10 Small WWE Character Tweaks That Became DISASTERS!
8. “The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust”
People were stunned when Goldust waltzed into view at the tail end of 1995. He was cartoony and over the top, but in a very different way to most WWF 'New Generation' fare at the time. Goldust carried sexual overtones, and the company played on this occasionally to garner cheap heat.
Like anything in media designed to shock, the impact wore off after a while. That's when Dustin Rhodes started grasping at anything which could (in theory) cause a stir. He pitched getting breast implants, which the WWF knocked back. Away from possible surgery, Goldust developed an "Artist Formerly Known As" persona that was meant to be even more outlandish than his first guise.
It didn't work.
Granted, Dustin's personal problems kept rearing their ugly head around this time as well. That contributed to his career downfall between 1997-1999, but everything about 'TAFKA' Goldust was forced and lacked the mystery of his arrival a few years prior. Indeed, Goldy and Luna Vachon started to become one of the worst things about the federation midcard when they needed to be one of the best; or at least most provocatively entertaining.