WWE's Bayley Recalls How Dusty Rhodes Seeing Her Star Potential Early On

Dusty Rhodes put together an unforgettable career inside the ring, but his legacy was enhanced by the work he did later in his life when it came to training and teaching younger wrestlers. WWE star Bayley was one of many who reaped the benefits of sitting under his learning tree, and she revealed that "The American Dream" could see what was special in a wrestler before they'd figured that out themselves.

Bayley believed that it was her in-ring work that was going to carry her through in WWE, as she didn't want to rely upon promos or a specific character. However, while she has always performed well it was the latter that truly got her over in "WWE NXT" with her Hugger gimmick becoming popular with the fans, which Rhodes helped push her towards.

"He was like, 'Nah, baby, this is going to make you a star, work on it, work on it,'" she revealed on the "Under The Ring" podcast. "I'm like, 'This is terrible,' and he's like, 'No, this is good, this one this is good, let's work on it.' So, if it wasn't for him really pushing me and opening my eyes to what was in here and showing that it was okay to be yourself then I probably wouldn't have gotten that connection with the crowd which he had, and still does have."

The WWE star explained what was special about the late Dusty Rhodes, particularly his ability to see talent in stars.

"You could line up a group of people and he'd be like, 'Alright, your thing is that, and this is what's important to you.' And you're like, 'How does he know that?' He just felt it, and that was his connection with people, that was so rare, and then he would make you work on it," she said.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Under The Ring" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.