10 WWE Gimmicks Saved By The People Playing Them

4. Goldust

Standing tall like an Academy Award come to life, the character of Goldust was also an androgynous creep who gradually became weirder the longer he stuck around. Dustin Runnels has recalled in numerous interviews how he had to look up the word 'androgynous' in the dictionary after the character was pitched to him, because he had no clue what it meant.

If alarm bells were ringing for those who felt undertaking the role might kill Dustin's career, they were sorely misplaced. Not only did the guise of Goldust not wreck his wrestling dreams, it helped turn Runnels into a household name and one of the most controversial figures in industry history. He's the one to thank for that legacy, not the character itself.

Goldust would have been just another cartoonish gimmick from the mid-1990's for the WWF had Dustin not put his own stamp on it. His promos, body language and facial expressions were at once dramatic and moody, and they enabled fans to be drawn in by the gimmick's mystique.