Match of the Day - The Rhodes Dynasty all or nothing match against The Shield

Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs. The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) - The Rhodes Family's careers on the line - WWE Battleground (2013)

Out of the weakest WWE PPV of 2013 comes one of the best matches of the year, it's the Rhodes brothers taking on the most dominant tag team in a long time, The Shield. If Cody and Goldie lost the match the Rhodes, including Huckleberry Dusty who works for NXT, would have lost their jobs and could never work in WWE again (because the Authority (Stephanie McMahon and Triple H) didn't like them or something (citation needed)).

This match and the whole storyline really was one of the most surprisingly good things to come out of WWE in the past twelve months. It's also the only good thing to come out of the Authority angle. Plus, it jump-started Goldust's withering career, gave us a chance to listen to Dusty Rhodes's insane ramblings, and gave Cody Rhodes something to do now that he has no mustache. The Shield on the other hand, gained more traction as a tag team and all in all just stayed relevant.

PS: This match is also the debut of Goldust's Darth Vader makeup.

Match of the Debut - The debut of Oz

Oz w/ The Great Wizard vs. Tim Parker - WCW SuperBrawl (1991)

In honor of the new Oz movie coming to theaters near you, I present wrestling's answer to the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz: a young 7 foot tall and very green (both in attire and experience) performer named, yep, Oz.

If you are thinking this is one of those gimmicks where the wrestler behind the old wizard mask and cape was eventually phased out of television and never seen again, you would actually be very, very wrong. Yes, Oz flopped like most of Dusty Rhodes's wildly bad ideas, but the man behind the wizard gimmick actually ended up becoming quite the star in both the WWF and WCW after a few more failed attempts at superstardom. Turns out, Oz is one of Kevin Nash's earliest gimmicks in his first run of WCW.

Kevin Nash, like a lot of other wrestlers around his time, recovered from a lot of bad gimmicks to become big name stars. Nash might be the biggest success story as no one else can say that they had to play the wrestling equivalent of Oz: the Great and Powerful.

Hopefully James Franco will have the same luck as Nash and start getting good roles eventually. And hey, I never said Nash was any better at wrestling after this...

Also, why was Nash's manager Merlin the Wizard? This is a question a see a lot online and something that still baffles me today. Maybe the new movie will explain it...

But probably not.

Kinda fun fact: Timothy (Tim) (Britten) Parker is also the name of a stage actor who played Doctor Dillmond in the Broadway production of Wicked, a musical about The Wicked Witch and other pre-Dorothy Wizard of Oz themes.

Match of the Day - America's Dream vs. wrestling's original worst nightmare

Steve Corino vs. Dusty Rhodes  - Bullrope Match - ECW Living Dangerously (2000)

In one of ECW's last hooray's, a rising star named Steve Corino came on board much like CM Punk had with WWECW and quickly began making a name for himself during a time when Extreme Championship Wrestling was on its last leg and had lost most of its original talent. Corino, a wrestler who often criticized hardcore wrestling and called himself "The King of Old School", would find himself in a surprising feud with a true old school competitor in the one and only... "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.

Steve Corino and Dusty Rhodes's feud for "who's the most old school" would eventually be contested at Living Dangerously 2000 in one of Dusty Rhodes's signature matches: the unforgiving Bullrope match. A match that can be called one of, if not thee best matches of TV-era ECW.

In good fashion while getting into the part, Steve Corino would rock the jean plus cowboy boot look that Dusty Rhodes would often sport when going into such a brutal environment whether it be a street fight, a Bullrope match, or any match after the 90's.

Corino may not have won this match after falling victim to The Dream's killer Bionic Elbow, but his feud with Dusty Rhodes that we see displayed here is really what got him over in ECW and eventually led him to Extreme gold.

Their feud would resume once more in 2004 when they faced off in a one on one match for the Japanese promotion, HUSTLE.

Theme results:

Jeans: Dusty Rhodes and Steve Corino

Match of the Day - Scott Hall/Zbyszko + Dusty Rhodes's heel turn

Scott Hall w/Louie Spicolli vs. Larry Zbyszko w/Dusty Rhodes - WCW/NWO Souled Out (1998)

While Scott Hall and Larry Zbyszko's many encounters can be noted all the back to when a very "green" Hall was trying to break out in the wrestling business in the 80's, this particular feud in WCW all began in 1997 when Zbyszko, a commentator at that time, was often on the butt-end of many nWo and Hall jokes and pranks including a segment on Nitro where Hall and his one-man entourage, Louie Spicolli stole Larry's golf clubs and broke them in the middle of the ring.

At first, Larry Zbyszko turned down the offer to face Hall at the end of 1997, but after being "nailed" by Hall and the nWo along with "Easy E" Eric Bischoff on countless occasions, Larry gave in and at Starrcade '97, Zbyszko took on Eric Bischoff in a match where if Bischoff won, he got control of Monday Nitro, but if Larry won, he could finally get his hands on Scott Hall in a match whenever he wanted. Zbyszko would eventually win his bout against Bischoff thanks to the special guest ref, Bret Hart, therefore setting up a match with Hall at Souled Out '98.

Despite Scott Hall often criticizing Larry Zbyszko for being a slow competitor, Larry took it to Hall pretty fast in their match together. It even looked like Larry had it won via submission until Louie "Rad Radford" Spicolli came in to try to help his buddy out (causing the DQ) - luckily for Larry though, Dusty Rhodes was at his side and came in to deliver Spicolli with three atomic elbows (Spicolli sold them like a champ). Rhodes looked to deliver another elbow, this time to Scott Hall, but Hall moved out of the way and Rhodes lit up Larry with the elbow instead. Rhodes didn't seem too upset about what he had done however as he removed his WCW cap and shirt to reveal .. dun dun dun... a black and white nWo shirt!

Thus heel Dusty Rhodes was born! WCW bite that!

Aftermath: Rumor has it that another Larry Zbyszko epic was in the works just after this match... this time against Scott Hall's goon, Louie Spicolli at Superbrawl. Unfortunately, Louie Spicolli passed away a little less than a month after Souled Out and the match never went on.

As for Rhodes and his new role as a heel, he would then manage Scott Hall and the returning Kevin Nash before leaving WCW for a short stint in ECW. Remember that?