101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
65. Goldust? Nope, Stargate!
1995 WWF wasn't prepared to embrace a gimmick as over the top and outwardly sexual as Goldust when Dustin Rhodes played it to the hilt from the off. The way he rubbed himself and various opponents even reportedly left top stars like Razor Ramon feeling iffy about working with the dude, but Rhodes was only doing as instructed and likely having a blast seeing all of the mystified faces in the stands.
Before debuting, Dustin was nearly brought to life as a persona inspired by 1994 movie Stargate. Early concept sketches show him dressed more as an Egyptian Pharaoh than an androgynous Oscar statuette come to life. Good grief - wrestling in '95 would've looked a whole lot different with Rhodes as Vince McMahon's take on Tutankhamun. Commentators would've been making all sorts of Egyptian puns as Stargate wrestled workers up and down the fed's pyramid.
OK, sorry. Couldn't resist that one.
Eventually, McMahon and others decided that Goldust was the way to go instead, and the rest is history. There wasn't much linking the Hollywood character and the Egyptian-inspired one, but maybe some of Goldy's makeup transferred over here or there. That's a total guess, right enough.
Stargate had pulled a whopping $196m on a $55m budget since hitting cinemas in '94, so it's no wonder the pro wrestling world sat up to take notice. Someone in the office clearly went to see it. Maybe McMahon took Linda on a rare trip to the theatre and was impressed. Probably not. They don't serve protein bars at the pics.