10 WWE Gimmicks That Seriously Took The Piss

7. The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust

Daniel Bryan Michael Cole
WWE.com

Yet more things Vince McMahon doesn't understand and thus has to mock from a place of insecurity, we go to The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust and the Chairman's lame stab at the art world.

The gradual transformation of the original Goldust character from androgynous heel to second generation father and husband babyface was largely in keeping with 1997's attempt to blend reality into a product that had for years been accused of going to cartoonish. When Dustin Runnels ditched the old togs for multi-coloured ones every week, he looked like about six different Dr Seuss books had thrown up on him at once.

There was so much going on yet so little to grab onto. Sometime's he'd dress like a rival. Sometimes he'd dress like a baby. Sometimes his wig was green instead of purple instead of red instead of blue. It wasn't even a midlife crisis, despite an on-screen split penned with Marlena to free him up for the magnificently serpentine arms of Luna Vachon.

Much like poor Natalya, this was all fart and no sh*te. Well, it was sh*te, but there was nothing firm underneath The Artist's facade.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett