw emotions to hammer into the audience and almost perfectly mirror how

unfair Flairs championship reign and deeds against Rhodes have been. Doing this, he uses

pathos to establish an emotional gumbo for the audience to cook in before they can decide on

their opinion, getting them on his side in his fight against Flairs injustice.

The use of the plight of the working class connecting to Dusty Rhodes plight establishes

the final pillar of an argument, logos. After establishing himself with the audience as a

representative of the American people, he states that the person who holds the title around Ric

Flairs waist should be a person that represents the working class, and that person is Dusty

Rhodes. Nature Boy Ric Flair, the Worlds Heavyweight title belongs to these people. This is

the turning point in his speech where the World Heavyweight title becomes the prize for all blue-

collar men and women; an achievement for them to show off and live through Dusty Rhodes.
 Throughout the entire promo, Rhodes plight becomes the American peoples plight, and

vice versa. And on July 26, 1986, Dusty made right on his promise to the working class and won

the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in Greensboro, NC.

This time when I take it daddy, Im gon take it for you. Lets gather for it. Dont let me down

now, cause I came back for you, for that man upstairs that died 10-12 years ago and never got

the opportunity to see a real Worlds Champion. Dustys powerful words still echo though the

halls of pro wrestling, still seen today as the squared circles blue-collar superhero.