10 Regrettable Wrestling Revamps
7. Goldust - Black Reign
When Dustin Rhodes made his way to the World Wrestling Federation in 1995, he took an outrageous gimmick and made it into gold, establishing the provocative Goldust character as a revolutionary persona in mid-90s WWF.
However, as Axl Rose once said, “Nothing lasts forever, even cold November Rain." Runnels must have misheard those lyrics as, when Goldust ran its course, he debuted in TNA as Black Reign in 2007.
The Black Reign gimmick was like looking at a negative photo of Goldust. Decked out in black and silver with a black wig, Runnels new character was essentially a darker, sadistic version of his previous persona. As such, he was utilised predominantly in hardcore matches and extreme rule variants, including the “Shop of Horrors” bout, “Match of 10,000 Tacks”, and the “Monster’s Ball”.
While the character had some promise to it, Black Reign was drowning in unnecessary gimmicks, including his “Darkness Falls” weapon (which was essentially a spike on a stick) and his pet rat, Misty. The latter would even result in what was essentially a “Rat on a Pole” match. No, seriously...
Thankfully, Runnels would quietly leave TNA in 2008 and return to WWE soon after, notably without a rat, spike on a stick, or a black wig in sight.