After last night’s WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Dean Ambrose paid tribute to the late Dusty Rhodes. Ambrose cut a promo about coming up short in the main event against Seth Rollins and channeled Dusty’s legendary Hard Times promo.

“When I stole that championship belt a couple of weeks ago, it was about respect. It was about taking what you feel you earned. Now life ain’t always fair, and I’m from right here in Ohio. And you people know life ain’t always fair.

You can’t get a car loan ’cause on a technicality, you don’t have a good enough credit score, so now you gotta walk to work, your children gotta walk to school on a technicality. Your boss pushes you around even though you’re better at his job than he is, and he talks to you like you’re an idiot, but he’s the boss on a technicality.

So when I took that championship it was about screw technicalities, it was about taking what’s yours, what you deserved, what you feel that you earned, what you know in your heart and your soul that you deserve, that you earned. It was about just taking it. And I’m a grown ass man and I lost fair and square tonight. I climbed that ladder, and I didn’t like what happened when I came down. I lost fair and square and I’m man enough to admit that.

So I’m gonna fix this leg and I’m gonna stand up on my two feet again. And one day I’m going to be World Heavyweight Champion and there ain’t no paperwork, and there ain’t no technicalities, and there ain’t no bullcrap that’s gonna stop me.”

WWE celebrates the life and career of “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes.

Below, WWE’s 10-bell salute to Dusty Rhodes prior to Money in the Bank.

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog with his latest thoughts and opinions. Below are some of the highlights.

On Dusty Rhodes: “Still reeling from the sudden passing of my 30+ year friend Dusty Rhodes who went out on his terms just like John Wayne’s character in the Duke’s last film, “The Shootist.” Many of us knew tht something was ailing Big Dust but he would never admit such. Nonetheless he passed with his family around him listening to Willie Nelson sing and has now likely reunited with his late parents, his old, tag partner Dick Murdoch and perhaps even John Wayne himself. I loved the Dream and simply can’t wrap my head around his passing. I’m trying to focus on the great times that we had and all the times that he made me happy and laugh.

I found it ironic that both The Duke and The Dream passed on the same date, June 11. That had to mean something, right?

Dusty was one of my least talked about broadcast partners, why I don’t know, but he was definitely one of my favorites. He utilized his instincts, which were excellent, made up words as he went along, and always had fascinating, comedic timing. I loved working with The Dream at the announce table because he was low stress, so much fun to interact with and we never failed to have a good time.”

On tonight’s Money In The Bank WWE Title main event: “I’ve got Seth Rollins retaining in a strong match vs Dean Ambrose but if Ambrose does get the upset and a surprising win I can also see Roman Reigns turning on Ambrose and ruining the Ohio native’s moment by cashing in the MITB contract in a very villainous manner. The money with Reigns right now, in my opinion, is as a villain and time will tell if that is the path taken.”

On the Money In The Bank ladder match tonight: “I could also see Reigns winning the MITB match and declaring that he will cash in the contract at Wrestlemania Texas to help with the build of both Reigns and the event. In any event. I like the unpredictability of tonight’s show including a fan favorite or a villain winning MITB and Reigns taking exception to that and turning on the winner or being a sore loser. There are always multiple ways to do the right thing creatively in the world of sports entertainment which is why so many of us enjoy following along.”

On John Cena vs. Kevin Owens II tonight: “Kevin Owens cheating to beat John Cena ala a low blow, etc would work for me and help WWE get to Summer Slam with a much more viable Cena vs. Owens match as the building process of Kevin Owens is still ongoing. I don’t know who it helps for Cena to simply “get his win back.” Cena is an ever lasting, made man while Owens is not but Cena can be the man that facilitates that much needed development.”

Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.

• PHOTO: Is Ken Shamrock Taking Steroids Before Next Fight?! YOU Be The Judge!

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently appeared on Busted Open Radio to talk more about his memories of the late Dusty Rhodes. Below are some highlights from the interview.

On his first reaction to the passing of Dusty Rhodes: “I choose to celebrate his life rather than to mourn his death. I knew for several weeks that there was something wrong and of course Dusty would never admit it. I compared him to John Wayne in his last movie – he knew that something was wrong, but he didn’t want to talk about it, and he wanted to go out on his terms, and his style and that’s what happened, and as quickly and as suddenly he was taken from us. I was up pretty much all night, and I just decided that as the day has gone on that I choose to celebrate his life, my fun that I had with him, the confidence he put in me. When Bill Watts sold Jim Crockett promotions, Dusty put great confidence in me to get the storylines over on NWA Pro and UWF. He kind of indirectly got a little heat on me because he said to some guys that I announced a match, I think it was Dr. Death vs Big Bubba Rogers he said that was an announcing clinic to all the announcers that worked for us and they should listen to this match. It didn’t do him any favors – but all it did was give me great confidence that my work was OK and Dusty facilitated my break to get on TBS and begin some somewhat relevance on national cable. I’ll always owe him for that. I’ll never owe him that $100 that I lost on the game of horse that we played at 3 in the morning after drinking beer all night because I paid by debt… But I just choose to remember him as the human being that he was and the great times that we had, and not the man that had lost all that weight and you could see him virtually vanishing before our very eyes. It is a sad day and we do need to mourn, but we also need to celebrate what he brought us and what he brought to the dance. He played himself in the ring, that character. He was the American Dream. He was that blue collar guy. I loved him and I will miss him but I choose to celebrate his life as opposed to mourning here today as best I can.”

On Dusty’s chemistry with the fans: “He had what every wrestler in the business wants to have… the ability to connect with the audience. Dusty made the audience care about him. Dusty made the audience feel for him. He was a 300-pound man, not just another pretty face, as he would say, with a non-body builder’s body, that can sell and make people care. He was a 300-pound babyface that was so good at the dramatic art of selling that he could make people care. And sometimes, and often times, vs a villain that was much smaller and that was a tremendous art form to be able to pull that off. He was the blue collar guy. More people could identify him than a lot of the quote on quote super heroes that are quote on quote bigger than life. He was bigger than life in many ways. There are more people walking around that look like The Dream than look like a super hero with big muscles and a body builder’s physique.”

On his thoughts on Dusty’s mind for the business: “The great thing about Dream was that he was a fan as a kid. He watched wrestling and territories in Austin as a child and he became a huge fan. There was a special hour each week that was destination TV for him. He was an excellent athlete. He was probably a better baseball player than he was a wrestler or a football player – he was very good at both those. The innovations as far as War Games and the stars that he made…Nikita Koloff by all intents and purposes never really had any right at the time to be the superstar that he was … but he was a creation, his image, his persona was a creation of Dusty Rhodes… and how Dusty was able to create around the tragedy that Magnum T.A. was involved in. People want to look at glass half full too often. Dusty had a brilliant booking mind… much much longer than people like to give him credit for. He had great teachers. Bill Watts made him do the angle to turn him baby face in Florida. Gary Hart needs some credit for that. He also got his PHD under Eddie Graham. I will go to my grave and say, when motivated, and when used in the right way, the Texas Outlaws of Murdoch and Rhodes were as good a tag team as I have seen. They don’t get the credit other teams get but when you look at them or watch them on YouTube or something, they were absolutely incredible… the things that they could do in that era. Creative genius. War Games, I loved. How he built to the big match … the destination match. Which is lacking in the business today because there are so many quote on quote big matches … the destination match that he did, the tours, the big events, the Starrcades, things like that … Clash of Champions. He gave me my break, he wanted me on the Clash of Champions team. Tony Schiavone and I we called that first clash. Big break for me on free TV – prime time on TBS against WrestleMania – big opportunity that both Tony and I seized – neither of us were heels but he broke that tradition. He didn’t want a 3 man booth he wanted the two of us out there and we were able to be a part of a history making event as far as TBS and WCW was concerned and that was because of The Dream and his vision. He had great visions and I will never be able to thank him enough. His birthday is October 12th, same day as my wedding anniversary… and many October 12ths, while my wife was sleeping in, he got the birthday call… almost every year. It is also the same weekend that Oklahoma plays Texas and we would argue about Oklahoma and Texas all year – that was our thing. And when people would say “gosh its only football season guys” and we would both look at them and say “mind your own business… this is our argument… this is what we love to talk about”… and we did. We shared our love of BBQ and we shared our love of John Wayne. We have much more in common than people will ever know. He did much more for me than people will ever know. When he would go into his diatribes and using all the Southern South-Western colloquialisms to describe what he wanted in a match… I got it. I was raised in it. I understood it. So he trusted me to get his angles over and the talent that he was pushing over. He gave me that trust and gave me a chance to go on a national stage to do what I did for so many years. He is certainly going to be missed and yes I mourned but I just choose to celebrate the man that I knew, and that I loved, and that taught me so much, and was a great mentor for me, and a great supporter of my work and I think that’s the healthy way of looking at Dusty. He would rather us laugh at his humor, his dancing, his “Funky Like a Monkey” – he heard him talk one time and you never forget it. He loved that. And we talked probably every couple of weeks. I sat behind him at the Hall of Fame… I saw how hard it was for him getting up. He had some issues with his legs… I don’t know what it was. He had a hard time keeping his balance. He had a hard time getting up and down. I still don’t know what the cause of death was. And does it really matter except that there is another TMZ news story? He’s gone, but his memory will never be forgotten.”

On his lasting memory of Dusty: “The last match that he and I called together was William Regal vs. Dean Ambrose in FCW in Tampa a couple of years ago. And we approached that just like a Clash of Champions, and we were so fired up to go out and call that match. And when it was over, we both realized that we were both too Southern to probably ever work again on a National basis. We knew that the handwriting was on the wall but it didn’t scare us and it didn’t bother us. We got to go do that last one. We had a lot of fun and some of my best work… and people can go back and listen and be selective… the Dusty Rhodes/JR combination of where I followed him along on these storytelling journeys that he booked, and he did color on were some of the most fun times I ever had in broadcasting. Some of the things we said to each other, and he said and words he would invent were just absolutely hilarious, and I owe him a lot and I will never be able to repay him but some day our paths will cross again.”

Check out the complete interview at BustedOpenNation.com.

• Paul Heyman Talks In-Depth About CM Punk’s Upcoming UFC Debut