Dustin Rhodes On Being AEW's Promo Coach, What He's Hoping To Accomplish In That Role
After spending most of his career with WWE under the gimmick of Goldust, Dustin Rhodes is now bringing his 30 years of wrestling experience to AEW. His first match was a brother v brother match with Cody but Dustin is also in AEW to provide backstage help in the form of cutting promos and even would like to run an AEW wrestling school.
Dustin talked more about the art of promos when he took part in an interview with Bleacher Report.
"I've been hired as a promo coach, and I want to help teach them how to talk," Rhodes said. "You don't have to take this gigantic paragraph of text and memorize that s–t word for word, because it's going to come off bland and not true to your character.
"We'll work out who the character is and figure out which way they think they should go, which way the company wants them to go, and find a happy medium. I can teach them to cut promos where they don't need to be on a script constantly. We can hit some bullet points and make it their own. The key is stepping out of your comfort zone and taking a chance. Take a chance on making something cool."
His comments jibe with AEW's mantra since day one in that they will not hire any writers. It will be on the wrestlers themselves, with help from veterans like Rhodes, to develop their characters and come up with promos.
"Some of these wrestlers have never really done promos, and a lot of them have never done TV. They are nervous about it, and those are the ones I'm going to push the most," Rhodes said. "Let's see it. Let's hear it. With some oomph and conviction. Give me what my dad used to give us: charisma. I want to see your character. That's what I'll do my best to teach."
In addition to helping with promos, Rhodes will also assist with storytelling in the ring. He still wants the wrestlers to be their own characters and not have their hands held like what may go on in other promotions, but Rhodes can give them little nuggets that will make them stand out.
"We will have time to tell stories and not be stuck trying to do a four-minute television match. That's exciting to me, and I think I can help them learn how to be a babyface, how to be a heel, how to sell, how to tell a story. Put a big move over here instead of where they want to put it?and trust me on these things and trust that it will work," Rhodes stated.