Tyrus Recalls Nearly Crying Backstage At WWE And The Advice Dusty Rhodes Gave Him
The National Wrestling Alliance's 74th Anniversary Show is coming up soon. The main event for the two night event will see Tyrus clash with former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Trevor Murdoch. Ahead of his big title match, Tyrus made a recent appearance on Chris Jericho's "Talk is Jericho" podcast. There, Tyrus opened up about his time as the dancing Funkasaurus in WWE.
After learning he was going to be dancing, Tyrus said, "I went to Dusty [Rhodes] and I was damn near crying, my dream had blown up in my face." Tyrus here is alluding to the fact that before returning to WWE TV with the gimmick change as the Funkasaurus, Tyrus had a monster heel gimmick, primarily wrestling on "Superstars," where he would often squash fellow stars. "Dusty just looked me in the face and goes. 'Are you better than me? ... They put me in polka dots!'" During Dusty's time in WWE, instead of winning World Championships like he did in the NWA and WCW, Rhodes had a similar gimmick to that of the Funkasaurus — he would come out and dance for the WWE crowd, often spotting yellow polka dots.
Tyrus then went on to explain just how Rhodes helped him dance and prepare for the Funkasaurus gimmick. "He [Dusty Rhodes] kicked everyone out of the building, had the sound guy put on 'Moves Like Jagger' ... and he comes out of the office shirtless, and says 'Dance with me.'" Tyrus admits he was hesitant at first to dance, even saying to Jericho earlier in the interview he never was a dancer, not even at clubs. "Before I knew it, I was dancing, having fun, laughing." Though dancing with Tyrus wasn't the only way that Rhodes helped out with the gimmick.
"I said I still need help. He [Rhodes] said 'Well ask Naomi. She should've been on the road." Naomi made her WWE debut alongside Tyrus. She was known as one half of the Funkadactyls along with Cameron. "My heart's not in dancing. So if I had two really good dancers around me, I could cover it up."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Talk is Jericho" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.