Could Goldust be given a brooding gimmick?

[Ubermensch]

Initially I was surprised to see Goldust back on TV. While I still feel like he is too old and still somewhat out of shape, the WWE seems to want to reinvest in him for the time being.

For now, Goldust seems to come to the ring the way any other wrestler with do while still in garb from his previous gimmick.

One thing is for certain, Dustin Rhodes will do any gimmick and he can promo well.

Could the WWE capitalize on the angle he had going earlier about being bitter at the administration and Vince for making his father a joke? One way would be to make Goldust appear more brooding, more black versus gold and have him take on a role more similar to someone like Vampiro or closer to Sting. They could show earlier takes of the ridiculousness he was involved in earlier in the WWF with Marlena as his dominatrix and kissing Ahmed Johnson.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

He looks old and out of shape?

Dustin's probably been doing some of his best ring work in years with this latest run. He's looked amazing and not at all like the 44 year old man he actually is.

As for your question? Yeah he could pull off that type of gimmick. He's a pretty talented performer, and could do pretty much anything they ask of him. But at this stage, what's the point? His role in the company now is to help get others over, not himself. He does that best in my mind, using the same gimmick that got him over so many years ago, because it adds credibility for the guys he's getting over (such as his brother right now).

 

[Gibby]

Agree MrMojoRising, I think Goldust has been superb in his current run and has not required Cody to carry matches at all. My favoured booking suggestion from the ones I have read on here was the very simple, slow-played one in which Cody takes on Goldust with Dusty refereeing, Cody goes over and everyone hugs it out at the end. It's simple, it's heartwarming, it puts the younger man over and no one comes out of it looking bad. Apologies to whomever suggested this that I can't credit your idea.

Where they go with Goldust is interesting and I'd aver to suggest WMXXX and the European tour might be the end of the line in this run. If they want to keep him then what I want to know about the character is a little more of the human underneath but without losing the visual element. I'm not making any suggestions for how that might happen, but I've always enjoyed Goldust because his 'actor'/'star' gimmick he calls into question the difference between what you see and what is real (much as we do here!). I know they've done things like this before but making him more human, possibly more melancholy rather than 'angry' or 'dark', would represent a step I'd like to see.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Initially I was surprised to see Goldust back on TV. While I still feel like he is too old and still somewhat out of shape, the WWE seems to want to reinvest in him for the time being.

For now, Goldust seems to come to the ring the way any other wrestler with do while still in garb from his previous gimmick.

One thing is for certain, Dustin Rhodes will do any gimmick and he can promo well.

Could the WWE capitalize on the angle he had going earlier about being bitter at the administration and Vince for making his father a joke? One way would be to make Goldust appear more brooding, more black versus gold and have him take on a role more similar to someone like Vampiro or closer to Sting. They could show earlier takes of the ridiculousness he was involved in earlier in the WWF with Marlena as his dominatrix and kissing Ahmed Johnson.

He looks like he is in the best shape of his life. Go watch an episode of RAW from the late 90's when he was in his prime, and compare it to how he looks now. Granted, he's wearing a full body costume, but he at least looks trimmer than he has ever been and his workrate has been off the charts.

As for his character, I'd like to see something, ANYTHING. He hasn't said one word since he's been back. "Brooding Gimmick"? Sure. At least its something, and theres no way that we'll ever see the "old" Goldust again.

The original Goldust character doesn't mesh with PG so they're not going there. And they're not going to show old clips of him on RAW when he was kissing/giving CPR to Ahmed Johnson or crawling around on the ground with a ball-gag in his mouth.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Initially I was surprised to see Goldust back on TV. While I still feel like he is too old and still somewhat out of shape, the WWE seems to want to reinvest in him for the time being.

Out of shape? He's in the best shape of his career. He's much faster and more athletic than I've ever seen him and he can work at a pace that was impossible for him 5 years ago. Goldust has never been someone who has a "great look" or a killer physique, he always kinda put me in mind of Barry Windham at times as he has a long, lanky build that's simultaneously a little chubby. Prior to Goldust getting into shape via DDP Yoga, he was somewhere around 260-265 pounds and I'd say he's a good 35-40 pounds lighter. He's older, sure, but he's in better in-ring condition now than he was in the early 90s.

Could the WWE capitalize on the angle he had going earlier about being bitter at the administration and Vince for making his father a joke? One way would be to make Goldust appear more brooding, more black versus gold and have him take on a role more similar to someone like Vampiro or closer to Sting. They could show earlier takes of the ridiculousness he was involved in earlier in the WWF with Marlena as his dominatrix and kissing Ahmed Johnson.

They definitely don't need to go the Vampiro route. Vampiro was an absolute joke that nobody took seriously. I've no doubt that Rhodes could pull off a darker persona, but they don't need to go to the point that its downright hokey like Vampiro or the Black Reign crap. The simplest way to go would be to have him portray something realistic, such as the idea of being angry over the closer relationship his father has had with Cody. I've little doubt that there've been times he's been very bitter about that, so I think he could come up with a compelling persona based on that so long as they didn't go the route of him coming off like a whining bitch with daddy issues.

However, when it's all said & done, I don't think Goldust is going to be changing. For one reason, there's no need for him to as he's probably more over now than he's been since the mid 90s. Another reason is that at 44 years of age, Goldust isn't the future of WWE. I don't see them spending time and effort around a 44 year old mid-card staple when that energy is better used towards much younger guys who'll be able to bring more to the table in the long run.

 

[Pedigree1]

Dude no way is goldust out of shape if anything he is in better shape now than he was in the 90's. Dustin Rhodes,is putting on some quality matches and great in-ring work. He doesn't need to switch to a darker persona,if he to switch have him just be the jealous older brother of cody. Goldie,looks very trim and is moving faster than i have ever seen him.

Dont believe us OP? Go back and compare the tapes

 

[F_Angel]

I think from what we've seen you could give Goldust practically ANY gimmick and he's going to at least make it entertaining. He's doing some great work now.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Yes, he was in his 20's during his first go-around with WWE and is in his 40's now......but he's counteracting the ravages of old age by working better than ever before. Sometimes I'm still surprised by how smoothly he moves around the ring, never missing a spot and always selling well for his opponent by being in the right place at the right time to take their offense.

That said, whether he's given a "brooding" gimmick or not first depends on whether they retain him. I keep hoping he wasn't a temporary hire to give Cody something to do for awhile.....I want Dustin to stay.

As it is, he could play any role they want. After the whole "Tourette's" business, I'm convinced the guy has the cojones to tackle anything. (After Dustin received the electric shock that brought about the condition, I was hoping they could set up a team with Dustin Rhodes & Bret Hart.... calling it: "The Excellence of Electrocution."

But the brooding program might be a natural offshoot of everything Dustin has put up with from WWE over the years. How many times has he been hired and fired? How many times do they give him a back-up function like training the divas, only to wind up showing him the door again?

A brooding gimmick in which Dustin has a grudge against WWE management might work very well, but anything they can devise that keeps Dustin on board would be great.

 

[James]

I'd love to see a heel Goldust(ala val venis feud) vs. Sting. Just imagine the promos and mind games all around. They need to keep him around because he can teach the new comers a lot in my opinion.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

But the brooding program might be a natural offshoot of everything Dustin has put up with from WWE over the years. How many times has he been hired and fired? How many times do they give him a back-up function like training the divas, only to wind up showing him the door again?

I'm not sure how many times exactly, but one of those times they let his contract expire was due to his drunken antics on the "Plane ride from Hell".

Another time he was fired, it was because he was working as an agent during a match and had the very green PTP's give Yoshi Tatsu a doomsday device that almost broke his neck.

Let's not act like this guy has never done anything to warrant his release from the company.

 

[detroitking02]

I really liked the Black Reign Gimmick he had in TNA when he turned heel .His entrance music was good and that rat he carried around was creepy and cool IMO. check out this awesome match with Black Reign http://youtu.be/lkbxq7Tnia0

 

[GameOver]

He had that gimmick well b4 TNA, in his last few years of WWF the first time around he was sulky and distant, then he went to WCW and took on the role of a boogeyman like character, no not Boogeyman the one that ate worms this was a pale white character in all black called Seven but the network pulled the character because they felt it could be misinterpreted as a child abductor. Then he returned to WWF before heading off to TNA

Either way Dustin is better as a comedy stick or a bizzare heel, he's lousy as a straight up face.

 

[HeymanHustler]

While I disagree with the thought that Goldust is out of shape and too old (he performs like he's in the best shape of his career) but I think that mindset would make perfect material for him to go with this "brooding" gimmick.

If they still have plans for Cody vs Goldust, turn Goldie heel. Make him complain about how people are saying nothing but good things about his little brother. That Cody has all the potential to become a great main event player and the only talk Goldust gets is how people claim he's too old, needs to retire, he's out of shape, he's a joke as the son of Dusty Rhodes and a joke as a wrestler...basically the same stuff he's heard since he first came to WWE 15-20 years ago. Winning the tag titles was his chance to prove his worth to not only the WWE Universe, but his father too. But still, everything was about the golden boy that is Cody Rhodes. He says its an awful feeling being ignored in favor of your kid brother. That his kid brother will have a better career than Goldie ever did. He declares he can't achieve greatness while he's stuck in the shadow of his brother so he challenges Cody to a career vs career match at WrestleMania.

Writing all that, that sounds more like whining than brooding (for some characters, there isn't much of a difference) but to add brooding with all that in mind, he could have more black than gold, be more ruthless in the ring, more intensity and bitterness in his promos, etc.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

Goldust. Brooding Gimmick. Hmm. What's the last time a performer had a brooding gimmick and didn't come across as a quasi-scary comedy act? The Boogeyman, Mantaur, Black Reign(played by Dustin Rhodes himself), Se7en(Seven?), Mordecai.
The only really brooding gimmicks which were compelling and successful bring The undertaker(pre-biker age), Kane(pre-2000s), and Mick Foley in various stages of his career but its biggest flowering was as Mankind in 1996. I'm not sure where to include Papa Shango aka The Godfather.
As far as Goldust goes, he's a hell of a performer and was a compelling character in the latter 90s. He was believable to feud with the undertaker, as intercontinental champion. Hell, he should've always been consistently present on WWF(then) programming during the attitude era. But I don't think he needs or could portray a brooding gimmick now after Black Reign(TNA) failed and we've known him for 2 decades as an inconsistent one minute Goldust, another minute Dustin Runnels/Rhodes.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

Either way Dustin is better as a comedy stick or a bizzare heel, he's lousy as a straight up face.

Agreed. There is nothing quite so lousy as Goldust character as a FACE. Goldust was much more interesting as the homosexualish heel kissing Ahmed Johnson, dancing around in a wig, Imagine if they persisted with his character and we got a Goldust vs Steve Austin feud!

 

[Crispin Noir]

Goldust has been outstanding in his run. I've always been a fan of his and was excited to see his return last year as it looked to set up Dustin vs Cody at WMXXX. However, his work rate and performances over the past 5 or so months have posed an issue, that the obvious line of him vs his brother would be a loser retires/loses job contest, and of course faith will go with younger man, but it's too soon for him to hang up his boots, he's in form of his life, got great fan base, should stay around