AEW star Dustin Rhodes is looking to bring back one of the most unique matches from his WWE career—the Hollywood Backlot Brawl from WrestleMania XII.
The original match, which took place on March 31, 1996, in Anaheim, California, saw “Rowdy” Roddy Piper face Goldust (Dustin Rhodes) in one of WWE’s earliest cinematic-style matches. The bout was partially filmed in a backlot, incorporated a dramatic car chase inspired by the infamous O.J. Simpson pursuit, and eventually ended inside the ring.
With AEW in Los Angeles for Revolution 2025 this Sunday, Rhodes hinted at wanting to revisit the concept. He took to X (formerly Twitter) and posted:
“I so desperately want to do another Hollywood backlot brawl ish match again. Maybe we at @AEW can come up with something cool here.”
Given AEW’s willingness to experiment with cinematic-style matches—such as Stadium Stampede—it wouldn’t be far-fetched for Tony Khan and AEW creative to explore Rhodes’ idea.
With AEW Revolution just around the corner and Dustin in town for the pay-per-view, fans are now speculating if this concept could come to life in AEW sooner rather than later.
I so desperately want to do another Hollywood backlot brawl ish match again. Maybe we at @AEW can come up with something cool here.
— Dustin Rhodes (@dustinrhodes) March 6, 2025
