Dustin Rhodes Reveals He Has One Big Goal Left To Accomplish Before Retirement

There's one thing that's alluded Dustin Rhodes throughout his Hall of Fame career, and even at 55-years-old, The Natural still has his eyes set on capturing a World Championship.
During a recent sit down interview with WFAA - a Dallas/Fort Worth ABC affiliate - to promote next year's All In: Texas at Globe Life Field, Rhodes revealed that he's hoping he'll finally be able to win the big one before he has to leave his boots in the ring.
“There’s one thing that every wrestler, if they don’t want this when they get into the business, they don’t belong on the business and that’s to become world heavyweight champion." Rhodes said. "That is the one thing that is missing. I’ve won many titles from both companies and all kinds of companies across the world, but winning the world heavyweight title puts a feather in your cap."
Dustin watched his younger brother Cody Rhodes capture the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania XL this year, and while some may think differently, Dustin firmly believes there's still time for him to finish his own story.
"I have two belts right now. Dustin two belts, here I am, the ROH Tag Team Titles and the World Six Man Tag Team Titles. It happened this year at 55 and I’m just like, wow. The sky is the limit."
Age is just a number in today's landscape of professional wrestling, with many athletes performing at a very high level well into their fifties. Drawing inspiration from a certain Icon who just retired this year, Rhodes is hopeful that he has enough gas in the tank to keep his engine running for years to come.
"I don’t see an end in sight for me just quite yet. Sting was a big inspiration for that because I was a huge fan of his when he was there, when I met him the first time, I started painting my face because of Sting. To watch him go until he was 60 or 62 years old was amazing and it was very inspirational. It gives me some hope that I can still go a little bit longer.”
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Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com