She didn’t have a lot of ties to the world of pro wrestling, but country music and pop culture icon Dolly Parton was certainly aware of it. She famously told the story of taking her signature style from “the town tramp” her mother called “trash” but who Dolly thought “was the prettiest thing” she ever saw, and who inspired her to say, “that’s what I want to be when I grow up — Trash.”
But it’s easy to imagine her inspiring a Ric Flair robe, or vice versa.
Parton’s only big crossover into wrestling
came via the “Headlock on my Heart” video she shared on her syndicated variety show in the 1980s. The appropriately named D3ath_Knell posted a version in The Feed when they shared the news of Dolly’s death on Cageside yesterday (Aug. 25). That version fell to a copyright strike. We’ll see if this one lasts…
Without being in the business itself, Parton made an impression on a lot of people in it. She did a lot of that in her 80-years on the planet; the rare celebrity who everyone seemed to think favorably of throughout her nearly seven decades of fame. And as that (frankly, punk rock af) quote about her looks tells you, it wasn’t just Dolly’s music, or her acting, or the ease and grace with which she could host anything from a TV show to a theme park. By all accounts and indicators she was a good human being, lending her resources and fame to causes ranging from literacy to animal welfare and being an ally to the gay, lesbian and trans communities.
For those reasons and more, many in wrestling took a moment to remember the Queen of Country after her family announced her death Tuesday.
Some, like Mickie James, do have a country music connection:
Heartbroken today. The world lost its light 💔 @DollyParton
Dolly Parton was an icon among icons. There isn’t a woman in country music — heck, there isn’t a woman chasing a dream in any business — who isn’t walking a road she paved first. She did it in rhinestones and heels, on her own terms, and never once let anybody make her smaller than she was.
But what I’ll always love most is that she never kept any of it for herself. The books she put in the hands of millions of kids. The neighbors she took care of when her mountains burned. She could’ve just been a legend. She chose to be good, too.
Thank you for the songs. Thank you for showing us that where you come from isn’t a limit — it’s a foundation. Thank you for proving you can be soft and steel at the same time.
I will always love you, Dolly. 💔🦋
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express’ Ricky Morton had an even more personal connection:
Growing up in a small house in Antioch, Tennessee with my mom, my dad and my four brothers, we did not have much, but we had each other. And just down the street from us lived a woman who would go on to become one of the most beloved people in the world.
Dolly Parton.
I remember seeing Dolly riding her bicycle to and from the store. To the world, she would become a superstar, an icon and a legend. But to us kids in Antioch, she was just Dolly from down the street.
She was always so kind to little ole Ricky and my brothers. She never made us feel like we were bothering her. She always had a smile and a kind word. Those are the memories that stay with you.
As I got older, I watched her become everything the world knows her for. Her music, her generosity, her heart and the way she treated people. But when I think of Dolly, I do not think first about the fame. I think about that little girl from Tennessee who grew up to touch so many lives, including ours.
It is funny how life works. Sometimes the people who become legends are the same people you remember simply as the kind person from your neighborhood.
Today, Tennessee lost a piece of its heart. The world lost an incredible woman. And I lost someone I will always be grateful to have known, even if those memories go all the way back to when I was just a little boy.
Thank you for being kind to little ole’ Ricky and my brothers.
We truly lost a queen today.
Cathy Kelley doesn’t have that story, but did get to meet her. The WWE personality also shared another great quote from Parton:
Most are just like us, and Mick Foley, who shared his “Dolly Memories”:
This one is going to hurt for a while. I just got off the phone with a dear friend who shared the awful news that the incomparable Dolly Parton had passed away. Although I never met her, she was part of my life for as long as I can remember, and my parents always said she was my first crush – dating back to 1973 when I was eight years old. I once did an article on Facebook, naming Dolly Parton as the person I’d most like to meet. I never did get that opportunity to meet her, but in talking to a handful of people who had the good fortune of knowing her, they all said the same thing: she was everything you could ever hope she’d be…and more.
Was there a more universally beloved performer on the planet? She was a legend in country music, but she was bigger than the genre, bigger than music itself… she was more than an entertainer; she seemed to be an angel walking among us. When I purchased my first Dolly Parton cassette – her greatest hits in 1978 – I knew the words to almost every one of those songs by heart. As soon as I put the final period on this little tribute, I will go to YouTube and I will search out the songs I loved so much as a child; songs that still hold a special place in my heart all these years later: “The Bargain Store”, “Jolene”, “The Seeker”, “Coat of Many Colors”, “Love is Like a Butterfly”, and so many others.
I read her beautiful memoir twice, thoroughly enjoyed her novel, and found that so many of her later songs touched my heart, from her covers of “Where do the Children Play” and “Stairway to Heaven” to “Hello God”, her own heartbreaking attempt to find hope in the wake of the 9/11 tragedies. I simply can not make it through her version of “Let it Be” without feeling a rush of emotion come over me.
Jack White summed up her passing in two simple words: instant sainthood. I don’t think that’s hyperbole. Has any one person ever done so much to help so many others? As far as a miracle she’s responsible for?… How about giving a divided nation something we can all agree on… our love and admiration for Dolly Parton.
I will always love you. #RIPDolly
There are certainly more. Feel free to share ones we missed that touched you below. And share your own memories of Dolly Parton, wrestling-related or no.
You did what you could for us, Dolly. Now rest in peace, Queen.
