10 Wrestlers Plagued By Their On-Screen Self
6. Dustin Rhodes
Goldust is an iconic character in the world of wrestling.
Dustin Rhodes could turn anything given to him as ‘The Bizarre One’ into the chemical element of his name. Rhodes was once even so enamoured with the gimmick that he offered to get breast implants to further his descent into Bizarro World territory. But outside of WWE, Goldust was a saboteur that prevented Rhodes from moving on.
His 1999 WCW run was blighted from the start when he was cast as Goldust-esque oddball Seven. Clad in leather, smeared in clown base paint, and with an untreated case of duel-eye pink eye, Seven looked like a cenobite costume on a strict budget. He was already dead in the water, or spooky camp lake, with his first vignette. Lurking outside a child’s bedroom window doesn’t feature in the origin story of a future World Champion. Though the gimmick was swiftly abandoned, the damage had already been done.
His second (and best remembered) TNA run suffered similarly. As Black Reign, he was essentially just Goldust with the gold substituted for white and a decrease in the quality of wigs.
Thankfully, though the paint remains, Rhodes has found renewed success in AEW.