Goldust 1996: Championship Material?

[#hamler]

In 1996, Goldust and Shawn Michaels had a very short lived feud over the WWF Title; Goldust's only title opportunity I believe. By this time, the WWF had built Goldust into a nice mid card heel in the organization. Now, it's probable Goldust would never become one of the top dogs within the company; but what about a transitional champion?

When Goldust first debuted, he often utilized such tactics as groping his opponents and displaying affection toward them mid match. Could you imagine the mind freak Goldust going after the playboy posing, heartbreakin', showstoppin, sexy boy and the WWF Championship? That feud practically writes itself. After just watching their match from 1996 on Raw, I saw they had a good amount of chemistry with one another. There's definitely more the WWF could have done with this if they invested time.

Goldust should have been the one to take the WWF Championship away from Shawn Michaels instead of Sid. Why couldn't Goldust take Sid's role of taking Michaels' WWF Championship at Survivor Series only to lose it back at the Royal Rumble like Sid? I don't know. Maybe that feud isn't exactly what the WWF was looking to book as their top feud at the time but I believe it had potential. At least more potential than the shitty Sid/Michaels at the Rumble. Me, I see Goldust as a more marketable character to the WWF than Sid.

I wasn't exactly around during this time so I'm coming from internet reviews and YouTube videos. Any old timers care to help me understand why Goldust wasn't launched into a bigger role in the WWF in 1996? After his Wrestlemania match with Roddy Piper, he started to drift away from relevancy - a reign could've saved him.

Do you believe this very small feud had potential?

Do you believe it could've launched Goldust higher up the card in the WWF?

Could you see Goldust going after Shawn's Championship in a multi-pay-per-view set up or even taking Sid's role?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Goldust was about a year ahead of his time, had he hit during the Austin/Attitude era he would have been a definite champion/feud for Austin. Imagine Goldust wanting to play with "The Rattlesnake". WWE was just coming out of a PG era and while a lot of the Goldust stuff was very strong (Telling Piper he wanted to Blow on his Bagpipe) they weren't fully comfortable with pushing Goldust too the face of the company. It's a shame that Dustin never won a world title, but in the scheme of things there are far better who never did (Rude, Davey, Perfect) but he will always be remembered, and on his own terms not for his surname.

 

[jaceynightheat]

You also got to look at the time frame. Back then IC was pretty close to being on equal levels with the World Title.

Goldust back then was a big deal - feuds with The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Roddy Piper.

 

[Wald]

Do you believe this very small feud had potential?

Yes I do, and for all the reasons you mentioned.

Do you believe it could've launched Goldust higher up the card in the WWF?

Yes, but only for a short space of time. I think he could have hit the main event scene for about a half year for some in your houses and maybe a royal rumble main event. His character didn't have long term world title prospects though

Could you see Goldust going after Shawn's Championship in a multi-pay-per-view set up or even taking Sid's role?

No, simply because this was the time when HBK booked himself in the WWF. Remember that Shawn apparently wanted to hold the title from WM 12 - 13 and possibly even longer, giving him the full SuperCena push along the way (I'd argue his comebacks and going over everyone in this year was a lot worse than Cena has ever been as well).

Shawn made the call to drop the title to Sid so he could win it back at the Royal Rumble in his hometown, he wouldn't have let Goldust take the title because it would have exposed him too much. Plus this was the period when Goldust was over with the fans, and people were starting to get a kick out of his character. There would have been a good section of the fans that could have cheered Goldust on against Shawn (much like they did with Diesel, Vader and Sid).

Shawn needed a monster like Sid to try and get some support from the audience. He was failing badly as WWF Champion and Goldust simply wouldn't have provided the rub needed to elicit sympathy from the crowd. It didn't happen with Sid either, but that's mostly Shawn's own fault

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I liked Goldust. He certainly had the talent as a worker to carry the belt, but I am unsure if his character would have been transformed enough by Vince to get him over with the crowd. His 1997/98 gimp work was awful though. I loved that era but turned off whenever he came to the ring. He was excellent in 2002 with Booker T. And his book is ace. Even through he blocked me on twitter haha

 

[The Brain]

You also got to look at the time frame. Back then IC was pretty close to being on equal levels with the World Title.

Goldust back then was a big deal - feuds with The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Roddy Piper.

This is true. Well maybe the IC title wasn't too close to the world title back then, but it was a hell of a lot more important than it is now. If a newer fan looks back and sees Goldust had a six month IC run they may not think much of it. It was a big deal back then. Goldust was one of the top guys in the company in 1996 and did have a big role.

I've never thought about him instead of Sid taking the title off HBK. Now that you bring it up I see it as a pretty good idea. One thing to remember though is Survivor Series 96 is when the face turn began for Goldust. It was subtle but the seeds were planted for the feud with Triple H that night. I could be mistaken but I believe the WWF was getting a lot of heat from the gay community over the Goldust character. Some felt that WWF was more than implying that Goldust was gay and that the WWF viewed all gays like they viewed him. Ridiculous I know but that was the mindset back then (and probably would be today too). I believe that is why Goldust turned face and finally did a reverse coming out of the closet so to speak when he announced he was not gay. It would have been interesting to see the heel Goldust for a bit longer but I think it was political pressure that forced the face turn and cut the character short. He did however get a lot out of that character in 1996. He was right. We will always remember the name....Goldust.

 

[Defekt]

Do you believe this very small feud had potential?

Shawn vs Goldust could have main evented an In Your House show, but I don't think Goldust was over enough to take the belt from Shawn (or that Shawn would have dropped it to him).

Do you believe it could've launched Goldust higher up the card in the WWF?

No. Goldust has always been a below average wrestler with an interesting gimmick. The guys on top in the late 90's are the legends of the business, and miles ahead of Goldust.

Could you see Goldust going after Shawn's Championship in a multi-pay-per-view set up or even taking Sid's role?

1996 and 1997 were bad years for the WWE, so it's possible they could have made such a decision, but I don't see why they would. Sid was an established main eventer, a giant, and had history with Shawn. He was much more suited for the role.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

They were pushing the envelope with the Goldust character in 1996 indeed. I remember one episode of Raw in 96 when he deep throat french kissed Ahmed Johnson while he was unconcious, strapped into a stretcher. He woke up and went berzerk with gold makeup all over his mouth, lol. I think I'm going to look that up on Youtube for a good laugh.

Dustin nailed the role, and his work as Goldust in 96 is highly underrated performance in my opinion. His fueds with the Taker, Piper, Razor, and Ahmed were great becuase he could genuinely get you to not like him. He was a flaming homo freak.

I think Goldust would have been a better fued/opponent for HBK at Summerslam 96 instead of Vader. I also agree with the above post that he would have been great in a fued with Austin in 98. I am one of the few people that actually liked Sid back in the day. I know he was shit for a wrestler, but he was one hell of a character, so I liked his late 96- early 97 involvement in the WWF world title picture.