commentary for WCW and did not participate in any in-ring angles. Dusty was originally on the side of WCW when its battle with the New World Order (nWo) began in 1996. At Souled Out 1998, Larry Zbyszko asked Rhodes, who was working the PPV broadcast, to accompany him to the ring for his match against Scott Hall. Zbyszko won the match by disqualification due to interference by Louie Spicolli. Rhodes entered the ring, delivering his trademark elbow smashes to Spicolli as Zbyszko stood and grabbed Hall. Rhodes went to elbow Hall, but seemingly inadvertently hit Zbyszko instead turning heel in the process. Hall then pointed to Rhodes as he revealed an nWo shirt. The three began to drop repeated elbows on Zbyszko before Rhodes announced "That's tradition, WCW! Bite this!". Announcer Tony Schiavone left the broadcast booth in shock, but later returned ripping Rhodes for his actions for most of the rest of the night. As a member of the nWo, Rhodes served as the manager of The Outsiders, Hall and Kevin Nash. This lasted until the November 30, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro, when Rhodes, who was guest refereeing a match between Barry Windham and Dean Malenko after being appointed by Eric Bischoff, defected back to WCW by disqualifying Windham and awarding the match to Malenko. Bischoff then fired Rhodes. On the December 28, 1998 edition of Monday Nitro, Ric Flair faced Eric Bischoff for control of the company for 30 days. After Flair submitted Bischoff, Dusty was amongst those who came out to the ring to celebrate with The Nature Boy. He left WCW in 2000 and went to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), making an appearance at the Guilty As Charged PPV on January 8, 2000 where he was attacked by former ECW World Champion, "King of Old School" Steve Corino. On January 28, 2000 he wrestled his first match in over five years, teaming with Tommy Dreamer to defeate Corino & Raven at a "ECW on TNN" episode that was taped in Fort Lauderdale, FL. On March 12, 2000 Dusty pinned Steve Corino in a singles match at the Living Dangerously PPV in Danbury, CT. He continued to remain undefeated until he put over Corino at the Cyberslam 2000 event on April 22 at the ECW Arena. His final appearance came at an ECW TV taping in Toledo, OH, where he accompanied The Sandman to ringside in