- Source of Wealth: Wrestling
- Age: 74
- Birth Place: Austin, Texas
- Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
- Weight: 302 lb (137 kg)
- Marital Status: Married to Michelle, Divorced to Sandra
- Full Name: Virgil Riley Runnels Jr.
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: October 12, 1945
- Occupation: Wrestler, WWE
- Children: Dustin, Cody, Teil and Kristin Runnels Ditto
Dusty Rhodes is a semi-retired American professional wrestler who has an estimated net worth of $3 million. He is also known as “Dirty” Dusty Rhodes, Dusty Runnels and the Midnight Rider ring names. He is currently working for WWE as the Commissioner of NXT. He makes occasional appearances on other WWE television and pay-per-views. He also works as a backstage booker and producer in the NXT Wrestling developmental territory. His character was that of a working man so he is billed as “the son of a plumber.”
Born Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. on October 12, 1945 in Austin, Texas, Rhodes began his wrestling career in the1960s where he appeared as a “heel” with the American Wrestling Association. He later on moved to wrestling with World Championship Wrestling and has won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. He also won the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship once, the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship ten times, the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) seven times and the NWA National Heavyweight Championship one time.
Dusty Rhodes shifted his focus to booking for Jim Crockett Productions and the WCW in the mid-80s. He is credited for increasing the popularity of pay-per-view matches through many of the marketing campaigns he created. In 1989, he was fired from the WCW and he began working as a wrestler for the WWF. He returned to the WCW and ECW in the mid-90s. He has continued to wrestle since then. However, his schedule has become far less full over the years.
Rhodes has also won many other championships during his wrestling career. He is one of the six men inducted into each of the WWE Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He is the father of professional wrestlers Dustin Rhodes and Cody Rhodes who are both currently working for WWE.