20 Wrestling Gimmicks That Got WEIRD Rip-Offs
3. Goldust (Bluedust)
The whole period between 1997-1999 was a weird time to be a Goldust fan. Dustin Rhodes shocked the world by debuting the gimmick in 1995; some loved its uniqueness, whereas others hated the character and rejected it outright. Goldust was successful for the WWF despite splitting opinion, but then things got a little too 'shock value for shock value's sake' with "The Artist Formerly Known As" run onwards.
In '99, The Blue Meanie was drafted in from ECW to reprise one of his earlier roles on lower tier extreme shows. He turned into Bluedust. That meant becoming a completely blue version of Dustin's guise instead of gold. This led to a singles match between the pair at St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February. Goldust won that in just a few minutes, then Meanie started calling him "mommy".
Wait, what?!
In storyline, the insinuation was that Goldust had taken Bluedust under his wing on one condition. Meanie had to do everything Dustin asked of him without question. Being brutally honest about it, the whole "mommy" thing wasn't that outlandish during the wild 'Attitude Era' period anyway. Goldust had been doing far more controversial things than this on Raw since late-1997.
Bluedust was a quasi-doppelgänger attempt long before Cody went under the makeup as Stardust. It existed expressly for one pay-per-view match and that was it, but at least it got Meanie's foot in the door with the WWF. That wouldn't be the end of wrestling's obsession with the colour blue.
Those with an ear to the ground outside WWE and AEW's bubble just spotted a clue to what's coming next...