On March 19th, 1995, World Championship Wrestling presented an infamous instalment of the Uncensored PPV from the Tupelo Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi, with the King of the Road match.
What made it so infamous was a match so bizarre and unconventional that the risk of someone being severely hurt and their own mobility appeared to be in jeopardy throughout the contest. It would appear that way at least to viewers.
But before tackling the match, the feud leading up to it was equally notable. From late 1994 to the Spring of 1995, the Blacktop Bully and “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes battled each other.
Rhodes was the rugged babyface “Natural” with cowboy grit, who clashed against the Blacktop Bully, a foul-mouthed trucker heel managed by cigar-chomping promoter Col. Robert Parker.
The blue-collar brawl brewed initially from fan interference to PPV chaos, and ultimately exploded at Uncensored 1995 in the King of the Road match.
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Towards the end of 1994, Dustin warred with Parker’s Stud Stable. The stable consisted of Meng, Terry Funk, and Arn Anderson after a tag title loss.
On an episode of WCW Saturday Night on November 26, 1994, a rowdy fan, Darsow, sparked a ringside riot with Rhode. The fan turned out to be the Blacktop Bully.
Both men were ejected by cops, as Bully was the perfect heel fodder for Rhodes’ face persona. Col Parker ‘bailed out’ the Bully for $75K on TV the following month.
It was there that Col Rob Parker, dubbed the fan the Blacktop Bully. The Bully was a demolition derby psycho itching for road fights. Behind the scenes, it was Arn Anderson who had pitched the gimmick; Parker hyped him as anti-Dustin muscle.
As 1994 turned to 1995, the Blacktop Bully debuted, interfering in Dustin’s matches primarily during house shows, spitting tobacco, and swinging tire irons.
After these Stud Stable attacks, they brawled through crowds, with Bully taunting: “Cowboy boy’s gettin’ run off the blacktop!”.
During their live events, they were advertised as “trucker vs. natural” grit, with Parker promising vehicular payback.
The following month at SuperBrawl V on February 19th, 1995, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, the Bully pinned Rhodes due to Col Rob Parker’s cane shot.
It was a no-disqualification win, fueling a rematch between the two. The Blacktop Bully grabbed the mic: “Time to King of the Road on my rig—flatbed hell, no rules!” Dustin vowed revenge, escalating to truck warfare.
Later that month, on WCW Saturday Night during an interview, the Blacktop Bully said to “Mean” Gene Okerlund: “Dustin, my 18-wheeler’s the ring climb that cage, blow the horn, or get plowed!”
This match was to happen the following month. Dustin replied, “Bully, that truck’s your grave I’m haulin’ you home in pieces!”
The angle hooked fans on outlaw chaos, and it refined Dustin Rhodes versus the greasy-wheel Blacktop Bully as both men promised a wild and unhinged PPV match the following month at Uncensored.
King of the Road –
The Night the Bully and the Natural Wrestled on an 18-Wheel Rig
“The Blacktop Bully was one of my favorite gimmicks. You had Dustin Rhodes on the other day. What a great guy; Dustin is one of the best workers in this business, too, by the way.
When I had that truck match [King of the Road] with him in WCW, we had so much fun in that match, and we both got fired. It was incredible.” –
Barry Darsow on the Blacktop Bully character and the result of their King of the Road match.
The opening match of the event was a ‘King Of The Road’ match in which The Blacktop Bully, who was portrayed by Barry Darsow, who was previously known as Krusher Kruschev during his time in the NWA/WCW and Smash of the tag team Demolition, or the Repo Man in the WWF.
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He defeated Dustin Rhodes. Rhodes would largely compete as “The Natural” in WCW and, briefly, as Se7en.
“We drove 60 miles around Atlanta, [we] had helicopters with cameras and trucks with cameras.
We were wrestling, we were having a great time, and we ended up bleeding like crazy everywhere.
The office told us to get blood, so we ended up hitting the barbed wire. We did everything there, and we were bleeding from head to toe, and they ended up cutting out a bunch of that match too.”
The two would face each other on the bed of an 18-wheeler truck moving slowly down the highway. The sight of both men teetering and tottering back and forth in hopes that neither would fall off the risk was on display.
During the match, teetered from one end of the rig to the other, making the filming and appearance of the match difficult to follow, not to mention compete in.
The match appeared to resemble an action sequence of two people battling atop a moving train. Also, during the match both men bled unauthorised and as a result of their bleeding, both were fired.
This is where it becomes grey upon the ‘unauthorised’ nature of their bleeding, as it’s been disputed that they were authorized and by whom.
In an interview at a later date, Rhodes doesn’t directly say but implies the had authorization from road agent Mike Graham prior to the match. But even receiving clearance from another WCW official during a different interview.
“I was always the kind of guy that wanted to work hard, make money, and have a good time. That is what Dustin Rhodes and I were doing that night.” (Implying Mike Graham pitched the concept; all three fired.)
– Dustin Rhodes on being let go the day after the King of the Road match
“I reached out beforehand to Craig Leathers [WCW director] and was told we could. I would never disobey what my boss says. 2, why did Hogan bleed on that same ppv but it was ok.
Need to get your facts straight. I lost my job and they did not. You know why? Cause Hogan and his boys had just arrived and they needed to clear out a few contracts.”
– Dustin Rhodes on the firing reason and clearance to blade (response to Eric Bischoff podcast)
Barry Darsow’s feelings towards the match were simply a recollection of the memories he had with Dustin after the match and the feedback he received from Eric Bischoff the following day.
“We were in a field when the match was done, and I looked at Dustin. I gave him a big hug. I said, Dustin, that was the freaking best match. That was the funnest. What a match. We hugged each other…
The next day I got a call from Eric Bischoff… ‘Good news and bad news… It’s one of the better matches I’ve ever seen… You’re fired… You weren’t supposed to have any blood on TV.’”
– Barry Darsow on match and fall out.
Despite the response to their wild match and the events that took place afterwards, today in wrestling history goes down as the day the King of the Road match at the WCW Uncensored 1995 pay-per-view took place between the Blacktop Bully and Dustin Rhodes.
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