Your Opinion On: Goldust

[Y 2 Jake]

This is a new thing I'm trying to get started. Every few day's I'll pick a wrestler at random and people just give there opinions on them. Obviously old school wrestlers. Not the likes of Batista, Cena, HHH etc. Probably wont catch ob, but fuck it.

So for the first one I've picked an intresting character, who certainly wasn't to everyones taste.

Personally I think the goldust gimmick was awesome. I didn't think much of his matchs. But his gimmick was really creepy.. I think it's a real shame that he didn't get really over. It's one of those gimmicks that you either love or hate. I loved that he wasn't a typical wrestling homosexual sterotype. He also had a valet obviously. But I really loved his feud with Razor Ramon. It was possibly better because Scott Hall hated the gimmick. I wish he'd also had a longer run against Taker.

I didn't like it when they turned him into a comedy character though.

 

[A.J.]

Well Jake good idea first off. Secondly though the Goldust character was good back in the day it fit with what WWE was doing at time and how gimmicks were the thing as nowadays not so much. Tough you could argue that. It was creepy but made for interesting angles and it was one that you loved it or you hated it.

Goldust did have some great feuds though him a Razor i enjoyed the most it was prolly the best feud that Goldust ever had. Though when they made him comedy character it killed any creditability his character could have had as an elite figure. His segments were funny though you have to admit that like at KOTR 2002 between Booker Rock and Goldust real funny.

Goldust will go down as a gimmick that some could not handle in the beginning but at the end loved due to his comedic ways

 

[EP Punk]

Goldust was a great gimmick, one tbhat I don't think will ever be duplicated. Dustin Runnels did a phenomenal job with the gimmick, although I think my favorite incarnation had to be when he joined forces with Luna Vachon. It was the most bizarre Goldie had ever been, and I for one loved it. Although, there wasn't a whole lot that this character could do that wasn't entertaining to at least 30% of the fans...which, you have to admit, is a good percentage.

 

[justinsayne]

Goldust was great at points in his career and not great at others, back in the late 90s he hit into what was being done at the time, I didn't watch alot of wrestling back then, but one match of his that does stand out in my mind was his street fight with Piper at WM12, I also think that he had on of the most devestating finishers of the time with "The Shattered Dreams", I think it was a bad Idea foe WWE to try to resurrect the charecter afterhim being gone for several years, and then putting him with Booker, which just looked like WWE try to create another "Rock N' Sock Connection" type team, though he did have some commical promos at the time, overall I think the Goldust charecter might have been bad for Dustin Runnels long-term career, simply because that is all anybody knows him as, nobody wants to see hnim wrestle as himself, they want to see him wrestle as Goldust, and Goldust was unfortuntly a gimmick that can't stand the test of time, personally I could be happy with never seeing another Goldust match again, he wasn't bad but not great either

 

[Kasey]

Runnels had a basic skillset in the ring and could work pretty well, even as far back as his WCW days. However, he never did what was necessary to make it to the top in terms of improving in the ring or getting into proper shape to mix it up with the current generation of stars. The other crux of his whole gimmick was that he was such an oddball character that if he ever turned face, it was just too off kilter from the original nature of the character. When they brought him back the last couple of times as a near comedy act, it was just pathetic. I actually liked Runnels when he was in Russo's WCW for ten minutes and did that worked shoot promo about the sucky gimmick he got upon entry into the company.

Most WWF fans are typically not homosexual/transgender friendly, so he was always better as the heel (let's face it, the homophobia was what built his persona in the first place). I still love the Hollywood Backlot Brawl from WM12 when Piper was stiffing him with real punches. Runnels was a hardass for taking those shots. Even as a fifteen year old, I knew those were all real. On an unrelated topic, I do think that in the beginning the nature of the gimmick didn't really sit well with him. The reason I feel this way is because I attended a house show in Tacoma in December of 1995. This was only a couple of months after he debuted. On his way to the ring, a "fan" flipped him off right to his face and screamed "******" at him as Goldie was strutting down the aisleway. It's a good thing the security was on top of it and removed him, because Dustin stopped walking to the ring and his gimmick pretty much fell by the wayside because he was within an inch of kicking the hell out of this guy (he dropped his feather boa and walked right over to the dude, who looked scared out of his mind). But that was the basic nature of the gimmick. It pushed buttons on the typical unintelligent mark who was very easily made to feel uncomfortable with stuff like this.

And on a completely unrelated note, after they had a match in the middle of the card, I saw Bam Bam Bigelow and Sid who were supposed to be in kayfabe as enemies back behind the bleachers near the locker room door eating sub sandwiches together and shootin' the $hit. This was a good topic, Jake. Made me remember this show. Good show, too.

 

[X]

Dustin Runnels/Rhodes...AKA Goldust. Odd choice indeed.

Obviously nobody is going to be bringing him up in terms of great wrestlers, but he had everything that was needed to suceed in the midcard and he did so wonderfully. His gimmick was one that I always enjoyed as well, it was the only time Runnels ever really got over at all. I'd agree with what someone said earlier about Goldust when he was teaming with Luna Vachon...absolutely awesome. Marilyn-dust, the baby new year costume, and all other kinds of weird shit. He was just extremely entertaining to watch, even in his days as Booker's sidekick.

Overall a thumbs up for me.

 

[Shocky]

I credit Dustin Rhodes a ton with going with this character. Here is a guy that coul dhave lived off his last name alone, but went the route of the complete opposite direction with Goldust.

His original run with Melina was just creepy. Many people despised the character. The homosexual angle pushed a ton of boundaries, and you knew a ton of guys were extremely uncomfortable with him in the ring.

After the Melina split and he became Bizzaro dust pretty much, he kinda lost some steam. The Marilyndust angle was great, baby new year was funny, but then he went to WCW and was given further Russo Treatment.

The character lost its edge by coming back and being in a comedy angle with Booker T. While it was funny, you knew the character was going to be relegated to lower card status. He had a good run at the midcard, so you really can't complain.

 

[michiganj24]

Actually it was Marlena(his wife at teh time Terrie) and not current Diva Melina just so no one gets confused that she is that old.
I have to admit that the gimmick was the best thing he could go for as when he had wrestled previously he was as bland and boring as dirt. It was hard to belive that he came from one of the best talkers in the biz. So giving him a gimmick that was at that time extremely controversial ( I mean at time shows didnt even hint at homsexuality much)
It also allowed him to get great heal heat with a personality as opposed ot the usual route of I am bad so I hurt people. It harkened back to the days of Adrian Adnois and other masters of the psych game. Too bad he let him self get so screwed up that when the WWE came calling for a guy to come back as a top heel he was unable to make the return.

 

[Highway Boots]

Goldust is a great character. Especially when he was teamed with Booker T. I got a kick out of his electrocution storyline! However, I still think Dustin Runnels deserves better. After all he is the son of a legend. The gimmick I thought best suited for Dustin was the ill fated WCW character "Seven" if done right that would've blown Goldust out of the water!

I unfortunately did not witness Goldusts original run in WWE as I was a fan of WCW at the time so I cannot accurately comment on that era of the character. But the second run was hilarious and quite memorable

Time to bring back Dustin to the WWE!!!