[Stardust]

Wrestler sex-appeal killed the chance of good in-ring wrestlers that were fat. Dusty Rhodes wouldn't have a prayer today.

Vince HATED Dusty when he came in for his father. It was Jr.'s idea to use the popular NWA wrestler to get Superstar Billy Graham "OVER" to WWWF fans. However, as soon as they put a mic in Dusty's face, he became the most loved star, even surpassing Bruno. It killed Jr., and forced the WWWF to allow Dusty to have evenly booked matches with Graham. Dusty maintained his following and never gave the WWWF a chance to do anything further with him when he took off for NWA again with the promise to win the title from Harley Race.

When Dusty came back, Jr. was running WWF and Vince wanted "pay back", so, he put Dusty in polka dots. Well, Dusty knew he was being taken advantage of again, and as soon as he got that chance to get on the mic, he turned that gimmick into one of the most popular characters of the time for WWF.

You are right LWC, Dusty would not survive in WWE today because Vince learned his lesson and would never allow Dusty to talk.