The Godwinns Highlight Dusty Rhodes' Positive Impact On Their Careers

Fans of wrestling in the 1990s will undoubtedly remember The Godwinns — together they held the WWE Tag Team Championship twice, and wrestled the likes of Mankind and Vader, the Road Warriors, and many more. Like many of today's top wrestling talent, the Godwinns count Dusty Rhodes as a major influence on their careers, specifically citing the period of time they were in WCW together. The two discussed Rhodes' influence on their careers while appearing on the "Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling" podcast.

"Dusty gave us [those names]," Mark "Henry O. Godwinn" Canterbury said regarding their WCW monikers, Shanghai Pierce and Tex Slazenger. According to Canterbury, Rhodes was a big fan of Western films, and took inspiration from the genre when coming up with the names and characters for the two newcomers. Canterbury stated that he and his partner would hang out with Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, and Terry Funk, absorbing as much wrestling knowledge as possible from each man.

According to Dennis "Phineas I. Godwinn" Knight, it was Dusty who first gave him a shot in the business, booking him at a promotion down in Florida and later bringing him into WCW. From there, Knight began teaming up with Canterbury, and the two eventually made their way to WWE together, wrestling as The Godwinns and eventually as Southern Justice. Unfortunately, an injury led to Canterbury ending his full-time wrestling career early, and The Godwinns never fully reached the same heights as some other WWE tag teams around that period of time, such as the New Age Outlaws.